Red And Gold chords by Fairport Convention

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Difficulty: Novice

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