FAIRYTALE OF NEW YORK

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.

And 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 the 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 scum bag,

you maggot.

You cheap lousy faggot.

Happy Christmas you arse,

I pray God

it’s our last.

 

The boys of the NYPD choir

were singing ‘Galway Bay’.

And the bells were 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

were singing ‘Galway Bay’.

And the bells were ringing

out for Christmas day.

 

Tekst/Mel.: Jem Finer/Shane MacGowan (The Pouges)