Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches

Subject: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: InOBU
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 07:11 AM

Anyone have the words to this? I know it from the singing of the great Mary Courtney of Dingle. It is about the instance where, during WWI, there was a spontanious truce when the armies began singing Christmas carols together, then they got out of the trenches into no man's land, and exchanged gifts, and played football through the night, returning to the trenches to kill each other in the morning...
Cheers,
Larry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: masato sakurai
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 07:17 AM

Larry, CHRISTMAS IN THE TRENCHES is in the DT.
~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 08:01 AM

Larry, we've often discussed this song here and where in it we all decide we have to stop and cry! The story is basically true and at several points along the line these incidents took place but they were a throwback to previous wars. Some historians have noted that the 19th Century didn't end until the end of the Christmas Truce of 1914.

Soldiers on both sides took part and they were mainly enlisted men. It actually began with the singing and then a German soldier bring out a small Christmas tree lit with candles, not a truce flag. It also continued throughout the day and the following night. Few officers took part and the upper brass, both British and German, immediately issued orders to stop this at once as they knew that men who had sung, talked, and played together, were not about to go back and kill each other. In one place, the truce actually went on for a few days and the brass came down hard on the officers there. This part of the truce ended with a British officer shooting a German soldier.

There is a lot of good info on the web about this but I must put in a plug for the History Channel. A few weeks ago they aired an outstanding special on this. One of the interesting things to see was the relatives of these men coming together. This happens almost daily in the little village nearby where they actually have a service daily to mark the event and each day relatives come.....simply amazing.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 07 Jan 03 - 08:10 AM

Hi Larry,

have a look at this thread. In the Collected Short Stories of Robert Graves this event is mentioned in a very interesting story.

Happy new year, my friend!
Wilfried

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: InOBU
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 07:28 AM

Thanks Friends! I must have spelt the name wrong when I searched the forum! Mary Courtney tells a lovely story about the fellow who wrote the song, being approached by an old man, after a concert, who with tears in his eyes, thanked him for writing it, telling him that he was a participant in the truce and many folks did not believe him in latter years when he told the story, and thanked the song writer for keeping alive the memory of the event.
Peace and happy new year, Larry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: Mr Happy
Date: 09 Jan 03 - 07:40 AM

would they be able to do it these days, i wonder, or would every trench need a PEL?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: open mike
Date: 04 Dec 05 - 01:55 PM

this song is good at any time of year, but especially christmas!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 05 Dec 05 - 08:52 AM

Is line 3 in DT version correct please anyone?

"To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 08:24 AM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: GUEST,saulgoldie
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 09:03 AM

Keith,
In the version I have heard with John McCutcheon (the author) singing it that is, indeed, the line.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 10:00 AM

Thanks Saul.
I don't get it though.
I think I will drop the intro verse.
Keith.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 09:24 AM

There's much else not to get also.
The basis of a good song but the author knows little of the army or ww1
Write about what you know.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: open mike
Date: 17 Dec 07 - 04:00 PM

Yes, John McCutcheon saw several WW1 vets at his concerts in Europe,
and found out that they wqere survivors of this truce event.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: Peace
Date: 17 Dec 07 - 04:08 PM

Combine the threads?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in the trenches
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 18 Dec 07 - 08:26 AM

The man's (John McCutcheon) been singing this song for nearly 20 years, but I heard him in concert earlier this month and you'd think he was telling the story for the first time. What a song, what a singer.