Prime your matin chime

Today’s Advent carol came together about a hundred years ago, when English composer George Ratcliffe Woodward set his lyrics to a French (secular) dance melody by Jehan Tabourot in the 16^th Century.

I confess that I cannot hear “Ding Dong Merrily on High” without picturing the scene from “Hercule Poirot’s Christmas” where Inspector Japp is stuck at his wife’s Welsh family’s house where everyone but him is “Gloria-ing” to beat the band. His face, when they tuck into the second verse after a pause, is classic. Sadly, that is not available on the Interwebz, so here’s the King’s College, Cambridge, choir singing it.

Mega shout-out to all the bell ringers in all the church towers around the world. Except for a certain Sir Mouth Almighty, who only shows up for photo ops, wearing military medals he did not earn.