By this time a harder rocking stage
Would be impossible to find
And though no one was now drinking
The owner did not seem to mind

And the angel marveled how one man
Could turn around a life
And then that life turn around another's
And how it rippled through this night

But there was someone in that room
Whose heart had not been changed
A heart that had grown so hard
You'd have thought it could never be arranged

It was the businessman from downtown
Who had stopped there to rest his feet
And he clung to his drink
(where he watched his thoughts sink)
While any strangers, he refused to greet

You could see upon his face
How happiness had been so long deferred
It was practically as if unhappiness
Had somehow become preferred

Now the angel had not seen the businessman
Though they had in that room been near
Nor did the angel see him as he left the bar
When he could no longer stand this christmas cheer

And as the businessman exited the door
He heard someone complaining on the tv
It was the "grinch" ranting against christmas
And the man found that he agreed

(What is Christmas?)

What is christmas?
Tinseled fairytales
Day old stockings lined up in a row

What is christmas
Could someone tell me that?
What is christmas?
Surely, I don't know

And everywhere these lights
Who needs to color night?
Could this whole thing be planned?
I do not understand

This christmas
Trees with colored lights
Underneath they still are only trees
Do you think that one day perhaps they might
Find that christmas
Is kind of a disease?

Every year it's waiting for me
Waiting for me
Every year it constantly defies
Placing strangers
There before me
There before me
Spreading hope and cheer
Mixed in with happiness
Fraternal bliss and other christmas lies!

And there's one more thing that I have discovered
And I would now like you to know
The reason for christmas I now realize
Is an excuse to tolerate snow
Snow!
I don't even like the sound of it
Anyway, where was I
Oh, yes!

What is christmas?
Candles everywhere
A fire hazard any other day
Children light them
No one seems to care
All for christmas

Every year it returns here
And every year it's waiting for me
Why can't christmas disappear
And just pretend it never saw me
Every year I get my hopes up
That it will somehow just leave
But every year I wake to find
That once again it now is christmas eve

Writer : O'NEILL, PAUL / OLIVA, JOHN
Copyright : Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.