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Lyrics
1.
CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
(Johnny Cash)
« © '63 House Of Cash, BMI »
(Praises sing to Christ the King and peace to men on earth)
On Christmas Eve I dreamed I traveled all around the earth
And in my dream I saw and heard the ways the different people hail the king
Whose star shone in the east and what a dream it was
In London Town I walked around Piccadilly Circus
A mass of people movin' here and there I wandered where
On every face at every place was hurry up I'm late
But a kind old man at a chestnut stand said merry Christmas mate
And I felt the Christmas spirit
[ choir ]
In a little town nestled down in Bavaria Germany
I walked along to see what the feeling there would be
And here again was the busy din the rushin' the yellin'
But some kind boy said Frohliche Weihnachten
Not understanding the words but gettin' the buyin' and sellin'
I felt the Christmas spirit
[ piano - choir ]
In Bethlehem I heard a hymn some distant choir sang
And with other tourists I walked along to a church as its bells rang
Then I heard someone tell someone there's where Christ was born
I wonder if he looked like our baby looked on that first morn
And then I really felt the Christmas spirit
From a businessman in the Holy Land as a sidewalk souvenirshop
I bought a little Bible since I'd hardly stopped
And it was in Paris France somehow by chance that I took the Bible out
And as I flipped the pages I saw these words and I knew what it was all about
For I read fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy
Which shall be to all people
For unto you he was born this day in the City of David a Saviour
Which is Christ the Lord
[ choir ]
Then I took the little Holy Book held it close and tight
I closed my eyes and visualized the glory of that night
So suddenly it came to me for when I awoke on Christmas Day
I felt the Christmas spirit down deep inside to stay
(O little town of Bethlehem how still we see Thee lie
Above Thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by
Yet in Thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight)
**********
2.
I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY
(Henry W. Longfellow - John B. Calkin)
« © '62 Good News Broadcasting, BMI »
I heard the bells on Christmas Day their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth goodwill to men
I thought how as the day had come the belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along unbroken song of peace on earth goodwill to men
And in despair I bowed my head there is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong that mocks the song of peace on earth goodwill to men
(Then pealed the bells more loud and deep God is not dead nor doubt he sleeps
The wrong shall fail the right prevail with peace on earth goodwill to men)
Till ringin' singin' on its way the world revolve from night to day
A voice a chime a chance so blind on earth goodwill to men
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep God is not dead nor doubt he sleeps
The wrong shall fail the right prevail with peace on earth goodwill to men
**********
3.
BLUE CHRISTMAS
(Bill Hayes - Jay Johnson)
« © '48 Universal PolyGram Int, ASCAP »
(I'll have a blue blue Christmas)
I'll have a blue blue Christmas without you
I'll be so blue thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won't mean a thing if you're not here with me
I'll have a blue Christmas that's certain
And when those blue blue heartaches start hurtin'
You'll be doing alright with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue blue Christmas
(I'll have a blue blue Christmas without you
I'll be so blue thinking about you)
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won't mean a thing if you're not here with me
(I'll have a blue Christmas that's certain
And when those blue blue heartaches start hurtin')
You'll be doing alright with your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue blue Christmas
(A blue blue Christmas without you)
**********
4.
GIFTS THEY GAVE
(Johnny Cash)
« © '63 Anne Rachel Music, ASCAP / Song Of Cash Music,
ASCAP »
Jesus our King kind and good was humbly born in a stable of wood
And the lowly beasts around him stood Jesus our King kind and good
I said the donkey shaggy and brown I carried his mother up and down
I carried his mother to Bethlehem town I said the donkey shaggy and brown
I said the ox this was my hay I gave him my manger twas here that he lay
I gave him my manger twas here that he lay I said the ox this was my hay
(I said the sheep with pearly horn I gave him my wool for a blanket warm
He wore my coat on Christmas morn I said the sheep with pearly horn)
I said the dove from the rafters high I sang him to sleep that he would not cry
We sang him to sleep my love and I I said the dove from the rafters high
And so every heart by some good spell in the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift they he gave to Emanuel of the gift that he gave to Emanuel
**********
5.
HERE WAS A MAN
(Johnny Bond - Tex Ritter)
« © '63 Vidor Publications, BMI »
(Joy to the world the Lord is come)
Here was a man a man who was born in a small village the son of a peasant woman
He grew up in another small village
Until he reached the age of thirty he worked as a carpenter
Then for three years he was a traveling minister
But he never traveled more than two hundred miles from where he was born
And where he did go he usually walked
He never held political office he never wrote a book never bought a home
Never had a family he never went to college and he never set foot inside a big
city
Yes here was a man
Though he never did one on the things usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself he had nothing to do with this world
Except through the devine purpose that brought him to this world
While he was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him
Most of his friends ran away one of them denied him
One of them betrayed him and turned him over to his enemies
Then he went through the mockery of a trial
And was nailed to a cross between two thieves
And even while he was dying his executioners gambled
For the only piece of property that he had in this world
And that was his robe his purple robe
When he was dead he was taken down from the cross
And laid in a borrowed grave provided by compassionate friends
More than nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today he's a centerpiece of the human race
Our leader in the column to human destiny
I think I'm well within the mark when I say that all of the armies that ever
marched
All of the navies that ever sailed the seas
All of the legislative bodies that ever sat and all of the kings that ever
reigned
All of them put together have not affected the life of man on this earth
So powerfully as that one solitary life
Here was a man (joy to the world the Lord is come)
**********
6.
CHRISTMAS AS I KNEW IT
(June Carter - Jan Howard)
« © '63 Unichappell Music, BMI »
One day near Christmas when I was just a child
Mama called us together and mama tried to smile
She said you know the cottoncrop hasn't been too good this year
There's just no spending money and well at least we're all here
I hope you won't expect a lot of Christmas presents
Just be thankful that there is plenty to eat
That's quite a blessing that'll make things a little more pleasant
And us kids got to thinking how really blessed we were
At least we were all healthy and best of all we had her
Roy cut down a pigapple tree and we drug it home Jack and me
Daddy killed a squirrel and Louise made the bread
Reba decorated the tree with popcorn strings before we went to bed
Mama and daddy sacrificed cause this Christmas was lean
But after all there was the babies Tom and Joanne babies need a few things
I whittled a whistle for my brother Jack and though we fought now and then
When I gave Jack that whistle he knew I thought the world of him
Mama made the girl's dresses out of flower sacks
And when she ironed them down you couldn't tell that they hadn't come from town
A sharecropped family across the road didn't have it as good as us
They didn't even have a light and it was way past dusk
And mama said well I bet they don't even have coaloil or beans to boil
A log apples cranges and such
Me and Jack took a jar of coaloil nd some hickernuts we'd found
We walked to the sharecropper's porch and set 'em down
A poor old ragged lady eased open the door
She picked up the coaloil and hickernuts and said
I sure do thank ye and quickly closed the door
We started back home me and Jack and about halfway we stopped looked back
And in the sharecropper's window at last was a light
So for one of the neighbors and for us it was a good Christmas night
Christmas came and Christmas went Christmas that year was heaven sent
Then daddy put on his gumboots waited for the thaw back home in Dyess Arkansas
**********
7.
SILENT NIGHT
(Franz Gruber - Joseph Mohr)
« © '53 Educational Graphic Press, BMI »
(Silent night holy night)
Silent night holy night all is calm all is bright
Round young virgin mother and child holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace sleep in heavenly peace
Silent night holy night all is dark save the light
See the eastern wise men bring gifts and homage to our King
Christ the Saviour is born Jesus the Saviour is born
Silent night (holy night) all is calm all is bright
Poorest dreams from heaven afar heavenly host sing hallelujah
(Christ the Savious is born Jesus the Saviour is born)
Silent night holy night wonderous dark lend Thy light
With the angels let us sing hallelujah hail the King
Christ the Saviour is born Jesus the Saviour is born
**********
8.
LITTLE DRUMMER BOY
(Katherine Davis - Henri Onerati - Harry Simeone)
« © '61 Mills Music, ASCAP / Gambler Publishing, BMI »
Come they told me our newborn King to see
Our finest gifts we bring to lay before the King
This is to honor him when we come
Baby Jesus I am a poor boy too I have no gift to bring that's fit to give a King
But may I play for you on my drum
The mother Mary nodded the ox and lamb kept time
I played my drum for him I played my best for him
Then he smiled at me me and my drum
**********
9.
RINGING THE BELLS FOR JIM
(June Carter - Jan Howard)
« © '63 House Of Cash, BMI / Unichappell Music, BMI »
The father heard church bells at midnight a wrong time for church bells to chime
He went to the tower found a little girl there said why ring the bells at this
time
I'm just ringing the bells for Jim please father ringing the bells for Jim
I'm sorry I'm cryin' but my brother Jim's dyin' so I'm ringing the bells for Jim
Please father pray for him this Christmas he's sick and he's in so much pain
The doctors all say he'll be gone any day so I must ring the bells again
I'm just ringing the bells for Jim...
[ ac.guitar ]
On the day after Christmas she brought him said father heed little Jim
You see he got well when he heard the church bells I was ringing the bells for
Jim
I'm just ringing the bells for Jim...
**********
10.
WE ARE THE SHEPHERDS
(Johnny Cash)
« © '63 Anne Rachel Music, ASCAP / Song Of Cash Music,
ASCAP »
So here is the stable and there is the manger
The new Saviour sleeps on his first earthly night
The wise men brought riches but we brought a candle
It's all that we have but it gives a good light
We are the shepherds we walked cross the mountains
We left our flocks when the new star appeard
Oh the beautiful singin' of heavenly choir
We had to come see him we had to come here
We beg you forgive us for such a small offering
But our sheep are out there with wolves in the night
We bring you this candle it's all we have with us
But with it the new Saviour has his first light
We are the shepherds...
We thank Thee kind Joseph for bidding us enter
Please take our gift for the new babe to thine
'Tis only one candle but it is our symbol
Of how we believe that his great life will shine
We are the shepherds...
**********
11.
WHO KEPT THE SHEEP
(Johnny Cash - June Carter)
« © '63 House Of Cash, BMI / Unichappell Music, BMI »
The shepherds afar left their flocks by night
Followed the new star by its heavenly light
Did the lambs fear the wolves did they lay down and sleep
Who kept the sheep who kept the sheep
Did robbers not steal or did they fear the light
That the shepherds had followed night after night
Did they not stray did little lambs weep
Who kept the sheep who kept the sheep
Under the new star the new Saviour lay
In his dim manger he lay on the hay
The shepherds that came had a vigil to keep
But who kept the sheep who kept the sheep
Who kept the sheep who kept the sheep
**********
12.
BALLAD OF THE HARP WEAVER
(Vincent Millay)
« © '63 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »
Son said my mother when I was knee high
You need of clothes to cover you and not a rag have I
There's nothing in the house to make a boy's britches
Nor shears to cut a cloth with nor thread to take stitches
There's nothing in the house but a leaf end of rye
And the harp with a with the woman's head nobody will by and she began to cry
That was in the early fall and when came the late fall
Son she said the sight of you makes your mother's blood crawl
Little skinny shoulder blades stickin' through your clothes
And where you get a jacket from God above knows
It's lucky for me lad your daddy's in the ground
And can't see the way I let his son go around and she made a queer sound
That was in the late fall when the winter came
I'd not a pair of bridges nor a shirt to my name
I couldn't go to school or out of doors to play
And all the other little boys passed our way
Son said my mother come climb into my lap
And I'll chave your little knees while you take a nap
And oh but we were silly for half an hour or more
Me with my long legs draggin' on the floor
I rocked rocked rocked to a mother goose rhyme
Oh but we were happy for half an hour's time
But there was I a great boy and what would folks say
To hear my mother singin' me to sleep all day in such a daft way
Men say the winter was bad that year fuel was scarce and food was dear
A wind with a wolf's head howled about our door
And we burned up the chairs and sat upon the floor
All that was left us was a chair we couldn't break
And the harp with the woman's head nobody would take for song or pity sake
The night before Christmas I cried with the cold
I cried myself to sleep like a two year old
And in the deep night I felt my mother rise
And stare down upon me with love in her eyes
I saw my mother sitting on the one good chair
A light falling on her face from I couldn't tell where
Looking nineteen and not a day older
And the harp with the woman's head leaned against her shoulder
Her thin fingers moving in the thin tall strings
Were weave weave weaving wonderful things
Many bright threads from where I couldn't see
Were running through the harp strings rapidly
And gold threads whistlin' through my mother's hands
I saw the web grow and the pattern expand
She wove a child's jacket and when it was done
She laid it on the floor and wove another one
She wove a red cloak so regal to see
She's made it for a king's son I said and not for me but I knew it was for me
She wove a pair of bridges and quicker than that
She wove a pair of boots a little cocked hat
She wove a pair of mittens she wove a little blouse
She wove all night in the still cold house
She sang as she worked and the harp strings spoke
But her voice never faltered and the thread never broke
But when I awoke there sat my mother
With the harp against her shoulder lookin' nineteen and not a day older
A smile about her lips and a light about her head
And her hands in the harp strings frozen dead
And piled up beside her toppling to the skies
Were the clothes of a king's son just my size
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