Shane Mac Gowan
C F
It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank
C G
An old man said, “Son, I won’t see another one”
C F
And then he sang a song, a rare old mountain tune
C G C G
I turned my eyes away, and I thought about you
I got on a lucky one, came in at 18/1
I’ve got a feeling this year’s for me and you
So Happy Christmas, I love you baby
There’s going to be good times
When all our dreams come true.
C
They’ve got cars big as bars
F
They’ve got rivers of gold
C
But the wind blows right through you
G
It’s no place for the old
C
When I first took your hand on a cold Christmas Eve
F G
I told you that Broadway was waiting for me.
You were handsome and pretty, queen of New York city
When the band finished playing, the crowd howled for more
Sinatra was swinging, and the crowd they were singing
We kissed on the corner and danced round the floor.
CHORUS
F C Am
And the boys from the New York police choir were singin’ Galway Bay
F G C
And the bells were ringin’ out on Christmas Day
I could have been someone and so could anyone
I took my dreams from you when I first met you
I kept them with me, babe, and put them with my own
I can’t make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you.
C G C F
You’re a bum you’re a punk you’re an aul hoor on junk
C G C G
Lyin’ there on the drip nearly dead in the bed
C G C C
You scumbag you maggot you cheap lousy faggot
C F G C
Happy Christmas me arse, I would rather be dead…
CHORUS
[Extra verse from the live version]
I love you baby
I’ve got a feeling this year’s for me and you
So Happy Christmas, I love you baby
There’s going to be good times
When all our dreams come true.
The most written about song in my repertoire,Shane and Jem Finer fairly nailed it with this classic.Why cover it at all the pricks often ask.It is a wonderful song to sing,magical to dream through,faces from my past inhabit the characters of the story.Some fail to understand that we sing songs, primarily, for personal reasons, not to do a “better” version or gain fortune and acclaim.The definitive version is Shane and Kirsty and The Pogues.How many songs have had films made about them? Then there is the ” The Haggart” version.