Once I found a stowaway Upon my ship on Christmas Day I was fair so I gave him a chance "You shouldn't be here, What's your tale? I ought to throw you to the whale." He just smiled and said, "Come here, let's dance."
[Chorus] He said, "Borrow or steal, I'll find a way To be with my lover upon Christmas Day And I'll run and I'll roam I'll cover the ground This Christmas I'll see you I'll be around."
He told me 'bout his girl back home Waiting patient, all alone While we danced I shed a little tear He closed his eyes, all out at sea, I think he danced with her not me I'll just have to wait another year.
[Chorus] He said, "Borrow or steal, I'll find a way To be with my lover upon Christmas Day And I'll run and I'll roam I'll cover the ground This Christmas I'll see you I'll be around."
I think of him now and again I wonder how his journey ends As I sail by on my lonesome sea That stranger with the haunting face Here then gone without a trace Lying with his love, that's where he'll be.
[Chorus x4] "Beg, borrow or steal I'll find a way To be with my lover next Christmas Day And I'll run and I'll roam I'll cover the ground Next Christmas I'll see you I'll be around."