I Won't Be Home For Christmas

Outside the window in my memory
Snow is coming down
I can smell the cedar and the cider
All over town

The reality comes back
And shakes me from my bed
The sound of rattling cages
Takes me out of my head

Chorus:

I won't be home for
Christmas this year
Just like the one before
And the one before I'm here
In this cold steel and concrete
I'm spending Christmas Day
With plenty of company
And this debt I have to pay


Every year at this time
I think about what's fair
And why I didn't play that way
And why I didn't care

I give what's left of this stale life
For one last breath to share
One moment with you frozen
In the chill of Christmas air



I won't be home for
Christmas this year
Just like the ones before
And the ones to come I fear

This icy prison yard is my
winter wonderland
My innocence left footprints
In the West Texas sand

I won't be home for
Christmas this year