Song – Box Of Candy And A Piece Of Fruit

No Christmas gift I’ve ever come by
Whether trains or homemade socks
Has haunted me like one sweet orange?
And some candy in a box

Several years ago at Christmas
I remember it so well
I spent a very lonely Christmas
Inside a lonely prison cell

I’d been workin’ in Toronto
In a Folk Song Coffee Shop
It was hot and it was smokey
I just didn’t know how hot

I had a run-in with the Mounties
R-C-M-P was their name
They didn’t look like Sergeant Preston
And they didn’t act the same

They had a stack of wants and warrants
Big enough to make a book
They were mad about my smokin’
And some other stuff I took

And so the Magistrate presided
And he set a monstrous bail
I said “Judge, I stand here busted.”
I got hustled off to jail

The next four months were quite a party
Lots of time to meditate
It’s a different world in prison
It’s a different kind of wait

It was early in November
I first heard them tell the tale
About the Sally Army’s visit
Every Christmas time in jail

A great annual occasion
A great Yuletide salute
Silent Night and seedy Santa
A Box of candy and a piece of fruit

Yes, a box of Christmas candy
And a naval orange, to boot
I heard the old cons talk about it
Box of candy and a piece of fruit

Til I could almost taste the candy
I could almost smell the fruit
Every day a little closer
Box of candy and a piece of fruit

But then I had a great misfortune
Worse than all my time in jail
Twenty third day of December
That lousy judge lowered my bail

He did it in the Christmas Spirit
My friends and family raised the loot
Never knowing I’d be losing
My Box of candy and my piece of fruit

So, Virginia, if there’s a Santa
And if Santa ain’t too mean
He owes me a box of candy
And a fuckin’ tangerine

Words & music by Bob Gibson and Tom Paxton
© Robert Josiah BMI