Key: D major


Intro (reminiscent of The Kinks' Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon)

D/+D/+D/+B/+B/+B/+B/+B5
A/+A/+A/+A/+A/+A/+A/+A/

( D5 )
What do I hear, what do I hear?
( B5 )
Chit-chat, and clinking glass
( A5 )                       ( A5 )
Cheap talk, a lady's laugh after hours
( D5 )
What do I see, what do I see?
( B5 )
Some sunken hide-away
( A5 )                    ( B5 )
Where people go to play after hours

[4/4 Half tempo]
( E5 )                     ( A5 ) ( D5 )
There I'll spend the night, meeting fancy things
( A5 )( E5 )                                        ( A5 )
At bistros and old haunts, trying very hard to sin

(Idem , see verse 1)
Then it is day, and in a way
The pattern's much the same
In-spots, a matinee, ev'ry day
Blend with the crowd, blend with the loud
Hypnotic ebb and flow 
Until the day goes slowly into night

[4/4 Half tempo]
(Idem , see above)
See the same old crowd at bistros and old haunts
Till the lights grow dim the not so subtle hint to be gone

CHORUS
( F5 )   ( F5 )      ( F5 )          ( F5 )
Thank God, it's not Christmas
     ( F5 )     ( G5 )( G5 )( G5 )        ( G5 ) ( G5 )
When there's only you and nothing else to do
( F5 )   ( F5 )   ( F5 )          ( F5 )
Thank God, it's not Christmas
     ( F5 )          ( G5 ) ( G5 ) ( G5 )( G5 ) (C5 )
When there's just you to do
( G5 )                          ( A5 )
The rest is closed to public view

(See verse 1)
Caroling kids, caroling kids
A trifle premature 
In tones so rich and pure, and crystalline
Call for the day, the popular day
It's fast approaching now 
But will the mood allow one descent

[4/4 Half tempo, see above]
If this were the Seine
We'd be very suave
But it's just the rain
Washing down the boulevard

CHORUS

(See verse 1)
Popular days, popular ways
Are for the chosen few
Not meant for me and you, obviously

[4/4 Half tempo]
If this were the Seine ...
(repeat)

(See verse 1)
Popular nights, popular rites
Great things to say and do
Aren't said or done by you, obviously

CHORUS

Coda: A/A5
A/A/D5 (vocal ending in high D5 )