The drinking dens are spilling out There's staggering in the square There's lads and lasses falling about And crackling in the air Down around the dungeon doors The shelters and the queues Everybody's looking for Somebody's arms to fall into And 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 The lights are out in the city hall The castle and the keep The moon shines down upon it all The legless and asleep And it's cold on the tollgate With the wagons creeping through Cold on the tollgate God knows what I could do with you And it's what it is It's what it is now. The garrison sleeps in the citadel With the ghosts and the ancient stones High on the parapets A scottish piper stands alone And high on the wind The highland drums begin to roll And something from the past just comes and stares into my soul And it's cold on the tollgate With the Caledonian blues Cold on the tollgate God knows what I could do with you And it's what it is It's what it is now. What it is It's what it is now.