The Coldest Winter In Memory

Album: Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (1996)
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  • [Chorus:]
    The coldest winter in memory was 1709
    The sea froze off the coast of France all along the Neptune line
    By the lost town of Dunwich the shore was washed away
    They say you hear the church bells still as they toll beneath the waves

    Come all you earthly princes, wheresoever you may be
    From the Sun King in the court of France to the Czar in Muscovy
    Take heed of Charles of Sweden, the Lion of the North,
    On the cracked earth of summer with his army he goes forth

    [Bridge:]
    Guardian angels wherever you may be,
    reach down and keep my soul for me

    I was there amongst that number, I heard the trumpets strain
    I saw the host of banners spread across the Polish plain
    Those who stood against us, they soon were swept away
    They may have the numbers but it's Charles shall have the day

    We cut our way through forests, crossed on frozen streams
    They fell away before us like a murmur in a dream
    And they burned the land around us as snow was closing in
    And the arms of winter took us as we fired against the wind

    [Bridge]
    Guardian angels wherever you may be,
    reach down and keep my soul for me

    Through all the courts of Europe there's a rumor from the East
    The kings have come to battle and it's Charles who's known defeat
    They'll shake their heads and wonder at how this came to be
    But it's nights without a shelter that have made an end for me

    Now Charles is fled to Turkey, left his men afar
    And they'll be marched through Moscow now as prisoners of the Czar
    And had I but known last summer what I know understand
    I'd have never set my foot inside this bleak and bitter land

    [Bridge]
    Guardian angels wherever you may be,
    reach down and keep my soul for me

    [Chorus]
    The coldest winter in memory was 1709
    The sea froze off the coast of France all along the Neptune line
    By the lost town of Dunwich the shore was washed away
    They say you hear the church bells still as they toll beneath the waves Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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