One of the saddest songs I've ever heard...it makes a bigger impact when you actually hear the song, but the story is sad too:
Dirty Pennies- Erik Petersen
In a small town where all knew all,
wandered a peasant lady nobody knew.
But her only friend was a young boy,
brought her hot tea and leftover stew.
In those burning wintry decembers,
he'd pick dirty pennies up off the cold
street,
and while his mother was out christmas
shopping he'd say, “Come on in warm your feet...”
“...as long as you share with me
stories.”
So she spoke, “I'm a product of war.
My mother never knew who she could be
as my father lay drunk on the floor.”
And she spoke of the cart that she
wheeled,
had keys with no locks and guitars with
no strings,
and the puzzle that could never be
finished.
“This is my home and these broken
things.”
Ah, but the boy went on to be taught in
the schools
to not talk to strangers
and don't feed the fools.
Grew older and further,
and never forgot that she was forced to
move
from lot to lot to lot.
She said “I guess it was much in his
nature
to become an enforcer of law.
My old friend's got a gun to protect
me
from the rock tossing drunks from the
bars.
Oh, he seemed like the sort to help
others,
so I'll find him while he's on the
beat and say,
“Remember me I'm the old lady you'd
give me pennies you'd find on the street.”
When she found him she saw not the
young boy,
who'd dug for the roots of her junk.
She came face to face with a stern
vacant soldier,
grinning and spinning a club.
He said: “dontcha know that you can't
be here?
You'll hurt business and scare away the
kids.
Go wander around in some other town,
get out or i'm takin' you in.”
“But officer I finally remember you,
young boy who would give me the
leftover stew.
Would take me inside to the warm fire
coals
and those hundreds of pennies bought me
all these clothes.”
“It's against the law to peddle.
It's agains the law to eat.
It's against the law to have nothing
more than the shoes for the holes on your feet.
And now they put bars across the park
benches,
so I guess it's illegal to sleep.
They buried something inside of you
officer,
into your cold heart dig deep and
you'll see that it's me.
And here I'll be,
nothing new to me.
I'll be heart broken and cold, frozen
and alone,
my coffin was a dumpster and they
didn't even know.”
But while out on the beat
he looked down to his feet
and he saw a dirty penny heads up at
his feet
and he made up a big old tall tale,
of a woman who pushed 'round a cart.
And the boy who fed her and helped her
knew he should have deep in his heart.
Oh where did he hear that old tall
tale?
But hey, what a story to spread?
So he told it to his own growing boy,
once in awhile before bed.
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