New mown hay on a July morn
Grandkids running through the [F/A]knee-high corn
Sunburned nose and a scabbed-up knee
From a rope on the white oak [G/B]tree
Just another summer’s day at Grandpa’s farm
With Grandma’s bucket hanging off my arm
You know, the old pump’s rusty but it works fine
Primed with water from another time

CHORUS:
It don’t take much, but you [G/B]gotta have some
The old ways help the [F/A]new ways come
Just leave a little extra for the next in line
They’re gonna need a little water from another time

Tattered quilt on the goose-down bed
“Every stitch tells a story,” my [F/A]Grandma said
Her mama’s nightgown, her grandpa’s pants
And the dress she wore to her high school [G/B]dance
Now wrapped at night in its patchwork scenes
I waltz with Grandma in my dreams
My arms, my heart, my life entwined
With water from another time

CHORUS

Newborn cry in the [G/B]morning air
The past & future are [F/A]wedded there
This wellspring of my sons and daughters:
The bone and blood of living [G/B]waters
And, though Grandpa’s hand have gone to dust,
Like Grandma’s pump: reduced to rust,
Their stories quench my soul and mind
Like water from another time

CHORUS

Capo on 2

INTRO: D, G, A, D

My name is [D/C#]Frances Tolli[Bm/A]ver, I come from L[G/F#]iver-pool
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school
To Belgium [D/C#]and to Flande[Bm/A]rs, to Germany[G/F#], to here
I fought for King and country I love dear
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung
The frozen fields of [Bm/A]France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families [D/C#]back in England[Bm/A] were toasting [G/F#]us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far a-way

I was lying [D/C#]with my messmate[Bm/A], on the cold and [G/F#]rocky ground
When a-cross the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, now [D/C#]listen up me boys[Bm/A], each soldier s[G/F#]trained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear
He’s singing bloody well you know, my partner says to me
Soon one by one each [Bm/A]German voice, joined in in har-mo-ny
The cannons [D/C#]rested silen[Bm/A]t, the gas clouds [G/F#]rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war

As soon as [D/C#]they were finishe[Bm/A]d, and a reverent [G/F#]pause was spent
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, struck up some lads from Kent
The next they [D/C#]sang was “Stille [Bm/A]Nacht”, ‘tis “Silent [G/F#]Night” says I
And in two tongues, one song filled up that sky
There’s someone comin’ t’wards us, the frontline sentry cried
All sights were fixed on [Bm/A]one lone figure trudging from their side
His truce flag [D/C#]like a Christmas [Bm/A]star shone on that [G/F#]plain so bright
As he bravely strode un-armed into the night

Then one by [D/C#]one, on either [Bm/A]side, walked into [G/F#]No Man’s Land
With neither gun or bayonet, we met there hand to hand
We shared some [D/C#]secret bran[Bm/A]dy and wished each [G/F#]other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game, we gave ‘em hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes and photographs from home
These sons and fathers [Bm/A]far away from families of their own
Young Sanders [D/C#]played his squeezeb[Bm/A]ox and they had a [G/F#]vi-o-lin
This curious and un-likely band of men

Soon daylight [D/C#]stole u-pon u[Bm/A]s, and France was [G/F#]France once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war
But the question [D/C#]haunted every [Bm/A]heart that lived that [G/F#]wondrous night
Whose family have I fixed within my sights
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung
The frozen fields of [Bm/A]France were warmed as Christmas songs were sung
For the walls they [D/C#]kept be-tween u[Bm/A]s to ex-act the [G/F#]work of war
Had been crumbled and are gone for ever-more

Oh my name is [D/C#]Frances Tolliv[Bm/A]er, in Liver[G/F#]pool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War One, I’ve learned it’s lessons well
That the ones who [D/C#]call the shots[Bm/A], won’t be a-mong the [G/F#]dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle, we're the same

On the day that school let out
My sister Anne and me
Walked the fields behind our house
To find our Christmas tree
She was six years older
So she led the way
As we walked out to find the tree we’d have on Christmas day.
Now weeks of late November rain had brought the creek to flood

As we walked out across the field
Our boots sunk in the mud
I soon realized that I could step inside her prints so grand
Until it seemed like I was walking across the driest land

I was walking in your foot prints
Counting every step, measuring every move you made,
Every word you said, and I was dancing in your shadow, doing what you do.
I was learning how to be like me by being just like you.

Mom could hit a baseball
Lee could fly a kite,
Dad knew every constellation in the sky at night
And Ann could sing about every song that Elvis ever sung
And it wasn’t long before it seemed like I knew every one.

I was walking in your foot prints
Counting every step, measuring every move you made,
Every word you said, and I was dancing in your shadow, doing what you do.
I was learning how to be like me by being just like you.
I was watching how you walked and talked.
How you held you head.
Every joke that made you laugh.
Every book you read.
And how you always did your best when no one seemed to care,
How you did you did your duty,
How you did your share.

Now as I grow older
It’s so easy to forget all the ones who follow after me
I can’t imagine yet
Who learn what I remember,
Who do what I have done,
Every step I travel now
I walk for more than one.

I’m walking in your foot prints
Counting every step, measuring every move you made,
Every word you said, and I was dancing in your shadow, doing what you do.
I was learning how to be like me by being just like you.