Getting Ready
For Christmas Day

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 coming to town

In the days I work my day job,
in the nights I work my night
But it all comes down to working man's pay
Getting ready, I'm getting ready, ready for Christmas Day

Reverend Gates:
Getting 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 ending up the way it began
With the luck of a beginner he'll be eating turkey dinner
On some mountain top in Pakistan

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

Reverend Gates:
Getting ready, for Christmas Day.
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

Reverend Gates:
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

 

Voz, Guitarra Eléctrica y Percusión: Paul Simon
Armonías de fondo: 
Edie Brickell
Guitarras eléctrica y acustica: 
Vincent Nguini
Batería: 
Jim Oblon

Extractos del sermón "Getting Ready for Christmas Day" grabados por
el reverendo J. M. Gates y su congregación en octubre de 1941

 

© 2010 Paul Simon
Disco: So Beautiful or So What

 

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Comentarios: La letra presenta un contraste entre la celebración de la Navidad y las preocupaciones de la vida moderna.
Habla sobre la presión financiera que muchas personas enfrentan durante la temporada navideña. También menciona a un joven soldado que está a punto de ser enviado a Afganistán, reflejando la dura realidad de muchas familias en tiempos de guerra.
A lo largo de la canción, se escuchan samples del sermón del reverendo J.M. Gates que llama a su congregación a prepararse espiritualmente para la Navidad, no solo de manera material. Esto crea un contraste entre la visión tradicional cristiana y la realidad del mundo moderno.
La canción no solo aborda la desigualdad y la guerra, sino también el consumismo de la Navidad, sugiriendo que muchas personas han perdido el verdadero significado de la festividad.