DESCRIPTION:
(c)1997 Written by Joe Henry & Garth Brooks
Track #14 on Garth Brooks´s album "Sevens"
Arr. stagwolf
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Oh, the snowflakes fell in silence over Belleau Wood that night
For a Christmas truce had been declared by both sides of the fight.
As we lay there in our trenches the silence broke in two
By a German soldier singing a song that we all knew.
Though I did not know the language the song was "Silent Night"
Then I heard my buddy whisper, "All is calm, all is bright".
Then the fear and doubt surrounded me ´cos I´d die if I was wrong
But I stood up in my trench and I began to sing along.
Then across the frozen battlefield another´s voice joined in
Until one by one each man became a singer of the hymn..
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht, alles schläft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute, hochheilige Paar. Holder Knabe im lockichten Haar
Schlaf´ in himmlischer Ruh´, schlaf´ in himmlischer Ruh´.
Then I thought I was dreaming for right there in my sight
Stood the German soldier ´neath the falling flakes of white.
And he raised his hand and smiled at me as if he seemed to say
Here´s hoping we both live to see us find a better way.
Then the devil´s clock struck midnight and the skies lit up again
And the battlefield where heaven stood was blown to hell again..
But for just one fleeting moment the answer seemed so clear.
Heaven´s not beyond the clouds it´s just beyond the fear.
No, heaven´s not beyond the clouds it´s for us to find it here..
~~~
Dropped D tuning
~~~
Embedded "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht"
Written By Franz Xaver Gruber & Joseph Mohr
~~~
Enemies exchange Christmas greetings
On and around Christmas Day 1914, the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding fade in a number of places along the Western Front in favor of holiday celebrations in the trenches and gestures of goodwill between enemies.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.
Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man's land between the lines.
The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers' threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers' essential humanity endured.