Nineteen-fifteen 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 a tenor voice so pure and true
The words were strange but every note we knew
Soaring over the the living dead and damned
The German sang of peace from No Man's Land
They left their trenches and then we left ours
Beneath tin hats they smiled just like wildflowers
With photos, cigarettes, and pots of wine
We built a soldier's truce on the front line
Their singer was a lad of twenty-one
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 of peace is born for evermore
All's calm, all's bright
All brothers hand in hand
In nineteen-fifteen in No Man's Land
In the morning all guns boomed in the rain
And we killed them, and they killed us again
With bayonet, bomb, and bullet, gas, and flame
And neither we nor they at all to blame
There was heavy fighting right throughout the day
For one night's peace we bloodily did pay
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 of peace is born 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
Sleep in heavenly peace