I listened intently tonight as Andrew Peterson fit more truth and inspiration in five songs than most of us writers can fit in a entire evening.  He, I, George Rowe, Ronnie Freeman and others performed a benefit concert in Nashville for hurricane relief efforts.  While every performer was great to hear and see, it was Andrew’s lyricism that awed me most.  And it was this song, “The Penny Song”, that struck me hardest, a song that tells by showing – the hardest kind to write.  Andrew’s gift is letting his listener see meaning in the minutia of life through his microscope eyes.  Enjoy this dose of pure brilliance from the lyricist I want to be when I grow up:

THE PENNY SONG

by Andrew Peterson

I’d give you all of me to know what you were thinking

And if I had one wish I’d wish I wasn’t sinking here

Drowning in this well, oh can’t you tell?

I can’t pick myself up off the ground,

Well I’ve been face down and pushed aside.

Well you know I’d rather just turn tail and run

than lie here in the sun and watch you pass me by

Cause I ain’t worth a dime.

But If only I could stand up straight, I wouldn’t have to lie and wait,

I could up and roll away, never be ignored

I’ve got a feeling that I’m something more

than just a piece of copper ore, turning green and looking for

The reason I was born.

I’ve been around since 1964, in banks and bottom drawers

And on railroad ties. I’ve been passed around and cast aside

Skipped and flipped and flattened wide, Spun around

And thrown away and left alone to lie

But If only I could stand up straight, I wouldn’t have to lie and wait,

I could up and roll away, never be ignored

I’ve got a feeling that I’m something more

than just a peice of copper ore, turning green and looking for

The reason I was born.

But I heard about a penny found, lying underneath the couch

By a woman who was kneeling down, looking for some change.

Then the woman danced around and called her friends all over town

Told them what was lost is found, it’s another penny saved.

And so I find that all this time beneath the surface I could shine

Like all the gold a king and queen could measure

even a penny is a treasure

Pick up Andrew’s latest CD “The Far Country” in stores everywhere.