Chords:
C/G     x32013
G/B     x20033
Am7     x02213
G       320003
Fadd9   131213
Em      022003
G*      320033
F       x33211
C       x32010

      C/G       G/B
In an old city bar
        Am7       G
That's never too far
          Fadd9          Em
From the places that gather
           Fadd9              G*
From the dreams that have been
        C/G        G/B
In the safety of night
      Am7       G
By an old neon light
    Fadd9           Em
It beckons to strangers
     Fadd9             G*
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
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

And the bartender gazed
Through the smoke and the haze
Through the window and ice
To that 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 already there."

           F             C
Then the bartender came out
       G         C
From behind the bar
   F           C
In all of his life
        G          C
He was never that far
       F             C
And he did something else
          G             C
That he thought no one saw
        F            C
And he took all the cash
            G        C
From the register drawer

           G*           C
Then he followed the child
        F                C
To the girl across the street
         G*              C
And we watched from the bar
          F          C
As they started to speak
          F           C
Then he called for a cab
       G*          C
And he said, "J.F.K."
         F           C
Put the girl in the cab
         G*          C
Then the cab drove away
       F           C
And we saw in his hands
          G*            C
That the cash was all gone
          F             C           G*
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
The child wasn't there
Just the wind and the snow
Waltzing dreams through the air
And 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
That some neighborhood kid
Wondered in on some bums
In the world where they hid
But they werent there
So they couldnt see
By an old neon star
On that night Christmas Eve

When the snow it was falling
The neon was calling
In case you should wonder
In case you should care
Why we on our own
Never went home
On that night of all nights
We were already there