Paul Simon - Getting Ready for Christmas Day Lyrics

From early in November to the last week of December
I got money matters weighing me down
Oh, the music may be merry, but it's only temporary
I know Santa Claus is comin' to town
In the days I work my day job, in the nights I work my night
But it all comes down to workin' man's pay
Gettin' ready, I'm gettin' ready
Ready for Christmas Day

(Gettin' ready for Christmas Day)
(And let me tell you, namely, the undertaker)
(He's getting ready for your body)
(Not only that, the jailer, he's getting ready for you)
(Christmas Day, hmm?)
(And not only the jailer, but the lawyer, the police force)
(Now getting ready for Christmas Day
(And I want you to bear it in mind)

I got a nephew in Iraq, it's his third time back
But it's endin' up the way it began
With the luck of a beginner, he'll be eatin' turkey dinner
On some mountain top in Pakistan
Gettin' ready
Oh we're gettin' ready
For the power and the glory
And the story of the Christmas Day

(Getting ready, for Christmas)
(Done made it up in your mind that I'm going, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago)
(I'm going, on a trip, getting ready, for Christmas Day)
(But when Christmas come, nobody knows where you'll be)
(You might ask me, I may be layin' in some lonesome grave)
(Getting ready, for Christmas Day)

Getting ready
Oh we're getting ready
For the power and the glory
And the story of the Christmas Day
Yes, we're getting ready

(Getting ready, ready for your prayers)
(I'm going and see my relatives in a distant land)
(Getting ready, getting ready for Christmas Day)

If I could tell my Mom and Dad that the things we never had
Never mattered, we were always okay
Getting ready, oh ready
Ready for Christmas Day
Ready, getting ready
For the power and the glory
And the story of the Christmas Day