Ring Them Bells

Bob Dylan © 1989 Special Rider Music

(Official lyrics @ www.bobdylan.com)

Oh Mercy session 2, The Studio, New Orleans LA - 7.mar.1989, overdub 6.apr.1989, album version  
Oh Mercy session 2, The Studio, New Orleans LA - 7.mar.1989, BS-8 alt. version  
Supper Club NYC - 16&17.nov.1994 early&late shows 
The Great Music Experience, Todaiji Temple, Nara, Japan - 20.may.1994 

Ring them bells, ye heathen 
From the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries 
Cross the valleys and streams
For they're deep and they're wide
An' the world's on its side
An' time is running backwards
An' so is the bride.

Ring them bells, Saint Peter
Where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an iron hand
So the people will know
Oh it's rush hour now
On the wheel an' the plow
An' the sun is goin' down 
Upon the sacred cow.

Ring them bells, sweet Martha
For the poor man's son
Ring them bells, so the world will know
That God is one
For the shepherd is asleep
Where the willows weep
An' the mountains are filled
With lost sheep.

Ring them bells for the blind an' the deaf
Ring them bells for all of us who are left
Ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through.
Ring them bells for the time that flies
For the child that cries
When innocence dies.

Ring them bells, Saint Catherine
From the top of the room
Ring them bells from the fortress
For the lilies that bloom
For the lines are long
An' the fightin' is strong
And they're breakin' down the distance
Between right and wrong.