Update: Do NOT miss the post featuring this piece over at Violins and Starships! Not only does the post feature a very, very nice instrumental arrangement/recording of the piece, it includes links to various lyrics for the carol and to a performance of “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”, by Loreena McKennitt that is a DO NOT MISS. Thanks Lynn!
Update II: As the lyrics page Lynn lins to points out, the carol isn’t originally about bells. Here’s a Ukrainian version featuring–the notes say–the Ukrainian lyrics about a swallow visiting a farmer and his family during the Christmas season.
The rise and fall of the melody does rather lend itself to a musical depiction of the flight of a swallow, doesn’t it?
That Ukranian version was very interesting.
Yeh, I liked it. A lot.