Rudy lives on the borderline
Between civilization and basic survival
The summertime treats him fairly well
But the wintertime is a bitter cold rival
It's wintertime now in Georgetown
The streets come alive with the Christmas lights
And Rudy sleeps on a warm air grate
On a newspaper blanket on December nights
Deck the halls, Rudolph the red-nosed wino knows it's Christmas time
Jingle bells and Christmas shoppers dashing through the snow
God rest ye merry gentlemen who have found it in your heart to flip Rudy a fin
And I'll be home for Christmas, but this man has no place to go
Christmas has little meaning at all
To people of greed and incredible waste
Who seek the deeper meaning in a shopping mall
In a yuletide spirit of impatience and haste
Rudy must have people somewhere
Who wonder what became of the man
And Rudy must wonder the same thing
As the crowd rushes by and he sticks out his hand
Deck the halls, Rudolph the red-nosed wino knows it's Christmas time
Jingle bells and Christmas shoppers dashing through the snow
God rest ye merry gentlemen who have found it in your heart to throw Rudy a fin
And I'll be home for Christmas, but this man has no place to go
Rudy died on the borderline
Of the civilized world on Christmas Eve
The shoppers shopped and the temperature dropped
On a man whose absence won't be grieved
Peace on the soul of the cop who found him
In a booth with his hand frozen to a telephone
You know I think I know who he had on the line
And Rudy won't spend this Christmas alone
Deck the halls, Rudolph the red-nosed wino knows it's Christmas time
Jingle bells and Christmas shoppers dashing through the snow
God rest ye merry gentlemen who have found it in your heart to throw Rudy a fin
And I'll be home for Christmas, but this man has no place to go