Ding Dong Merrily on High

"Ding Dong Merrily on High" is a Christmas carol. The tune first appeared as a secular dance tune known under the title "Branle de l'Official" in Orchésographie, a dance book written by the French cleric, composer and writer Thoinot Arbeau, pen name of Jehan Tabourot (1519–1593). The words are by the English composer George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848–1934), and the carol was first published in 1924 in his The Cambridge Carol-Book: Being Fifty-two Songs for Christmas, Easter, And Other Seasons. Woodward took an interest in church bell ringing, which no doubt aided him in writing it. Woodward was the author of several carol books, including Songs of Syon and The Cowley Carol Book. The macaronic style is characteristic of Woodward's delight in archaic poetry. Charles Wood harmonised the tune when it was published with Woodward's text in The Cambridge Carol Book. More recently, Sir David Willcocks made an arrangement for the second book of Carols for Choirs.

Text and melody
Ding Dong! merrily on high In heav'n the bells are ringing Ding, dong! verily the sky Is riv'n with angel singing Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis

E'en so here below, below Let steeple bells be swungen And i-o, i-o, i-o By priest and people be sungen Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis

Pray ye dutifully prime Your matin chime, ye ringers May ye beautifully rime Your evetime song, ye singers Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis.

Recordings

 * Roger Whittaker album Tidings of Comfort and Joy (1984)
 * Maddy Prior album A Tapestry of Carols (1987)
 * The Chieftains album The Bells of Dublin (1991)
 * The Wiggles album Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas (1996)
 * Celtic Woman 7th album A Christmas Celebration (1998)
 * Charlotte Church album Dream a Dream (2000)
 * Cherish the Ladies album On Christmas Night (2004)
 * Blackmore's Night album Winter Carols (2006)
 * Linda Brava album Angels (2010)
 * O Holy Night (2012) by Millennial Choirs and Orchestras
 * Choir of King's College, Cambridge album 100 Years of Nine Lessons and Carols (2018)