It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won't see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you

Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you
So happy Christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true

They've got cars big as bars
They've got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
It's no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold Christmas Eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me

You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day

You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing Galway Bay
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day

I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I've built my dreams around you

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing Galway Bay
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day


Lyrics submitted by iKickDogs, edited by RetroUltraModern

Fairytale of New York Lyrics as written by Shane Patrick Lysaght Macgowan Jem Finer

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Fairytale Of New York song meanings
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    General Comment

    'Complete antithesis of a Christmas Song'. I love it so much. I am of the opinion that it was about a young, reckless mand and woman who constructed their dreams around each other so much, they failed to realise it was doomed from the outset. However, there is a realisation that the young man in question appears to have stolen all that was pivotal for the young woman, and now it's all gone to rack and ruin, drink, drugs, sex. Happy Christmas your arse, I love it. It's going in all my Christas cards this year. The lines that get me are 'you were handsome, you were pretty'....evidently this has all been lost to some pipe dream that ended with lying on a bed on a drip in hospital. It is completely sad, and like I mentioned an antithesis to a true Christmas song, and a bloody welcome relief too.

    melodic_trashon December 20, 2004   Link

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