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