Lyrics: The Bells Of Notre Dame

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

Shup 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 illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum sibylla
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando Judex est venturus

Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary

A baby? A monster

Stop

Cried the Archdeacon

This is an unholy deamon
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 life
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'd be settled with this misshapen
Very well. 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