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...