John Denver Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913 song lyrics

A frosty Christmas Eve, when the stars where shining

I traveled for the home, where westward falls the hill

And for many, many a village, in the darkness of the valley

distant music reached me, peels of bells were ringing.

Then spread my thoughts to olden times, to that first of Christmases

when shepherds who were watching, heard music in the fields

and they sat there and they marveled, and they knew they could not tell

whether it were angels, or the bright stars a-singing

But to me heard a far, it was starry music

the singing of the angels, the comfort of our Lord

words of old that come a traveling, by the riches of the times

and I softly listened, as I stood upon the hill

and I softly listened, as I stood upon the hill