I realize this has been around since 2008 (and the text since about 1863-64) but it only came to my attention a couple of years ago. But it was not just the sound, or the effect of a redo of an old poem/song that caught my attention, but the story behind the poem and the manner in which this new tune brought it out.
Over the course of just over two years, his wife was severely burned and died when her favorite dress caught fire in 1861, followed in late 1863 when his son who despite forbidding him to join the Union army was wounded. As the man went to the train station to collect his wounded son in late December and saw a friend there to collect a coffin with his.
In the next months, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow would write the poem “Christmas Bells” recalling the darkness in which he found himself as he heard church bells ringing as he went to the station that day. The poem seems more dark than light with verses (never sung) that speak too graphicly of the war that was going on.
Yet in the midst of it, there is “peace on earth.”
Over the years, the traditional song “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” doesn’t seem to do the underlying text justice. But the recent rendition by Casting Crowns has seemed to capture some of the juxtaposition of darkness and light that is woven through the poem. Like “Breath of Heaven,” and “Mary, Did You Know,” this song casts off the presumption of cheer and frivolity to bring us to the mostly unannounced birth of a baby in the midst of dark times. A promise of a kingdom of peace yet to be realized.
I Heard the Bells (Peace on Earth)