So this is the most "Erin" thing that I have ever done. I tend to be an emotional type anyway, but yesterday, I found myself in tears, as I was sitting in Drew's truck, waiting for him as he ran inside to get something. I was listening to a new Christmas CD that we had just bought, the TranSiberian Orchastra. I love Christmas music...all different kinds, but I was really enjoying this CD because it was a little different than the typical "White Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman" that ya always hear. Then this song came on and for whatever reason, in listening to it, I was moved to tears. While that is not really that shocking if you truly know me...or really, know me just a little bit, I kind of surprised myself. The last Christmas song that I cried to was "Rocky Mountain Christmas"....and that was when I moved to San Diego and I was missing a Colorado Christmas.
Well, the singer has an old, kind of scratchy voice sets the tone in my opinion...and here are the lyrics. Maybe they will move you the same way they did me...if not, maybe the fact that it is Christmas, a time for caring and sharing and helping, will.
OLD CITY BAR
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
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
And here was the danger
That even with strangers I
nside of this night It's easier to believe
*
Then the door opened wide
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
And he asked did we know
That outside in the snow
That someone was lost
Standing outside our door
*
Then the bartender gazed
Then the bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze
Through the window and ice
Through the window and ice
To a corner streetlight
Where standing alone
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
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
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
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
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
*
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
So he walked back inside
Somehow different I think
For the rest of the night
No one paid for a drink
*
And the cynics will say
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
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
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
Why we're on our own
Never went home
On that night of all nights
We were already there
***
