Intro:
Am (strings alone first two bars; w/arpeggiated guitar next two
bars; w/bass and drums next two bars and into verse)
Verse 1:
Am
A tenement, a dirty street
Em
Walked and worn by shoeless feet
Am
In silence long and so complete
C G
Watched by a shivering sun
Old eyes in a small child's face
Watching as the shadows race
Through walls and cracks that leave no trace
And daylight's brightness shun
Chorus (w/filtered vocal):
Dm Em Am
The days of Pearly Spencer
Dm Em Am
Ahh..ahh 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
[repeat chorus]
Verse 3:
Pearly, where's your milk-white skin
What's that stubble on your chin
It's buried in the rotgut gin
You've 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
