A tenement,
a dirty street
Walked and worn
by shoeless feet
Inside it's long and
so complete
Watched by a
shivering sun
Old eyes in a small
child's face
Watching as the
shadows race
Through walls and
cracks and leave
no trace
And daylight's
brightness shuns
The days of
Pearly Spencer
Ah... the race
is almost run
Nose pressed hard
on frosted glass
Gazing as the
swollen mass
On concrete fields
where grows no grass
He stumbles blindly on
Iron trees smother
the air but withering
they stand and stare
Through eyes that
neither know nor care
Where the grass has gone
The days of
Pearly Spencer
Ah... the race is
almost run
Pearly where's your
milk white skin
What's that stubble
on your chin
It's buried in the
rot gut gin
You played and lost
not won
You played a house
that can't be beat
Now look your head's
bowed in defeat
You walked too far
along the street
Where only
rats can run
The days of
Pearly Spencer
Ah... the race
is almost run
The days of
Pearly Spencer
Ah... the race
is almost run
The race is
almost run
A tenement,
a dirty street
Remember worn
and shoeless feet
Remember how you
stood to beat
The way your
life had gone
So Pearly don't you
shed more tears
for those best
forgotten years
Those tenements
are memories
of where you've
risen from
The days of
Pearly Spencer
Ah... the race
is almost won...