The Bells of Notre Dame
Disney (Hunchback of Notre Dame) Lyrics
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To the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
To the big bells as loud as the thunder
To the little bells soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of the city is
The toll of the bells
Dark was the night when our tale was begun
On the docks near Notre Dame
Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame
But a trap had been laid for the gypsies
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells
The bells of Notre Dame
(Kyrie Eleison)
Judge Claude Frollo longed
To purge the world
Of vice and sin
(Kyrie Eleison)
And he saw corruption
Ev'rywhere
Except within
Dies irae, dies illa
(Dies irae, dies illa)
Dies irae, dies illa
(Dies irae, dies illa)
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum sibylla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando Judex est venturus
See there the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
But you never can run from
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes
The very eyes of Notre Dame
(Kyrie Eleison)
And for one time in his live
Of power and control
(Kyrie Eleison)
Frollo felt a twinge of fear
For his immortal soul
Just so he's kept locked away
Where no one else can see
Even this foul creature may
Yet prove one day to be
Of use to me
Now here is a riddle to guess if you can
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
Who is the monster and who is the man
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Notre Dame
The song "Bells of Notre Dame" from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" opens with the vivid imagery of Paris awakening to the chimes of Notre Dame's bells. The song then moves into a darker tale of four gypsies who are hunted down by the villainous Judge Claude Frollo. Frollo is a man filled with an obsessive desire to cleanse the world of sin, even if it means killing innocents. The haunting Latin chanting of "Kyrie Eleison" is used to underscore Frollo's twisted worldview, as well as the gravity of his actions. The song speaks to the heart of the story of the Hunchback, portraying the power dynamics at play and the complex relationship between good and evil.
What makes "Bells of Notre Dame" such a powerful song is the intensity of the music and lyrics combined with the incredible visuals of the movie. It is a masterful opening sequence that does an excellent job of setting the tone for the rest of the movie. The different movements in the song provide a sense of narrative flow, with the introduction of the bells, the arrival of the gypsies, Frollo's twisted worldview, and the final reveal of Quasimodo.
Line by Line Meaning
Morning in Paris, the city awakes
The city of Paris comes to life in the morning
To the bells of Notre Dame
They wake up to the sound of the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes
People start their day and go about their business
To the big bells as loud as the thunder
The loud bells are as loud as thunder
To the little bells soft as a psalm
The softer bells are gentle and calming like a psalm
And some say the soul of the city is
There are those who believe the essence of the city is
The toll of the bells
The sound of the ringing bells
The bells of Notre Dame
Specifically, the bells of Notre Dame cathedral
Dark was the night when our tale was begun
Our story begins on a dark night
On the docks near Notre Dame
Specifically, near the docks of Notre Dame
Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
Four scared gypsies passed through quietly
But a trap had been laid for the gypsies
But someone was waiting for them
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
The gypsies looked up in terror
At a figure whose clutches
At a person whose hands
Were iron as much as the bells
Were just as strong as the bells
Judge Claude Frollo longed
Judge Claude Frollo had a desire
To purge the world
To cleanse the world
Of vice and sin
Of immoral behavior and wrongdoing
And he saw corruption
He perceived corruption
Ev'rywhere
Everywhere
Except within
But he did not recognize that it was within himself
Dies irae, dies illa
Day of wrath, that day
(Dies irae, dies illa)
Day of wrath, that day
Solv et saeclum in favilla
So the world will be reduced to ashes
Teste David cum sibylla
As witnessed by David and the sibyl
Quantus tremor est futurus
What trembling is to be expected
Quando Judex est venturus
When the Judge is about to come
See there the innocent blood you have spilt
Look at the blood of the innocent you have spilled
On the steps of Notre Dame
On the staircase of Notre Dame
Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
Now you want to add the blood of a child to your wrongdoings
You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can deceive yourself and those who follow you
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
You can insist that you have no reservations
But you never can run from
But you can never escape
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes
Nor conceal your actions from the gaze
The very eyes of Notre Dame
The watchful eyes of the cathedral of Notre Dame
And for one time in his live
And for once in his life
Of power and control
Of dominance and authority
Frollo felt a twinge of fear
Frollo experienced a sudden feeling of fear
For his immortal soul
For the fate of his soul after death
Just so he's kept locked away
So he is locked away
Where no one else can see
Where no one else can observe
Even this foul creature may
Even this hideous creature might
Yet prove one day to be
One day prove to be
Of use to me
Helpful to me in some way
Now here is a riddle to guess if you can
Here is a puzzle to see if you can solve it
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
The bells of Notre Dame are singing
Who is the monster and who is the man
Who is the one with horrendous qualities and who is the human
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells
Keep ringing the bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells, bells
Ringing the bells of Notre Dame all day long
Bells of Notre Dame
The bells of the Notre Dame cathedral
Lyrics © Walt Disney Music Company
Written by: ALAN MENKEN, STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@AsheQuinn
[Intro: Choir]
Olim
Olim deus accelere
Hoc saeculum splendidum
Accelere fiat venire olim
[Clopin]
Morning in Paris, the city awakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
To the big bells as loud as the thunder
To the little bells soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of the city's
The toll of the bells
The bells of Notre Dame
(Speaking)
Listen, they're beautiful, no?
So many colours of sound, so many changing moods
Because you know, they don't ring all by themselves
[Puppet]
- They don't?
[Clopin]
No, silly boy
Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower
Lives the mysterious bell ringer
Who is this creature?
[Puppet]
- Who?
[Clopin]
What is he?
[Puppet]
- What?
[Clopin]
How did he come to be there?
[Puppet]
- How?
[Clopin]
Hush, and Clopin will tell you
It is a tale, a tale of a man and a monster
(Sung)
Dark was the night when our tale was begun
On the docks near Notre Dame
[Man #1, spoken]
Shut it up, will you!
[Man #2]
We'll be spotted!
[Woman]
Hush, little one
[Clopin, sung]
Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame
[Man #3, spoken]
Four guilders for safe passage into Paris
[Clopin, sung]
But a trap had been laid for the gypsies
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells
[Man #1, spoken]
Judge Claude Frollo!
[Clopin, sung]
The bells of Notre Dame
[Chorus]
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
[Clopin]
Judge Claude Frollo longed
To purge the world
Of vice and sin
[Chorus]
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
[Clopin]
And he saw corruption
Ev'rywhere
Except within
[Frollo, spoken]
Bring these gypsy vermin to the palace of justice
[Guard]
You there, what are you hiding?
[Frollo]
Stolen goods, no doubt. Take them from her
[Clopin]
She ran
[Chorus, sung]
Dies irae, dies illa (Day of wrath, that day)
Solvet saeclum in favilla (Shall consume the world in ashes)
Teste David cum sibylla (As prophesied by David and the sibyl)
Quantus tremor est futurus (What trembling is to be)
Quando Judex est venturus (When the Judge is come)
[Woman, spoken]
Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary!
[Frollo]
A baby? A monster!
[Archdeacon]
Stop!
[Clopin, sung]
Cried the Archdeacon
[Frollo, spoken]
This is an unholy deamon
I am sending it back to Hell, where it belongs
[Archdeacon, sung]
See there the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
[Frollo, spoken]
I am guiltless. She ran, I pursued
[Archdeacon, sung]
Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
[Frollo, spoken]
My conscience is clear!
[Archdeacon, sung]
You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
But you never can run from
Nor hide what you've done from the eyes
The very eyes of Notre Dame
[Chorus]
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
[Clopin]
And for one time in his life
Of power and control
[Chorus]
Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)
[Clopin]
Frollo felt a twinge of fear
For his immortal soul
[Frollo, spoken]
What must I do?
[Archdeacon]
Care for the child, and raise it as your own
[Frollo]
What? I'm to be saddled with this misshapen...?
Very well. Let him live with you, in your church
[Archdeacon]
Live here? Where?
[Frollo]
Anywhere
(Sung)
Just so he's kept locked away
Where no one else can see
(Spoken)
The bell tower, perhaps
And who knows, our Lord works in mysterious ways
(Sung)
Even this foul creature may
Yet prove one day to be
Of use to me
[Clopin, spoken]
And Frollo gave the child a cruel name
A name that means "half-formed":
Quasimodo
(Sung)
Now here is a riddle to guess if you can
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
Who is the monster and who is the man?
[Clopin and Chorus]
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Notre Dame
@user-lx5vw9nx7q
i'd also really love to mention that,once again in the greek dub,Frollo is reffered to as "the enemy of notre dame",and yk what,someone else latinised and translated the lyrics literally,let me just copy and paste,oh btw I added in the part where Clopin and the puppet are talking,everything else is by that other random stranger lol)
Na, to Parisi ksipnaei ksana sta skalia tis Panagias
(Here, Paris wakes up again at the stairs of Notre dame)
Psarades psarevoun fournarides psinoun sta skalia tis Panagias
(Fishermen fish, bakers bake, at the stairs of Notre Dame)
Oi megales kabanes vrontane, oi mikres tragoudane glika
(The big bells thunder, the smalls sing sweetly)
Kai afti i mousiki eine i idia i psihi tis palias.. tis megalis Panagias
(And this music is the same soul of the old... of the big Notre Dame)
/|\ Back at the theater wagon /|\
"Akooste,panemorfos ihos,ti orea melothia,posa sinesthimata.."
(Listen,beautiful sound..what a great melody,how many emotions..)
"Giati ops xerete,den htipoun apo monew toos."
(But as you know,they don't ring by themselves.)
"Ohi?"
(No?)
"Ohi,anorime."
(No,immature one.)
"Eki pano,psila,psila sto skotino kabanario,zi o mistiriodeis kabanokoostis."
(Up there,high,high in the dark bell tower,lives the mysterious bellringer.)
"Pio ine afto to plasma?"
(Who is this creature?)
"Pio!"
(Who!)
"Pos ine?"
(How is it?)
"Pos!"
(How!)
"Ti kani taha eki pano?"
(What is it doing up there?)
"Ti!"
(What!)
"Papse!"
(Stop!)
"Ahh.."
(Ahh..)
"Sas to lei o Clopinos,itan mia fora enas adras,ke ena teras.."
(Clopin's telling you,there was once a man,and a monster.."
Mauro skotadi eixe pesei ston molo sta skalia tis Panagias
(Black darkness, had fallen on the pier at the stairs of Notre dame)
Nati tsigannoi skies pou glistroun sta stena tis geitonias
(Here gypsies, shadows that slip in the alleys of the neiborhood)
Omos kapios tous stinei pagida, enas agrios, kakos dikastis
(But someone sets them a trap, a brutal, evil judge)
Mia morfi san grothia, siderenia, varia, san tou exthrou o dikastis Frolo tou exthrou tis Panagias
(A shape like a fist, iron, heavy, like the enemy- judge Frolo- the enemy of Holy Mary/Notre Dame)
O Claude Frolo dikastis kritis tou kosmou autou
(Claude Frolo, judge, ruler of this world)
Kinigaei pantou tin diafora ektos eaftou
(hunts everywhere the corruption, except from himself)
"Ferte auta ta parasita sto megaro tis dikaiosinis"
(Bring these parasites in the hall of judgment)
"Esi ekei! Na do ti kriveis! Klopimaia sigoura, partis ta amesws"
(You there! Lemme see what you hide! Stolen goods for sure, take them immediately
To skaei... ( She runs...)
"Doste mou asylo, sas parakalo!" (Give me sanctuary, please!)
"Ena vrefos? Ah, ti asximo!"
(An infant? Ah, how ugly!)
"Mh! - Fonakse o iereas- Einai enas frixtos daimonas, ton stelno piso stin Kolasi, opou anikei"
(Don't! - Shout the priest- It is a hideous demon, I'm sending him in Hell, where he belongs)
"Exises aima athoon anthropon, sta skalia tis Panagias"( You spilled blood of innocent people, at the stairs of Notre Dame)
"Eimai athoos, epraksa to sosto"
(I'm innocent, I did right)
"Thes na skotoseis kai touto to vrefos sta skalia tis Panagias"
(You wanna kill and this infant, at the stairs of Notre Dame)
"Exw kathari sinidisi!"( I have clean conscience!)
"O eautos sou mporei na to antexei na sou leei pos den exei enoxes, ma pote den tha vreis pouthena na krifteis, ap to vlemma, ap tin matia tis Panagias"
(Yourself may endure it, telling you you have no guilts, but you will never find anywhere to hide, from the sight, from the gaze of Notre Dame)
Kai gia proti tou fora o agrios dikastis, eniose pos kapou iparxei o anotatos kritis..
(And for hia 1st time the ruthless judge, felt like somewhere exists the ultimate judge/ruler)
"Ti prepei na kanw?"(What must I do?)
"Frontise to paidi, san na tane diko sou"(Take care of the child, like it was yours)
"Pos?! Thes na mou fortoseis auto to teras? As einai... tha zisei omos mazi sou stin ekklisia" (How? You want to burden me this monster? Let it be... He will however live with you in the church)
"Na zisei edo? Pou? (Live here? Where?)
" Opou thes.. Zise edw kala krimmenos san se filaki. Sto kabanario mporei.. O Theos pos tha ta ferei.. pote den ksereis.. I frixti morfi sou isws tha mou xreiastei, kapoia stigmi... "( Wherever you want... Live here, good hidden like in prison. In the bell tower maybe... How God will bring it.. You never know... Your hideous shape maybe be in use for me.. Some moment...)
And Frolo, edwse sto paidi ena fovero onoma, tin leksi pou simainei dismorfos.. Kouasimodos...
(And Frolo, gave the child a despicable name, the wors that means disfigured... Quasimodo...)
Na exo ena enigma gia olous se sas sta skalia tis Panagias (Here I got an enigma, for all of you at the stairs of Notre Dame)
Poios einai Aggelos poios Satanas ( Who is an Angel and who a Satan)
Kai ixoun pantou kabanes stin kardia tos Panagiaaaaas ( And sounds everywhere bells in the heart of Notre Daaaame
@sananaryon4061
Let's all admit it, the Archdeacon's part is amazing
See there the innocent blood you have spilled
On the Steps of Notre Dame
Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the Steps of Notre Dame
You can lie to yourself and your minions
You can claim that you haven't a qualm
But you can never run from
Nor hide what you've done from the Eyes
The very Eyes of Notre Dame
@lauriesmith4575
As a kid, this film was my first glimpse of the famed Bells of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral- this dark, edgy animated film, with its beautiful, breathtaking opening song. Between the chanting monks, the Latin chorus, and the ever-present ringing bells, you could sit in front of the TV, close your eyes, and imagine you were there, standing before the ancient structure, basking in all her might and glory. The music itself develops the backstory against the gorgeous animated stone towers in the film, and the animators did a fantastic job, drawing on images of the towers to recreate them for children of the '90s. Even the tiniest details- from the wooden spire that collapsed into the flames yesterday morning as the world watched, to the statues of Michael and Satan weighing souls and the gorgeous stain-glass rose windows- were captured in animation, bringing such an iconic structure to life, that the cathedral itself became a character within the film.
As a kid, seeing Notre-Dame de Paris was just one of a handful of things on my bucket list, next to studying abroad in Ireland and spending a summer in Spain. And while none of those things will ever happen, my heart breaks for the accidental destruction of such a beautiful historic landmark; Notre-Dame had seen the Crusades, survived the Second War, witnessed the founding of America and the storming of the Bastille; she breathed in the scent of blood from the executed French monarchy, the blood lust of the twelve rulers of the Reign of Terror, and the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo... she, like so many structures before her, witnessed history as it played out before her, leaving her the silent witness to heartache, pain, death and life, sadness and joy.
In the film, Notre-Dame is Quasi's home, it becomes Esmeralda's sanctuary, and Frollo's final resting place. To the children who saw this film when it first came out, who wore out the VHS tapes, who dressed as Esmeralda for Halloween, it became our ticket to Paris, a way to visit again and again without ever having to leave home. And now, all the world mourns as her real-life counterpart turns to ash, as the stone become scorched and at least one of the beautiful rose windows shatters beneath the heat of flame. It's hard to imagine, that today Parisians will awaken, but not to the bells... there will be no big bells as loud as thunder, no little bells soft as psalms- for the time being, silent the bells will remain, but hopefully not forever.
It's hard not to imagine that what's spoken in the song is true- that the soul of the city of Paris is truly the toll of the bells of Notre-Dame. And without her iconic wooden spire piercing the sky, without her legendary bells calling out to all who pass her by, how will Paris function? Without her iconic bells to greet her in the morning, will it be similar to losing a limb? Will tourist and local alike look for her spire, listen for her bells, only to remember that she's not there?
For now, she has no voice; and while we wait for her to be rebuilt, it's up to us, as a world, to sing the bells of Notre-Dame.
Why?
Because when we- a people, a world- in our darkest hours, had no voice, she sang for us, and it is only right, that in her darkest hour, we do the same.
@mrodriguez16ks
"She ran, I pursued" Is just the coldest shit you can say after you just murder someone on the steps of a church.
@kaiaballobey4239
That was the coldest shit he could have said after murdering a mother of an infant baby in front of a church. Then how he said "Just like your gypsy mother" at the end. He was a villan the moment I heard his voice.
@depressedthoughts
SANCTUARY PLEASE GIVE UP SANCTUARY
That part was just more sad
@josephmarrison4606
Judge Frollo was sure a heartless, nasty badass, but that was what made him so cool if you ask me.
@raesmith2164
@@josephmarrison4606 what made him cool to me was how realistic he was almost paralleling similar historical figures
@TheHManShow
And this is in the first 5 minutes! When I think of Hunchback I think of Frollo
@superzilla784
I envy the people who got to experience this in theaters. they must have been literally blown away during the climax of this song
@jesusleyva4386
Yea it was awesome
@sedij2358
Same. It must have been phenomenal!
@ryancrockford5517
First film I ever saw at the cinema at the age of 6, remember being blown away by scene of Paris on fire, and crying my eyes out for reasons I didn’t really understand at ‘Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!’