1915 on Christmas Day On the western front the guns all died away And lying in the mud on bags of sand We heard a German sing from no man's land He had tenor voice so pure and true The words were strange but every note we knew Soaring o'er the living dead and damned A German sang of peace from no man's land
They left their trenches and we left ours Beneath tin hats the smiles bloomed like wild flowers With photos cigarettes and pots of wine We built a soldier's truce on the front line Their singer was a lad of 21 We begged another song before the dawn And sitting in the mud and blood and fear He sang again the song all longed to hear
Silent night, no cannons roar A King is born of peace for evermore All's calm, all's bright All brothers hand in hand In 19 and 15 in no man's land
And in the morning all the guns boomed in the rain And we killed them and they killed us again At night they charged - we fought them hand to hand And I killed the boy that sang in no man's land
Silent night, no cannons roar A King is born of peace for evermore All's calm, all's bright All brothers hand in hand And that young soldier sings And the song of peace still rings Though the captains and all the kings Built no man's land