The days of Pearly Spencer (1967)     (video)

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1. A tenement, a dirty street, walked and worn by shoeless feet,

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in silence long and so complete, watched by a shivering sun.

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Old eyes in a small child's face, watching as the shadows race,

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through walls and cracks and leave no trace and daylight's brightness shun.

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The days of Pearly Spencer, ah, ah, ah, the race is almost run

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2. Nose pressed hard on frosted glass, gazing as the swollen mass,

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on concrete fields where grows no grass, stumbles blindly on.

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Iron trees smother the air, but withering they stand and stare

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through eyes that neither know nor care where the grass has gone.

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The days of Pearly Spencer, ah, ah, ah, the race is almost run !

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3. Pearly, where's your milk-white skin ? What's that stubble on your chin ?

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It's buried in the rot-gut gin, you played and lost, not won.

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You played a house that can't be beat, now look, your head's bowed in defeat,

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you walked too far along the street where only rats can run.

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The days of Pearly Spencer, ah, ah, ah, the race is almost run !

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The days of Pearly Spencer, ah, ah, ah, the race is almost run ….

(David McWilliams)