[Verse 1]
Tenement, dirty street
Walked and worn by shoeless feet
In silence long so complete
Watched by a shimmerin' sun

[Verse 2]
Old eyes in a small child's face
Watchin' as the shadows race
Through walls and cracks that leave no trace
And daylight brightness shuns

[Chorus]
The days of Pearly Spencer
(Ah-ah-ah)
The race is almost run

[Verse 3]
Nose pressed hard on a frosted glass
Gazin' at the swollen mass
On concrete fields where grows no grass
Stumbles blindly on

[Verse 4]
Iron trees smother the air
With witherin' they stand and stare
Through eyes that neither know nor care
Where the grass is gone
[Chorus]
The days of Pearly Spencer
(Ah-ah-ah)
The race is almost run

[Verse 5]
Pearly, where's your milk white skin?
What's that stubble on your chin?
Buried in the rot-gut gin
You played and lost not won

[Verse 6]
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
The days of Pearly Spencer
(Ah-ah-ah)
The race is almost run