Red And Gold

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