[Chorus]
C G F G C
Red and Gold are royal colours
Am F G
Peasant colours are green and brown
C F C Am
Green is the corn in the brown earth when it's growing
F C G C
Red and gold when the harvest is cut down
[Verse]
Dm F G
Through Cropredy in Oxfordshire, the Cherwell takes its course
C F G
And the willows weep into its waters clear
C F G C
My name it is Will Tims, it's here that I was born
F G C
Raised in faith, my King and god to fear
[Verse]
Dm F G
In sixteen forty-four, the King in Oxford Town did dwell
C F G
Though we'd heard that Cromwell's army was nearby
C F G C
It did not occur to me that little Cropredy
F G C
Could be witness to the meeting of both sides
[Verse]
Dm F G
On June the 29th that year, I was about my work
C F G
Cutting hedges in a meadow by the stream
C F G C
My blade slipped, I cut my hand, my own dear blood did flow
F G C
Upon the brown earth and the corn still green
[Verse]
Dm F G
Now it did distress me so to watch my own blood flow
C F G
And quickly soak into the greedy ground
C F G C
In red and gold my colours swam and sweat broke on my brow
F G C
Faint, I knew that I must lay me down
[Chorus]
C G F G C
Red and Gold are royal colours
Am F G
Peasant colours are green and brown
C F C Am
Green is the corn in the brown earth when it's growing
F C G C
Red and gold when the harvest is cut down
[Verse]
Dm F G
At first I thought the thundering was just inside my head
C F G
So I raised myself above the hedge to see
C F G C
And I watched as in a dream, as the armies fought downstream
F G C
The Battle for the Bridge at Cropredy
[Verse]
Dm F G
Now the King's men fought in red and gold, though Cromwell's men were plainer
C F G
The blood they spilled was coloured just the same
C F G C
Through the hedgerow's fragile cover, I saw brother killing brother
F G C
And all of this was done in Jesus' name
[Chorus]
G F G C
Red and Gold are royal colours
Am F G
Peasant colours are green and brown
C F C Am
Green is the corn in the brown earth when it's growing
F C G C
Red and gold when the harvest is cut down
[Verse]
Dm F G
All that day and all the next, the battle it was raging
C F G
Though when darkness came, I slipped away
C F G C
But the crying of the dying kept me wakeful and just lying
F G C
In my bed until the dawning of the day
[Bridge]
G C
And the dreams I had were red and gold
F C G
And the little stream became a flood
C F C Am
From all my brothers killing one another
F C G C
Till waking, I realised, it was all my own dear blood
[Instrumental]
C F G C Am F G
C F C Am F C G C
[Verse]
Dm F G
Some were buried in the church and some just where they fell
C F G
With no markers to declare their place of rest
C F G C
But the poppies they do grow where they were never sown
F G C
And to my mind they do declare it best
[Verse]
Dm F G
And each year when the green corn once again turns into gold
C F G
And the poppies in the field again remind me
C F G C
Like the scar upon my hand and the blood spilled on this land
F G C
And the hungry earth so eager to confine me
[Chorus]
G F G C
For red and gold they are the colours
Am F G
One is blood and one is power
C F C Am
Though I may find my rest in Cropredy church
F C G C
In golden fields forever, will spring the poppy flower
[Verse]
Dm F G
By Cropredy the Cherwell is still bidden to keep flowing
C F G
And the willows by its side still gently weep
C F G C
But still in restless dreams by this most peaceful stream
F G C
The poppies wake me from my rightful sleep
[Bridge]
G C
And the dreams I have are red and gold
F C G
And the little stream becomes a flood
C F C Am
From all my brothers killing one another
F C G C
Till waking, I realise, it's all my own dear blood
[Outro]
C F G C Am F G
C F C Am F C G C
C F G C Am F G C