Billy Dean – Indian Head Penny

(Guy Clark/Verlon Thompson)

I rolled off the Frisco mint in 1909

The last one they ever made, you should’ve seen me shine

When I landed on the counter they gave me to a kid

Making change for a jaw breaker was the first thing that I did

I got traded for a pocket knife, two marbles and some string

Wound up on a railroad track waiting for a train

Snatched up by a hobo and turned right into wine

Pitched up against the wall at least a thousand times

Round and round a penny goes

Round and back again

Listen and I’ll tell you

The places that I’ve been

I was stolen from a banker by Pretty Boy Floyd and then

He gave me to a farmer who was trying to save his land

I was good luck to a soldier back in WWII

He lost me in a poker game the day the war was through

I got stuck behind the back seat of a ’51 Chevrolet

Spare change in the sixties, getting worthless every day

Not it’s piggy banks and gum machines and occasional wishing wells

Or laying on a bar room floor

As far and wide

So both of us can dare

A promise I will love and bide

That’s all I have to share

A chance to sail among the stars

That few will ever see

To feel the deepest missing you

That most think cannot be

A heart that beats for only one

and loves you fast and true

A promise I will love and bide

That’s all I have for you

These things I have to give to you

Their value isn’t much

Just things that you can barely see

And rearely ever touch

A hand to hold when we’re alone

And no one seems to care

A gentle touch to reassure

And tell you I’m still there

To try my best to reminisce

Our dreams that all come true

A promise I will love and bide

That’s all I have for you

My promise I will love and bide

This I give to you