Old Charlie drove the lift, had done for years, at Croft and Co.

and now the powers that be had said his job would have to go,

cause automatic elevators stop at every floor,

so Charlie was redundant - wasn't needed anymore.

The final day of his career, the Chairman said a speech,

and talked about retirement on a warm and sunny beach,

the crowd applauded as old Charlie got his parting gift,

a watch of gold - but all he wanted was to drive the lift.

The Chairman smiled and asked him was he up for one last ride,

so Charlie opened up the lift, and bosses strode inside,

he thought about the years gone by, and sadly closed the doors,

with tiny teardrops falling from his eyes he pressed "all floors."

"The First Floor" stated Charlie, "where I helped that girl give birth,

he grew up to be manager I hear, for what it's worth,

and Second Floor - I stopped some robber with a gun right here,

apparently he'd shot a dozen people that same year!

"The Third Floor - ah, the fire, I remember that one well,

these lift doors opened up to see a deadly blazing hell,

I pulled three salesgirls out of there and went back in for more,

the firemen said if not for me, we would have lost the store!

"The Fourth Floor - back in sixty-two we called it 'Tiny Town,'

the kids would come up here and never want to go back down,

that toyland was a magic place, where children loved to go,

but now it's full of laser games and stuff that makes the dough.

"The Fifth Floor - ladies lingerie - if that's your kind of fun,

but better if I didn't speak about the boss's son,

yep, driving lifts gives one a view of life in every scene,

from basement up to penthouse - yes - and every floor between.

"I've traveled up and down and watched you people come and go,

and seen a lot of senior perks that no-one needs to know,

these doors can open any time, and catch you unawares,

oh yes, I have some stories - as if anybody cares..."

Nobody knows what happened in the boardroom on that day,

some business headlines said the Chairman finally got his way,

but over-riding family, and accepting all the blame,

he cancelled all the contracts - Croft and Co. would stay the same!