Old City Bar

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

In an old city bar

That's never too far

From the places that gather

The dreams that have been

In the safety of night

With it's old neon light

It beckons to strangers

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



Then the bartender gazed

Through the smoke and the haze

Through the window and ice

To the corner street light

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"



Then the bartender came out

From behind the bar

And in all of his life

He was never that far

And he did somethng else

That he thought no one saw

When he took all the cash

From the register draw



Then he followed the child

To the girl across the street

And we watched from the bar

As they started to speak

Then he called for a cab

Then he said "JFK"

Put the girl in the cab

Then the cab drove away

And we saw in his hand

That the cash was all gone

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

To know who needs help,

You need only just ask



Then he looked for the child

But the child wa