Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS 1914 (Cormac MacConnell) From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 01 Dec 03 - 02:55 AM This beautiful song was written by Cormac MacConnell, the brother of Mudcatter Chordstrangler (Mickey MacConnell) who has recorded it on his CD "Joined Up Writing." You can PM Mickey right here to order his superb recording. Seamus ^^ CHRISTMAS 1914 (by Cormac MacConnell) In the year 1914 on Christmas Day, On the Western front the guns all died away. And lying in the mud on bags of sand We heard the German sing from No Man's Land. He had a tenor voice so clear and true; The words were strange, but every note we knew. A-soaring o'er the living, dead and damned, That soldier sang of peace from No Man's Land. Chorus: Oh, Silent night, no cannons roar. A King is born of peace for ever more, All's calm, all's bright, all brothers hand in hand, A Soldier's song of peace from No Man's Land. They slowly left their trenches, we left ours. Beneath tin hats the smiles bloomed like wild flowers. With photos, cigarettes and flasks of wine, We made a soldier's peace on that front line. Their singer was a lad of twenty-one; We begged another song before the dawn, And sitting amid carnage, death and fear, He sang again the song all longed to hear. Chorus: In the morning all the guns roared in the rain, And they killed us and we killed them again With bayonet, bomb and bullet, gas and flame And neither them nor us at at all to blame. There was heavy fighting all throughout that day. For one night's peace we bitterly did pay. That night they charged, we fought them hand to hand And I shot the lad who sang from No Man's Land. Chorus: Oh, Silent night, no cannons roar, A king is born of peace for ever more. All's calm, all's bright, all brothers hand in hand, A soldier's song of peace from No Man's Land. O Silent night, Holy night, And his ghostly voice still rings As the young dead soldier sings Where the Captains and the Kings Built No Man's Land. DT #856 |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 From: Joe Offer Date: 01 Dec 03 - 11:07 AM Note that this is a response to the request in the thread called Christmas Day 1960-something. There's another song with the same name in the Digital Tradition, but this one is different. Mickey or Seamus, any chance we can get the melody for this? -Joe Offer- joe@mudcat.org |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 From: Keith A of Hertford Date: 01 Dec 03 - 12:55 PM The event has inspired a few songs. I find this one eloquently moving. Thanks. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 From: Seamus Kennedy Date: 01 Dec 03 - 03:38 PM Joe, being the technical dinosaur that I am, I have no idea how to do it, other than sending you my copy of Mickey's CD, which I'd be glad to do. I don't know if Mickey would like that though. PM him and ask. Seamus |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 From: Joe Offer Date: 01 Dec 03 - 11:30 PM I can't transcribe by ear, either, Seamus. Let's wait and see if Mickey comes through with the dots. -Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 From: GUEST,marion.h Date: 23 Mar 04 - 08:19 AM did anyone ever get the chords for this. I've just had it sent to me and would like to learn it. what a wonderful song |
Subject: RE: Origins: Song about Xmas & WWI From: seaJane Date: 27 Nov 06 - 06:34 PM Guess the question's been answered but I seem to recall that Mike Harding wrote a song on the Christmas Truce, too - just as a matter of interest. And Coope Boyes and Simpson did a whole disk around it (Kerstbestand = Christmas Truce). My grandfather spent Christmas 1914 afloat in the Dardanelles ... |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: oldhippie Date: 28 Nov 06 - 07:32 AM seaJane, re: the line in Mike Harding's song "Tommy brought some corned beef and fags", what are fags? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: Keith A of Hertford Date: 28 Nov 06 - 07:46 AM "fags" is the universal slang expression for cigerettes in UK. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: marion.h Date: 28 Nov 06 - 07:54 AM Yes thanks - eventually got the chords and sing this song. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: oldhippie Date: 28 Nov 06 - 05:10 PM Thanks, Keith A, I was able to download Mike Harding version from the internet. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,jon Date: 13 Sep 07 - 06:03 AM Has some one the chords or tab for Cormac's song. I'd be very grateful |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST Date: 08 Nov 07 - 10:25 AM Hi There , With all due respect,- this songs title is "Silent Night Christmas 1915" as sung by Jerry Lynch in his recording "The Dimming of the Day" and NOT 1914. This event did NOT happen in 1914. It happened in 1915. that is if I'm not mistaken. Can any other person confirm this, I wonder?????? All the Best. Dave. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: topical tom Date: 08 Nov 07 - 10:52 AM "Christmas 1914" is quite similar to John McCutcheon's "Christmas in the Trenches". Do anyone know if one inspired the other? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: open mike Date: 08 Nov 07 - 12:38 PM John McCutcheon says he heard the story backstage from a cleaning lady at an auditorium he was performing at in Kansas. He also says that when he performed this on tour in Europe/Germany there were several elderly men who sat in the front row at several of the gigs. He spoke with them after and they were there to hear that song, as they had experienced this. All records point to 1914... i believe the date 1915 is incorrect...although perhaps something similar happened that year too. (when did WW2 end?!) |
Subject: Chords Add: CHRISTMAS 1914 (Cormac MacConnell) From: Simon G Date: 08 Nov 07 - 03:23 PM Mick MacConnell in A - Capo 2 / G - - C G / Em - C - D / C - Am G / Am - C - D / In the year nineteen fourteen on Christmas Day On the western front the guns all died away And lying in the mud on bags of sand We heard the German sing from no mans land / G - - C G / Em - C - D / C - Am G / Am - D - G / He had a tenor voice so clear and true The words were strange but every note we knew A soaring o'er the living dead and damned A soldier sang of peace from no mans land Chorus / G - C G / Em - C D / C - Am - G / Am - D - G / Oh silent night, no cannon roar A King is born of peace for evermore All is calm was bright all brothers hand in hand A soldier's song of peace from no mans land / G - - C G / Em - C - D / C - Am G / Am - C - D / They slowly left their trenches we left ours Beneath tin hats the smiles bloomed like wild flowers With photos, cigarettes and flasks of wine We made the soldiers peace on that front line / G - - C G / Em - C - D / C - Am G / Am - D - G / Their singer was a lad of twenty one We begged another song before the dawn Sitting amid carnage death and fear We sang again the song all longed to hear Chorus / G - - C G / Em - C - D / C - Am G / Am - C - D / In the morning all the guns roared in the rain And they killed us and we killed them again Just bayonet, bomb and bullet, gas and flame And neither them nor us at all to blame / G - - C G / Em - C - D / C - Am G / Am - D - G / There was heavy fighting all throughout that day For one nights peace we bitterly did pay That night they charged, we fought them hand to hand And I shot the lad who sang from no man's land Chorus / G - - - / D - - C - G / Am - D - G / Oh Silent Night, Holy Night And his ghostly voice is raised as the young dead soldier sings Were the captains and the kings built no mans land |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes Date: 08 Nov 07 - 05:58 PM There were Christmas Truces in 1914 and a smaller number in 1915, so the memories were correct. Despite the text of the 1914 song, however, poison gas wasn't used on the Western Front until 1915. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,Chordstrangler Date: 08 Nov 07 - 09:41 PM Thanks for the interest in the song. The version I recorded is vastly different from the one recorded by Jerry Lynch...Just a matter of interpretation I suppose. Jerry's version was produced by the great PJ Curtis, so there is no argument with that.
Seamus, I would be delighted if you would supply Joe with the needful. Believe it or not, I don't even have a copy of the album anymore. When they sold out I decided not to press any more of them because I felt that there would be nothing more humiliating than going into a record shop and seeing "Joined Up Writing" staring up at me out of a bargain bin. Sadly, I neglected to keep one for myself. If you can help in spreading the song I would be grateful - incidentally, I'm also a technical dinosaur in addition to being musically illiterate. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,machree01 Date: 21 Nov 07 - 10:14 AM Here is the song " A Silent Night {Christmas 1915}" sung by Jerry Lynch. i post. http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=JT0ysO58KXE |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: David Ingerson Date: 22 Nov 07 - 03:38 AM Georgina above has it right. According to Christmas Truce by Malcolm Brown and Shirley Seaton, there were dozens of localized Christmas truces in 1914 but only two or three in 1915. The British command gave explicit orders in 1915 that any fraternizing would be severely punished and that any German above the parapet should be shot. One company commander (Capt. Sir Iain Colquhoun of the 1/Scots Guards) got into big trouble for allowing half an hour for the Germans and Brits to bury the dead bodies lying in No Man's Land. The Christmas truce of 1914 is an inspiring story and is very well told in the book Christmas Truce. David |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: Folkiedave Date: 22 Nov 07 - 05:12 AM Artisan do a version of Mike Harding's song. Starts off with Silent Night. CD number - BOING 9806. "Paper Angels" Some other good songs on there - including "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas". |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: joseph Date: 22 Nov 07 - 06:15 AM if you like this song,look up the lyrics for Belleau Wood written by Joe Henry and Garth Brooks.It asong about the same period and i think itys amush better song. thereis aversion by some one else on You Tube which you can download.let me know what you think.Irish tenor Peter Corry has also included it on his new Christms CD just released |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: Susan of DT Date: 22 Nov 07 - 07:23 AM Since there are now three related songs, I have put DT #856 on them. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,Curious Clouseau Date: 22 Nov 07 - 08:45 AM Has anyone got an MP3 of Cormac McConnell's "Christmas 1914"? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: oldhippie Date: 22 Nov 07 - 08:59 AM I do, Clouseau, listed as sung by Mickey MacConnell. Who has an mp3 of the Jerry Lynch song? |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,Curious Clouseau Date: 22 Nov 07 - 12:15 PM Any chance you could post up a link for it? Thanks. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: oldhippie Date: 22 Nov 07 - 12:19 PM PM me, I can e-mail it to you. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,denis mc d Date: 09 Dec 07 - 05:28 PM Probably one of the most touching pieces of musical poetry I have ever heard regardless of interpretation or disagreement about reference of date. Songs like this are all too rare unfortunately and I wiash I could get close to penning one. Denis. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST,McHughJ Date: 17 Dec 07 - 03:13 PM Hi Anyone ever came across a version of this song with a German Silent Night at the end (Stille Nacht) |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: GUEST Date: 17 Dec 07 - 06:13 PM I am puzzled. In his post above, Mickey says that his recorded 'version' is 'vastly different' from that by Jerry Lynch. However, if you listen to the Lynch version on Youtube - CLICK - the lyrics are very much the same except for a word or line altered here and there. Basically, is it correct to say that Cormac wrote the song and Jerry recorded it with minor changes, including the changed title? --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac McConnell) From: Stewie Date: 17 Dec 07 - 06:24 PM My apologies for the lost cookie in my previous post. Looking further, I can answer my own query. I note that the poster of the Lynch recording on Youtube confirms that the song was written by Cormac. My confusion related to my misinterpreting Mickey's post to mean that it was almost a different song. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac MacConnell) From: open mike Date: 04 Dec 10 - 01:45 PM this may be the song i heard sing by REDMOND O'COLONIES at the s.f. free folk fest some years ago.... |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac MacConnell) From: GUEST Date: 26 Oct 14 - 01:28 PM I was with Micky MacConnell at a songwriting workshop at the Ballyshannon Festival in (I think) 1982. He brought the original idea of the song from his brother and we worked on it during this session. There was some discussion at the time about what the year of the event was, but I seem to remember we decided 1914 was more accurate. I have since always sung it as 1914. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Christmas 1914 (Cormac MacConnell) From: GUEST Date: 26 Nov 20 - 07:42 PM guest Alan I quite like the danny doyle version |
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