Released: December 4, 2012

Songwriter: Bob Dylan

Producer: Casey Foubert Sufjan Stevens James McAlister

Ring them bells, ye heathen
From the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
Cross the valleys and streams
For they're deep and they're wide
And the world's on its side
And time is running backwards
And so is the bride

Ring them bells St. Peter
Where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an iron hand
So the people will know
Oh it's rush hour now
On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is going down
Upon the sacred cow

Ring them bells Sweet Martha
For the poor man's son
Ring them bells so the world will know
That God is one
Oh the shepherd is asleep
Where the willows weep
And the mountains are filled
With lost sheep

Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf
Ring them bells for all of us who are left
Ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through
Ring them bells, for the time that flies
For the child that cries
When innocence dies

Ring them bells St. Catherine
From the top of the room
Ring them from the fortress
For the lilies that bloom
Oh the lines are long
And the fighting is strong
And they're breaking down the distance
Between right and wrong

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on the Asthmatic Kitty label, which he formed with his stepfather, beginning with the 2000 release of A Sun Came. He is best known for his 2005 album Illinois, which hit number one on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA in 2017. His best known single is the song “Chicago” from the album.

He is also a member of Danielson with Daniel, Elin, Andrew, David, Lenny, Ida and Lilly Smith, Megan and Jedidiah Slaboda, Rachel Galloway and Christiaan and Melissa Palladino. Elin, Daniel and Megan have been featured as backing vocalists on several of his songs and Daniel has produced for Sufjan as well.

He also used to be a member of Marzuki (a group named after Sufjan’s brother, Marzuki Stevens). The group was comprised of Shannon Stephens, Jamie Kempkers and Matthew Haseltine.