The Pause Of Mr. Claus Lyrics - Arlo Guthrie

words and music by Arlo Guthrie 

This next song we're going to dedicate to a great American 

organization. Tonight I'd like to dedicate this to our boys 

in the FBI. 

Well, wait a minute. It's hard to be an FBI man. I mean, first 

of all, being an FBI man, you have to be over 40 years old. 

And the reason is that it takes at least 25 years with the 

organization to be that much of a bastard. It's true. You just 

can't join, you know. It needs an atmosphere where your 

natural bastardness can grow and develop and take a 

meaningful shape in today's complex society. 

But that's not why I want to dedicate the song to the FBI. I 

mean, the job that they have to do is a drag. I mean, they have 

to follow people around, you know. That's part of their job. 

Follow me around. 

I'm out on the highway and I'm drivin' down the road and I 

run out of gasoline. I pull over to the side of the road. They 

gotta pull over too - make believe that they ran out, you 

know. 

I go to get some gasoline. They have to figure out whether 

they should stick with the car or follow me. Suppose I don't 

come back and they're stayin' with the car. 

Or if I fly on the airplanes, I could fly half fare because I'm 12 

to 22. And they gotta pay the full fare. But the thing is that 

when you pay the full fare, you have to get on the airplane 

first, so that they know how many seats are left over for the 

half fare kids. Right? And sometimes there aren't any seats 

left over, and sometimes there are, but that doesn't mean that 

you have to go. 

Suppose that he gets on and fills up the last seat, so you can't 

get on. Then he gets off then you can get on. What's he gonna 

do? 

Well, it's a drag for him. But that's not why I want to dedicate 

the song to the FBI. 

During these hard days and hard weeks, everybody always 

has it bad once in a while. You know, you have a bad time of 

it, and you always have a friend who says "Hey man, you 

ain't got it that bad. Look at that guy." And you at that 

guy, and he's got it worse than you. And it makes you feel 

better that there's somebody that's got it worse than you. 

But think of the last guy. For one minute, think of the last 

guy. Nobody's got it worse than that guy. Nobody in the 

whole world. That guy...he's so alone in the world that he 

doesn't even have a street to lay in for a truck to run him over. 

He's out there with nothin'. Nothin's happenin' for that cat. 

And all that he has to do to create a little excitement in his 

own life is to bum a dime from somewhere, call up the FBI. 

Say "FBl?", they say "Yes", say "I dig Uncle Ho and Chair- 

man Mao, and their friends are comin' over for dinner" (click) 

Hang up the phone. 

And within two minutes, and not two minutes from when he 

hangs up the phone, but two minutes from when he first put 

the dime in, they got 30,000 feet of tape rollin'; files on tape; 

pictures, movies, dramas, actions on tape. But then they send 

out a half a million people all over the entire world, the globe, 

they find out all they can about this guy. 

'Cause there's a number of questions involved in the guy. I 

mean, if he was the last guy in the world, how'd he get a dime 

to call the FBI? There are plenty of people that aren't the last 

guys that can't get dimes. He comes along and he gets a dime. 

I mean, if he had to bum a dime to call the FBI, how was he 

gonna serve dinner for all of those people? How could the 

last guy make dinner for all those people. And if he could 

make dinner, and was gonna make dinner, then why did he 

call the FBI? 

They find out all of those questions within two minutes. And 

that's a great thing about America. I mean, this is the only 

country in the world...l mean, well, it's not the only country 

in the world that could find stuff out in two minutes, but it's 

the only country in the world that would take two minutes 

for that guy. 

Other countries would say "Hey, he's the last guy...screw 

him", you know? But in America, there is no discrimination, 

and there is no hypocrisy,'cause they'll get anybody. And that's 

a wonderful thing about America. 

And that's why tonight I'd like to dedicate it to every FBI 

man in the audience. I know you can't say nothin', you know, 

you can't get up and say "Hi!" cause then everybody knows 

that you're an FBI man and that's a drag for you and your 

friends. 

They're not really your friends, are they? I mean, so you can't 

get up and say nothin' 'cause other wise, you gotta get sent 

back to the factory and that's a drag for you and it's an 

expense for the government, and that's a drag for you. 

We're gonna sing you this Christmas carol. It's for all you 

bastards out there in the audience tonight. It's called "The 

Pause of Mr. Claus". 

Why do you sit there so strange? 

Is it because you are beautiful? 

You must think you are deranged 

Why do police guys beat on peace guys? 

You must think Santa Clause weird 

He has long hair and a beard 

Giving his presents for free 

Why do police guys mess with peace guys? 

Let's get Santa Clause 'cause; 

Santa Clause has a red suit 

He's a communist 

And a beard, and long hair 

Must be a pacifist 

What's in the pipe that he's smoking? 

Mister Clause sneaks in your home at night. 

He must be a dope fiend, to put you up tight 

Why do police guys beat on peace guys?