D5 
A tenement, a dirty street 
C5 
Walked and worn by shoeless feet 
D5 
Inside it's long and so complete 
C5                  G5 
Watched by a shivering sun 
D5 
Old eyes in a small child's face 
C5 
Watching as the shadows race 
D5 
Through walls and cracks and leave no trace 
C5                        G5 
And daylight's brightness shuns 
 

D5                  C5 
The days of Pearly Spencer 
D5            C5    D5 
The race is almost run 
 

D5 
Nose pressed hard on frosted glass 
C5 
Gazing as the swollen mass 
D5 
On concrete fields where grows no grass 
C5            G5 
Stumbles blindly on 
D5 
Iron trees smother the air 
C5 
But withering they stand and stare 
D5 
Through eyes that neither know nor care 
C5                  G5 
Where the grass is gone 
 
 
D5                  C5 
The days of Pearly Spencer 
D5            C5    D5 
The race is almost run 
 

D5 
Pearly where's your milk white skin 
C5 
What's that stubble on your chin 
D5 
It's buried in the rot gut gin 
C5                  G5 
You played and lost not won 
D5 
You played a house that can't be beat 
C5 
Now look your head's bowed in defeat 
D5 
You walked too far along the street 
C5                  G5 
Where only rats can run 
 

D5                  C5 
The days of Pearly Spencer 
D5            C5    D5 
The race is almost run 
D5                  C5 
The days of Pearly Spencer 
D5            C5    D5 
The race is almost run 
D5            C5    D5 
The race is almost run 
 

D5 
A tenement, a dirty street 
C5 
Remember worn and shoeless feet 
D5 
Remember how you stood to beat 
C5                  G5 
The way your life had gone 
D5 
So Pearly don't you shed more tears 
C5 
For those best forgotten years 
D5 
Those tenements are memories 
C5                  G5 
Of where you've risen from 
 

D5                  C5 
The days of Pearly Spencer 
D5            C5    D5 
The race is almost run