Abstract
This chapter looks at the utilisation of a key war myth, the Christmas Truce of 1914, in popular music. The key elements of the myth are explained and compared with the actual events before describing a number of songs that closely adhere to the mythical conception, including Jona Lewie’s ‘Stop the Cavalry’, Paul McCartney’s ‘Pipes of Peace’, The Farm’s ‘Altogether Now’ and examples from the USA, Ireland, Australia and Denmark.
Two songs that ‘re-shape’ the myth of the truce are featured: Barclay James Harvest’s ‘The Ballad of Denshaw Mill and ‘Let the Truce be Known’ by Israel’s Orphaned Land.
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Grant, P. (2017). Football in No Man’s Land. In: National Myth and the First World War in Modern Popular Music. Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-60139-1_8
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