"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is a Christmas carol based on the poem "Christmas Bells", composed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) in 1864:

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Longfellow wrote "Christmas Bells" on Christmas day 1864, in the midst of the American Civil War and the news of his son, Charles Appleton Longfellow, having suffered wounds as a soldier in battle. His wife had died two years prior due to an accident with fire.

Let that be a lesson to you kids: careful around that Christmas tree.

Minus the Civil War specific verses, it became this song, sung here by Frank Sinatra:



In 2008, Casting Crowns has kept the original verses, but added a chorus and done a new musical arrangment:



I am usually quite fanactical in my devotion to keeping Christmas songs and tunes exactly the same, but I like this change ... and it doesn't hurt that it's one of my favorite bands!