'Carol of the Bells' has been recorded into over 150 versions and re-arrangements for varying vocal and instrumental compositions.

The song gained further popularity when it was featured in television advertisements for champagne in the 1970s by French a cappella group the Swingle Singers.

ДЄmerican recordings by various artists began to surface on the radio in the 1940s. Two other versions exist by anonymous writers: one from 1957 titled 'Come Dance and Sing' and one from 1972 that begins 'Hark to the bells'. 'Ring, Christmas Bells', an English-language variant featuring nativity-based lyrics, was written by Minna Louise Hohman in 1947. Problems playing this file? See media help.

Instrumental arrangement of 'Carol of the Bells' for string ensemble It is now strongly associated with Christmas because of its new lyrics, which reference bells, caroling, and the line 'merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas'. Its initial popularity stemmed largely from Wilhousky's ability to reach a wide audience as his role as arranger for the NBC Symphony Orchestra. It was first aired during the Great Depression, and Wilhousky copyrighted the new lyrics in 1936 and also published the song, despite the song having been published almost two decades earlier in the Ukrainian National Republic. Wilhousky rearranged the melody for orchestra with new lyrics for NBC radio network's symphony orchestra, centered around the theme of bells because the melody reminded him of hand bells, which begins 'Hark! How the bells'. Two other settings of the composition were also created by Leontovych: one for women's choir (unaccompanied) and another for children's choir with piano accompaniment. The original work was intended to be sung a cappella by mixed four-voice choir. It was introduced to Western audiences by the Ukrainian National Chorus during its 1919 concert tour of Europe and the Americas, where it premiered in the United States on October 5, 1922, to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall. The song was first performed by students at Kyiv University in December 1916, but the song lost popularity in Ukraine shortly after the Soviet Union took hold. The songs sung for this celebration are known as Shchedrivky. With the introduction of Christianity to Ukraine and the adoption of the Julian calendar, the celebration of the New Year was moved from April to January, and the holiday with which the chant was originally associated became Malanka ( Ukrainian: Р©РµРґСЂРёР№ РІРµС‡С–СЂ Shchedry vechir), the eve of the Julian New Year (the night of January 13вЂ“14 in the Gregorian calendar).

The original Ukrainian title translates to 'the generous one' or is perhaps derived from the Ukrainian word for bountiful (shchedryj), and tells a tale of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the bountiful year that the family will have. The original folk story related in the song was associated with the coming New Year, which, in pre- Christian Ukraine, was celebrated with the coming of spring in April. The conductor of the Ukrainian Republic Choir, Oleksander Koshyts (also spelled Alexander Koshetz) commissioned Leontovych to create the song based on traditional Ukrainian folk chants, and the resulting new work for choir, 'Shchedryk', was based on four notes Leontovych found in an anthology. ( March 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification.

In christ alone lyrics in ukrainian