The Bells Of Rhymney is song that was originally a poem by Welsh poet Idris Davies, which was then put to music and recorded by Pete Seeger in December 1957 and the live version was released in 1958. It is the American band The Byrds 1965 recording released on the album Mr Tambourine man that populised the song. The Alarm performed this live in their early days and a live version of it was released as the b-side of the 7″ and 12″ single release of The Chant Has Just Begun on 22nd October 1984.
In 2007 an updated version of the song was rewritten as the Sad Bells Of Rhymney following the passing of author Pete Seeger and features an updated lyric to compliment that by original Welsh composer Idris Davies The new lyric by Welsh poet Patrick Jones (Brother of Manic Street Preacher’s Nick Wire), was commissioned by the BBC to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first recording by iconic protest singer Pete Seeger, live at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1957. The origins of the song can be traced back to the 1926 General Strike, when budding poet Idris Davies, then a miner living in Rhymney in Wales, vowed to educate himself and leave behind the life of toil and grime.
I bought an old folk compilation album from a thrift store in America. It had a version of Bells on it sung by Pete Seeger, who had written the music for a song based on a Welsh poem by Idris Davies. This was the first version of the song I had ever heard. When I came across The Byrds electric version of the song, and compared its lyrics to the original poem I came across in a collection edited by Dylan Thomas, which included a complete transcription of the Bells Of Rhymney, (which in itself was an extract from a wider ranging piece called Gwalia Deserta), I realised that a lot of the lyrics had been left out. I put a suggestion to the band, that as a Welsh band we should release our own version with the “complete” Idris Davies lyrics. Mind you, even we got it wrong – because of my own English-speaking upbringing in North Wales, I wasn’t aware of the correct Welsh pronunciation of Rhymney and sang it like The Byrds and Seeger before me as “Rimney”. When The Alarm proudly played it live for the first time in South Wales, my error was “politely” pointed out to me, and every version I sang afterwards I would sing the phonetically correct welsh pronunciation “Rumney” – Mike Peters, Alarm 200 Collection liner notes
Gwalia Deserta by Idris Davies
Gwalia Deserta (“Wasteland of Wales”) was the first published work of poet Idris Davies. Published in 1938, it is an extended poetical work. The verses it contained were inspired partly by such mining disasters as that at Marine Colliery at Cwm near Ebbw Vale in 1927, and by the failure of the 1926 UK General Strike, the Great Depression in the United Kingdom and their combined effects on the South Wales valleys.
The “Bells of Rhymney” verses, perhaps Davies’ most widely known work, appear as Part XV of the book. The stanzas follow the pattern of the well known nursery rhyme “Oranges and Lemons”. In the late 1950’s the verses were adapted into a folk song by Pete Seeger entitled “The Bells of Rhymney” and has been covered by many others since. It’s best known as that jingly jangly song by The Byrds and has become a folk rock standard, recorded hundreds of times by everyone from Cher to The Alarm.
But if it wasn’t for American folk singer, Pete Seeger, the haunting lyrics to Bells of Rhymney would have remained an obscure poem by a Welsh miner turned poet called Idris Davies.
He wrote it during a four-year stint on the dole. From the age of 14, he had worked as a miner at the Mardy Colliery in Rhondda Fach, South Wales. But at the age of 21, he was involved in an accident which resulted in him losing part of a finger. With his injury and the disruptions caused by the 1926 General Strike, he found himself jobless.
He used this period of unemployment to educate himself, something he called, “the long and lonely self-tuition game”. He would spend his days in the local library. He also started to write poetry, in both Welsh and English. His writing was influenced by the bitterness and hurt of the mining communities around him.
Despite the vast wealth created by the country’s coal industry, Welsh people found themselves living in one of the most depressed areas of Europe with unemployment hitting 85 percent in places such as Abertillery during the early 1930s. The infant mortality rate doubled from 56.6 per 1000 children in 1930 to 118.8 in 1934.
Davies was given encouragement to continue writing by the likes of Dylan Thomas and TS Eliot. It was Eliot, in 1938, who would publish his first collection of poems, Gwalia Deserta (Wasteland of Wales). This included a poem ‘XV‘ that was only 123 words long but managed to create a tapestry of the various ways South Wales had been affected by the decline of mining.
1984 Pluto Studios recording
Running time 2:56
Written by Davies/Seeger
Musician & Credits
Mike Peters – Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica
Dave Sharp – Acoustic Guitar, Backing Vocals
Eddie Macdonald – Backing Vocals
Twist – Tin Whistle, Percussion, Backing Vocals
Recorded at Pluto Studios, Manchester, England August 1984.
Produced by The Alarm. Engineered by Phil Bush.
Alternative Studio Recordings
Album Appearances and discography of studio recordings
Single Appearances and discography
UK Releases :
22nd October 1984 : 7″ Vinyl – The Alarm – The Chant Has Just Begun
The Chant Has Just Begun / (b Side) – The Bells Of Rhymney
IRS Records, catalogue number IRS114 
22nd October 1984 : 12” Vinyl – The Alarm – The Chant Has Just Begun
The Chant Has Just Begun (long version) / (b Side) – The Bells Of Rhymney / The Stand (Full version)
IRS Records, catalogue number IRSY114
Officially released live recordings
Lyrics ~ 1984 The Chant Has Just Begun single release
O what can you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney.
Is There hope for the future?
Cry the brown bells of Merthyr.
Who made the mineowner?
Say the black bells of Rhondda
And who robbed the miner?
Cry the grim bells of Blaina.
They will plunder willy-nilly
Say the bells of Caerphilly
They have fangs, they have teeth
Shout the loud bells of Neath
The south, things are sullen
Say the pink bells of Brecon
Even God is uneasy
Say the moist bells of Swansea
Put the vandals in court!
Cry the bells of Newport
All would be well if-if-if-if
Say the green bells of Cardiff
Why so worried, sisters, why?
Cry the silver bells of Wye.
O what can you give me?
Say the sad bells of Rhymney.
Alternate Lyrics
(Page updated 02/11/2025)