Dirty Pennies

Intro:
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       G        D/F#       Em
In a small town where all knew all
   C          G                 D
Wandered a peasant lady nobody knew
         G     D/F#        Em
But her only friend was a young boy
                 C         G       D
Brought her hot tea and leftover stew
            G     D/F#     Em
In those burning wintry Decembers
                   C        G              D
He’d pick dirty pennies up off the cold street
                G        D/F#             Em
And while his mother was out Christmas shopping,
            Am          D         G
He’d say, “Come on in, warm your feet

G    D  Dsus  (2x)    C9    D  Dsus    (2x)

    G           D/F#            Em
As long as you share with me stories.”
         C              G        D
So she spoke, “I’m a product of war.
     G          D/F#            Em
My mother never knew who she could be
        C          G             D
As my father lay drunk on the floor.”
         G           D/F#            Em
And she spoke of the cart that she wheeled
                   C          G               D
Had keys with no locks and guitars with no strings
        G                D/F#       Em
And a puzzle that could never be finished
            Am     D             G
This is my home, these broken things



             G      D/F#        Em             C
Ah, but the boy went on to be taught in the schools
    G             D/F#        G/B             C9
To not talk to strangers, and don’t feed the fools
       G         D/F#         G/B    C9
Grew older and further and of her, forgot
             G        D        Bm            C9
As she was forced to move from lot to lot to lot

G    D/F#    Em    C
G    D/F#    G/B   C9     (2x)

               G          D/F#          Em
She said, “I guess it was much in his nature
      C          G        D
To become an enforcer of law.
          G           D/F#     Em
My old friend’s got a gun to protect me
          C              G             D
From the rock-tossing drunks from the bars
         G             D/F#           Em
Always seemed like the sort to help others
          C             G            D
So I’ll find him while he’s on the beat
            G         D/F#         Em
And say, remember me, I’m the old lady
                Am            D           G
You’d give me pennies you’d find on the street.”

           G            D/F#         Em
When she found him, she saw not the young boy
     C            G           D
Who dug for the roots of her junk
          G      D/F#         Em             Em
She came face to face with a stern, vacant soldier
   C            G         D
Grinnin’ and spinnin’ a club
           G        D/F#           Em
He said, “Don’t you know that you can’t be here?
               C            G              D
You’ll hurt business, and scare away the kids.
     G      D/F#     Em
Go wander around in some other town
     Am          D         G
Get out or I’m taking you in.”

        G        D/F#     Em     C
“But officer, I fondly remember you,
       G            D/F#           G/B    C9
Young boy who would give me the leftover stew
      G            D/F#         G/B        C9
And would take me inside to the warm fire coals.
         G           D          G/B       C9
Those hundreds of pennies bought me all these clothes.

G    D/F#    Em    C
G    D/F#    G/B   C9     (2x)

       G         D/F#     Em
It’s against the law to peddle
        C         G      D
It’s against the law to eat
        G        D/F#          Em
It’s against the law to have nothing more
           C              G              D
Than the shoes, full of holes, on your feet
              G        D/F#             Em
And now they put bars across the park benches
       C          G          D
So I guess it’s illegal to sleep.
       G       D/F#     Em
They buried something inside of you, officer
           Am      D        G
Into your cold heart, dig deep

 G       D/F# Em         C
And you’ll see that it’s me
 G         D/F# G/B              C9
And here I’ll be, nothing new to me.
            G           D/F#    G/B        C9
I’ll be heartbroken and cold, frozen and alone.
     G              D              G/B         C9
My coffin was a dumpster and they didn’t even know.”

           G         D/F#             Em           C
But while out on the beat, he looked down to his feet,
        G           D/F#  G/B             C9
And he saw a dirty penny heads up at his feet
        G            D/F#        Em
And it made him think of an old tall tale
      Am         D              G
Of a woman who pushed �round a cart

         G      D/F#          Em
And the boy who fed her and helped her
          C           G           D
Knew he should have deep in his heart
      G          D/F#           Em
Oh, where did he hear that old tall tale?
     C            G         D
But hey, what a story to spread

So he told it to his own growing boy

Once in a while before bed

Outro:
      G    D  Dsus  (2x)   C9
           D  Dsus  (2x)