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In an old city bar |
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That is never too far |
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From the places that gather |
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The dreams that have been |
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In the safety of night |
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With its old neon light |
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It beckons to strangers |
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And they always come in |
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And the snow it was falling |
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The neon was calling |
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The music was low |
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And the night |
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Christmas Eve |
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And here was the danger |
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That even with strangers |
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Inside of this night |
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It's easier to believe |
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Then the door opened wide |
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And a child came inside |
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That no one in the bar |
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Had seen there before |
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And he asked did we know |
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That outside in the snow |
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That someone was lost |
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Standing outside our door |
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Then the bartender gazed |
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Through the smoke and the haze |
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Through the window and ice |
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To a corner streetlight |
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Where standing alone |
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By a broken pay phone |
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Was a girl the child said |
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Could no longer get home |
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And the snow it was falling |
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The neon was calling |
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The bartender turned |
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And said, not that I care |
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But how would you know this? |
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The child said I've noticed |
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If one could be home |
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They'd be all ready there |
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Then the bartender came out from behind the bar |
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And in all of his life he was never that far |
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And he did something else that he thought no one saw |
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When he took all the cash from the register draw |
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Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street |
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And we watched from the bar as they started to speak |
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Then he called for a cab and he said J.F.K. |
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Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away |
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And we saw in his hand |
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That the cash was all gone |
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From the light that she had wished upon |
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If you want to arrange it |
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This world you can change it |
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If we could somehow make this |
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Christmas thing last |
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By helping a neighbor |
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Or even a stranger |
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And to know who needs help |
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You need only just ask |
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Then he looked for the child |
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But the child wasn't there |
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Just the wind and the snow |
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Waltzing dreams through the air |
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So he walked back inside |
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Somehow different I think |
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For the rest of the night |
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No one paid for a drink |
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And the cynics will say |
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That some neighborhood kid |
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Wandered in on some bums |
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In the world where they hid |
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But they weren't there |
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So they couldn't see |
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By an old neon star |
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On that night, Christmas Eve |
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When the snow it was falling |
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The neon was calling |
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And in case you should wonder |
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In case you should care |
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Why we're on our own |
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Never went home |
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On that night of all nights |
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We were already there |
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THEN ALL AT ONCE INSIDE THAT NIGHT |
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HE SAW IT ALL SO CLEAR |
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THE ANSWER THAT HE SOUGHT SO LONG |
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HAD ALWAYS BEEN SO NEAR |
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IT'S EVERY GIFT THAT SOMEONE GIVES |
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EXPECTING NOTHING BACK |
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IT'S EVERY KINDNESS THAT WE DO |
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EACH SIMPLE LITTLE ACT |