It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Christmas Carol
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.
And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Notes
Written by Edmund Sears as a poem in 1849.
There are two tunes for this song as follows:
The 1st tune is called "Carol" and was written by American Richard Storrs Willis in 1850. This tune is most popular in the USA.
The 2nd tune is called "Noel" and was adapted by Englishman Arthur Sullivan in 1874 from an English Melody.
Comments
You can hear a rendition here (by Susan K Hawthorne).
You can hear the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th verses sung in the recording below.
MP3: Performed by Paul Vinson Brown.
Here are the lyrics for the rendition below:
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing,
To hear the angels sing,
To hear the angels sing.
MP3: Performed by Ryan DeRamos.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Image: The San Giobbe Altarpiece Detail of Music Making Angels, Giovanni Bellini, Italy, 1480.
