Intro: Cm Bb G# Bb X2  Fm Gm Cm X2

Verse 1:
  Cm                        Gm
A tenement, a dirty street, walked and worn by shoeless feet
  Cm                              Eb                     Bb
Inside it's long and so complete, watched by a shivering sun
Cm                               Gm
Old eyes in a small child's face watching as the shadows race
        Cm                                       Eb                    Bb
Through walls and cracks that leave no trace and daylight's brightness shun

Chorus:
Fm Gm                   Cm         Fm  Gm                   Cm 
     The days of Pearly Spencer, ah hah, the race is almost run

Verse 2:
Cm                                 Gm
Nose pressed hard on frosted glass gazing as the swollen mass
   Cm                                   Eb               Bb
On concrete fields where grows no grass stumbles blindly on
Cm                             Gm
Iron trees smother the air but withering, they stand and stare
        Cm                              Eb                  Bb
Through eyes that neither know nor care where the grass has gone

Chorus:
Fm Gm                   Cm         Fm  Gm                   Cm 
     The days of Pearly Spencer, ah hah, The race is almost run

Verse 3:
Cm                                   Gm
Pearly where's your milk white skin, what's that stubble on your chin
     Cm                             Eb                  Bb
It's buried in the rot gut gin, you played and lost not won
    Cm                                     Gm
You played a house that can't be beat, now look your head's bowed in defeat
    Cm                                    Eb            Bb
You walked too far along the street where only rats can run

Chorus:
Fm Gm                   Cm         Fm  Gm                   Cm 
     The days of Pearly Spencer, ah hah, the race is almost run

Chorus:
Fm Gm                   Cm         Fm  Gm                   G#                      Cm 
     The days of Pearly Spencer, ah hah, the race is almost run, the race is almost run

Break: E Cm X2 Cm

Verse 4:
  Cm                        Gm
A tenement, a dirty street, remember worn and shoeless feet
  Cm                           Eb                    Bb
Remember how you stood to beat the way your life had gone
   Cm                               Gm
So Pearly don't you shed more tears for those best forgotten years
      Cm                              Eb           Bb
Those tenements are memories of where you've risen from

Chorus:
Fm Gm                   Cm         Fm  Gm                   Cm 
     The days of Pearly Spencer, ah hah, the race is almost won