The Bells By Edgar Allen Poe, musical adaptation by Phil Ochs D Hear the sledges with the bells G D Silver bells What a world of merriment C D Their melody foretells C Em A How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle C Em A In the icy air of night C Em A All the heavens seem to twinkle C Em A With a crystalline delight D Bm Keeping time, time, time F#m A With a sort of Runic rhyme D From the tintinnabulation C D That so musically wells D G D A7 D G D From the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells G A7 D From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells Hear the mellow wedding bells Golden bells What a world of happiness Their harmony foretells Through the balmy air of night How they ring out their delight Through the dances and the yells And the rapture that impels How it swells How it dwells On the future How it tells From the swinging and the ringing of the molten golden bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells Of the rhyming and the chiming of the bells Hear the loud alarum bells Brazen bells What a tale of terror now Their turbulency tells Much too horrified to speak Oh, they can only shriek For all the ears to know How the danger ebbs and flows Leaping higher, higher, higher With a desperate desire In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire With the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells With the clamor and the clanging of the bells Hear the tolling of the bells Iron bells What a world of solemn thought their monody compels For all the sound that floats From the rust within our throats And the people sit and groan In their muffled monotone And the tolling, tolling, tolling Feels a glory in the rolling From the throbbing and the sobbing Of the melancholy bells Oh, the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells Oh, the moaning and the groaning of the bells. Notes: Chords supplied by Jim Lesses, and corrected by James Barnett. Last modified 17 Jan 99 by trent