The Bells of Notre Dame

Olim, olim deus accelere
Hoc saeculum splendidum
Accelere fiat venire olim

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 is 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 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 (oh), 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
Shut it up, will you? We'll be spotted
Hush, little one

Four frightened gypsies slid silently under
The docks near Notre Dame
Four guilders for safe passage into Paris

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
Judge Claude Frollo
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

Bring these gypsy vermin to the palace of justice
You there, what are you hiding?
Stolen goods, no doubt
Take them from her (she ran)

Dies irae (dies irae), dies illa (dies illa)
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum sibylla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando Judex est venturus
Sanctuary, please, give us sanctuary

Quantus tremor est futurus
Quantus tremor est futurus
Teste David cum sibylla
A baby? A monster

Solvet saeclum in favilla
Solvet saeclum in favilla

Stop, cried the Archdeacon
This is an unholy demon
I'm sending it back to hell where it belongs

See there the innocent blood you have spilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
I am guiltless, she ran, I pursued

Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt
On the steps of Notre Dame
My conscience is clear

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

What must I do?
Care for the child and raise it as your own
What? I'm to be saddled with this misshapen-
Very well, but let him live with you, in your church
Live here? Where? 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

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?

Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Notre Dame