Standard (EADGBE)
Rows of lights in a circle of steel,
Where you place your bets on a great big wheel
High windows flickerin' down through the snow,
A time you know
Sights and sounds of the people goin' 'round,
Everybody's in step with the season
A child is born to a welfare case,
Where the rats run around like they own the place
The room is chilly, the building is old,
That's how it goes
The doctor's found on his welfare round,
And he comes and he leaves on the double
Deck The Halls was the song they played,
In the flat next door where they shout all day
She tips her gin bottle back till it's gone,
The child is strong
A week, a day, they will take it away,
For they know about all her bad habits
Christmas dawns and the snow lets up,
And the sun hits the handle of her heirloom cup
She hides her face in her hands for a while,
Says look here child
Your father's pride was his means to provide,
And he's servin' three years for that reason
Rows of lights in a circle of steel,
Where you place your bets on a great big wheel
High windows flickerin' down through the snow,
A time you know
Sights and sounds of the people goin' 'round
Everybody's in step with the season