The Bells of Notre Dame Lyrics

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



Listen, they're beautiful, no?

So many colors of sound, so many changing moods

Because you know, they don't ring all by themselves

- They don't? -

No, silly boy.

Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower

lives the mysterious bell ringer.

Who is this creature - Who? -

What is he? - What? -

How did he come to be there - How? -

Hush, and Clopin will tell you

It is a tale, a tale of a man and a monster.





Dark was the night when our tale was begun

On the docks near Notre Dame





Man #1

Shup it up, will you!



Man #2

We'll be spotted!



Gypsy

Hush, little one.



Clopin

Four frightened gypsies slid silently under

The docks near Notre Dame



Man #3

Four guilders for safe passage into Paris



Clopin

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 #4

Judge Claude Frollo



Clopin

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

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

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)



Gypsy

Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary



Frollo

A baby? A monster!



Archdeacon

Stop!



Clopin

Cried the Archdeacon



Frollo

This is an unholy deamon.

I'm sending it back to hell, where it belongs.



Archdeacon

See there the innocent blood you have spilt

On the steps of Notre Dame



Frollo

I am guiltless. She ran, I pursued.



Archdeacon

Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt

On the steps of Notre Dame



Frollo

My conscience is clear



Archdeacon

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 live

Of power and control



Chorus

Kyrie Eleison (Lord have mercy)



Clopin

Frollo felt a twinge of fear

For his immortal soul



Frollo

What must I do?



Archdeacon

Care for the child, and raise it as your own



Frollo

What? I'd be settled with this misshapen ...?

Very well. Let him live with you, in your church.



Archdeacon

Live here? Where?



Frollo

Anywhere

Just so he's kept locked away

Where no one else can see

The bell tower, perhaps

And who knows, our Lord works in mysterious ways

Even this foul creature may

Yet prove one day to be

Of use to me



Clopin

And Frollo gave the child a cruel name

A name that means half-formed, Quasimodo

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