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Ding Dong! Merrily on High (Branle de l’Officiel)

[words George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848-1934), music Thoinot Arbeau (1520-95)]

The Albion Band sang The Official Branle (Ding Dong Merrily on High) in 1985 on their album A Christmas Present From the Albion Band. A live recording from their Christmas Tour 1986 was published in 2010 on their Talking Elephant CD Another Christmas Present From the Albion Band.

Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band sang Ding Dong! Merrily on High (Branle de l’Officiel) to a traditional French tune on their CDs A Tapestry of Carols (1987), Carols at Christmas, (1998), and An Evening of Carols and Capers (2005).

BACCApella (the singers of Bacca Pipes Folk Club; amongst them at the time were Maggie Boyle, Lynda Hardcastle, Fay Hield, Mike and Helen Hockenhull, and Tim Moon) sang Ding Dong! Merrily on High in 1999 on their privately released CD The Haworth Set.

Coope Boyes & Simpson, Fi Fraser, Jo Freya, and Georgina Boyes sang Ding Dong! Merrily on High in 2006 on their No Masters CD Voices at the Door.

GreenMatthews sang The Official Branle (Ding! Dong Merrily on High) on their 2015 CD A Brief History of Christmas.

A Winter Union sang Ding Dong! Merrily on High on their eponymous 2016 CD A Winter Union. A live recording from Otford Memorial Hall, Kent, on 21 December 2018 was released a year later on their download album Live in Concert.

Lyrics

Maddy Prior sings Ding Dong! Merrily on High

Ding dong! Merrily on high
In heaven the bells are ringing;
Ding dong! Verily the sky
Is riv’n with angels singing.
  Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!
  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 sungen.
  Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!
  Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!

Pray you, dutifully prime
Your matin chime, ye ringers!
May you beautifully rhyme
Your eve-time song, ye singers!
  Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!
  Gloria, Hosanna in excelsis!