This song has been swirling around my head for the last few days.

First off: Wow. A music video from 1968. Crazy.

Check out that production too, when he goes into the chorus line, how it sounds like he's on the phone. Who thought to do that? And Why?

Anyways, I digress. This song was never really a hit in the U.S., but was a moderate seller in the U.K. Not really a top hit however, which makes the popularity of the song with so many other artists that much more incredible!

Irishman David McWilliams based the song around a homeless friend of his, and the original lyrics end a bit dour. We can only imagine so did his friend. McWilliams was as close to Glen Campbell as an Irish singer/songwriter could be. His country inflected songs were popular among a small set, and wildly popular in continental Europe, which helps make more sense of the first cover of the track.

In the same year as the original release Italian singer Caterina Caselli wrote new lyrics and called it "Il Volto Della Vita" (The Face Of Life).

In 1982 a French garage band called Vietnam Veterans released a version:

Then comes the first new wave cover by Ivan Cattaneo, Italian Kajagoogoo-esque crooner. Funny how Italian male singers are always so damn throaty.

Fast forward to 1987 and this wretched pop/reggae version by a guy named Kamille. This is by far the most horrifying cover of this song. Someone must have enjoyed it at the time, but it comes off very dated. (More, so I think, than the above Italian new wave version.)

In 1992 the most rational and sincere cover of "Pearly Spencer" was released by Marc Almond, off of his Tenement Symphony album (In which he teamed up again with David Ball, his bandmate from Soft Cell)

There is an added verse in this version which makes the song less sad and depressing. Here's Marc on Top Of The Pops.

Two more instrumental techno versions would rear their ugly heads, but they really aren't worth mentioning, or hearing for that matter.

So there you go, left a little more hopeful in the end.

David McWilliams passed away in 2002 of a heart attack in his home in Ballycastle, Ireland.

The race finally run.