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by John Masefield (1878 - 1967)

The bells of San Marie
 (Sung text for setting by J. Ireland)
 Matches base text
Language: English 
It's pleasant in Holy Mary
By San Marie lagoon,
The bells they chime and jingle
From dawn to afternoon.
They rhyme and chime and mingle,
They pulse and boom and beat,
And the laughing bells are gentle
And the mournful bells are sweet.

Oh, who are the men that ring them,
The bells of San Marie,
Oh, who but the sonsie seamen
Come in from over sea.
And merrily in the belfries
They rock and sway and hale,
And send the bells a-jangle,
And down the lusty ale.

It's pleasant in Holy Mary
To hear the beaten bells
Come booming into music,
Which throbs, and clangs, and swells.
From sunset till the daybreak,
From dawn to afternoon,
In port of Holy Mary
On San Marie Lagoon.

Composition:

    Set to music by John (Nicholson) Ireland (1879 - 1962), "The bells of San Marie", 1918, published 1919 [ medium voice and piano ]

Text Authorship:

  • by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), "St. Mary's Bells", appears in Ballads, first published 1903

See other settings of this text.


Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 24
Word count: 126

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