What It Is

The drinking dens are spilling out, there's staggering in the square

There's lads and lasses falling about and a crackling in the air

Down around the dungeon doors, the shelters and the queues

Everybody's looking for somebody's arms to fall into

It's what it is

It's what it is now

There's frost on the graves and the monuments but the taverns are warm in town

People curse the government and shovel hot food down

Lights are out in the city hall, the castle and the keep

The moon shines down upon it all, the legless and the sleepless

Cold on the tollgate

With the wagons creeping through

Cold on the tollgate

God knows what I could do with you

It's what it is

It's what it is now

The Garison sleeps in the citadel with the ghost and the ancient stones

High on the parapet, a Scottish piper stands alone

High on the wind, the highland drums begin to roll

And something from the past just comes and stares into my soul

Cold on the tollgate

With the Caledonian blues

Cold on the tollgate

God knows what I could do with you

It's what it is

It's what it is now

What it is

It's what it is now

There's a chink of light, there's a burning wick, there's a lantern in the tower

Wee Willie Winkie with a candlestick still writing songs in the wee wee hours

On Charlotte Street, I take a walking stick from my hotel

The ghost of Dirty Dick is still in search of Little Nell

It's what it is

It's what it is now

Mh, it's what it is

What it is now, now, now