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 |