The Days of Pearly Spencer

[Verse 1]
A tenement, a dirty street
Walked and worn by shoeless feet
In silence 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

[Chorus]
The days of Pearly Spencer
Ah, ah, ah
The race is almost run

[Verse 2]
Nose pressed hard on frosted glass
Gazing as the swollen mass
On concrete fields where grows no grass
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

[Chorus]
The days of Pearly Spencer
Ah, ah, ah
The race is almost run

[Verse 3]
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

[Chorus]
The days of Pearly Spencer
Ah, ah, ah
The race is almost run

[Chorus]
The days of Pearly Spencer
Ah, ah, ah
The race is almost run