In an old city bar that is never too far
From the places that gather the dreams that have been
In the safety of night with its old neon light
It beckons to strangers and they always come in
And the snow it was falling, the neon was calling
The music was low, and the night, Christmas Eve
And here was the danger: that even with strangers
Inside of this night it's easier to believe
Then the door opened wide and a child came inside
That no one in the bar had seen there before
And he asked did we know that outside in the snow
That someone was lost standing outside our door
Then the bartender gazed through the smoke and the haze
Through the window and ice to a corner streetlight
Where standing alone by a broken pay phone
Was a girl the child said could no longer get home
And the snow it was falling the neon was calling
The bartender turned and said, 'Not that I care,
But how would you know this?' The child said,'I've noticed
If one could be home they'd be all ready there.'
Then the bartender came out from behind the bar
And in all of his life he was never that far
And he did something else that he thought no one saw
When he took all the cash from the register draw
Then he followed the child to the girl cross the street
And we watched from the bar as they started to speak
Then he called for a cab and he said 'J.F.K.'
Put the girl in the cab and the cab drove away.
And we saw in his hand that the cash was all gone
From the light that she had wished upon. . .
If you want to arrange it, this world you can change it
If we could somehow make this Christmas thing last
By helping a neighbor, or even a stranger
And to know who needs help you need only just ask
Then he looked for the child but the child wasn't there
Just the wind and the snow waltzing dreams through the air
So he walked back inside, somehow different I think
For the rest of the night mo one paid for a drink
And the cynics will say that some neighborhood kid
Wandered in on some bums in the world where they hid
But they weren't there, so they couldn't see
By an old neon star on that, night, Christmas Eve
When the snow it was falling, the neon was calling
And in case you should wonder, in case you should care
Why we're on our own, never went home
On that night of all nights
We were already there
Then all at once inside that night
He saw it all so clear
The answer that he sought so long
Had always been so near
It's every gift that someone gives
Expecting nothing back
It's every kindness that we do
Each simple little act
