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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
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 a 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 scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still 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
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day
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
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 a 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 scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last
The boys of the NYPD choir
Still 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
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells are ringing out
For Christmas day
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The old man sings a sentimental song about whiskey and the drunk man has a dream....the dream takes place in the late 40's, early 50's, when he first met the girl of his dreams, who apparently was an Irish immigrant (she talks about NY as if she is hearing about it in Ireland before she comes.....Cars big as bars, rivers of gold, but a cold win, and no place for old people)
In the dream, several things become clear, either he (also an Irish immigrant) talked her into coming to America ("you promised that Broadway was waiting for me"), or he was a NY Irishman who met her here and swept her off her feet on a Christmas eve when Sinatra was playing and everything was Magical.....They are also both now older and have serious drug problems (he, alcohol, she, heroin) ...they talk to each other like alcoholics....overly sentimental one moment, nasty insults the next....
It's possible they are still together, but I think it's not likely....I think she was the great love of his life, and he is dreaming that he is talking to her.....almost as if the two dying spirits are reconciling.....he never really stopped loving her in his drunken way....and it's not too late for them to reconcile somehow in the spirit world, with the grace of forgiveness that comes with Christmas....that Christmas eve memory being the great moment of their lives....
the "got on a lucky one" refernece means he hit it big at the track on an 18 to 1 horse, and took it to mean that he was on a roll, and that his luck would be good, and times would improve.....
Guy wins on the horses so goes out celebrating, feeling lucky he thinks of her and hopes they'll be back together in the new year ("ive got a feeling this years for me and you"),
Becomes too drunk and ends up in the cells, *Next im assuming its her that bails him out and they're now sat talking, probably in a coffee shop trying to sober him up*. They remember when they met and how in love they were - But im thinking they both were/or became addicted to drugs so everything when wrong, so they had a massive break up (hense the insults). The last verse seems to them telling each other how they feel now, how he never forgot what he 'promised' her and, as the lyrics go, how he kept her dreams with his own.
I think all the choruses except for the last one refer to the past, but the last one is them now. They end up in the same place: early xmas day, bells ringing, choir 'STILL' singing. just like before. So maybe they start over again.
- So thats what I think its about, all in all its an amazing/emotional song.
The song does a beautiful job of telling us, showing us, that story. But I'd differ a bit from some of the other posts that assume that they've stayed together only because they've no other choice- I'd suggest that there is an enduring level of... something... that holds them together, which is why the song is, after all is said and done, so sweet- as to bring tears to so many of our eyes.
The deeper level that it suggests to me is the basic Irish reality- a resilient, optimistic, mystical character, tempered or overlaid with a very deep sadness and longing for things lost- times lost, a land and language lost, loved ones lost. That is the same reality played out so well in Thousands Are Sailing, the other great sad and beautiful song on this album.
What amazes me about the lyric though, regardless or not about whether there was any violence, is how in 8 lines, you go from accusal to reconciliation.
Also, many people seem to think of it as saying even though they love/hate each other and blame each other for the destruction of their dreams, they stay together because they don't know what else to do; does anyone else assume they've broken up by the end? I always have. In the intro, which is sort of the epilogue, he's alone in the drunk tank; I assumed he was spending Christmas Eve drinking alone. I guess it's possible, going back to my first paragraph, that it's because she's dead, but I always interpreted it as they fall apart as people and then they fall apart as a couple.
Anyway, this song is brilliant. The melody always gets me; the soaring heady chorus reflects how happy they are on that first Christmas Eve as they "kiss on the corner then dance through the night," but the verses, which are a little more subdued musically (especially the last one), follow their downward spiral as New York City marches on unconcernedly without them. They have so many hopes and dreams and the city just chews them up and spits them out, and it seems from the intro that he, at least, won't ever recover.
However I never really understood the part "Got on a lucky one / Came in eighteen to one"
Could someone explain what this refers to?
Thanks in advance!
/PS/ sorry I got mixed up & sent a reply instead of a comment... Sorry again, I'm just getting started!
Came in eighteen to one
I've got a feeling
This year's for me and you...
Yes it's bit "blurry"
Came in eighteen to one???
Some native Irish to put some explantaion for this one?
Really beautiful song....
I first heard it in the movie BASQUIAT
About 1980s New York No Wave
Neo-Expressionist ex-graffiti
Purity Of Image Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Wonderful.
Just Breathtaking.
It never feels like Christmas till I hear it.
I just heard it for the first time this yeah
I cried a bit from happiness