The words are based on the work Revelations of Divine Love, by 14th century English mystic, Julian of Norwich, and the song is sometimes called The Bells of Norwich
The song was published, including sheet music, in Book Five of "Songs of Sydney Carter, In the present tense" released by Stainer & Bell Ltd in 1982 - and copies of this are sometimes available from Amazon and from 2nd-hand book outlets. It has also been included in various other folk-song collections, but copies of the sheet music for the melody-line are rarely found.
The unnamed tune has a 4/4 time signature. In the key of G, the first few notes of the melody are are G D D G A cB AG BG Bcd_
Downloads
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Examples
Solo singer with table harmonium (which is excellent for rendering the sound of
bells)
Professional recording, small band:
Solo singer, self-accompanied on hammered dulcimer:
Solo singer with folk-orchestra, live TV performance:
Large amateur choir, unaccompanied:
Solo singer, self-accompanied by picked guitar:
Lyrics
The lyrics are copyright so cannot be reproduced here. But they are currently available on this website. A rough outline is:1 Loud are the bells of Norwich
... I tell them what I know.
Refrain:
Ring out, bells of Norwich,
and let the winter come and go;
All shall be well again, I know.
2 Love, like a yellow daffodil ....
3 Ring for the yellow daffodil ...
There's a typo in the description of Julian of Norwich, where it says she was a "4th century English mystic Julian of Norwich", when it should be a "14th century English mystic".
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