The full musing is at https://www.bengagemusic.com/musings/bits-of-weight
Musing
It feels weird that the penny is done. I’m not saying I had a special place in my heart for the annoying little coin, but it certainly feels weird to know it’s not being made anymore. I remember as a kid we had those little plastic versions of coins that we would learn the values with. So many kids (not me of course) would take those coins and then use them to buy snacks and action figures from each other on the playground marketplace. Even then we cared very little for that copper color piece occupying the bottom. I smile thinking about that memory that hasn’t crossed my mind since elementary school. There are a few things that are in my mind as I pull this one together.
How arbitrary is currency. There are so many different ones all across the world, all made to get. As kids we used faked money with value attached to their placeholder inspirations with value attached once to gold but now with value attached to the whims of greed. When we need more we make it and then adjust its worth. And now one of those placeholders cost 4x more than the place it was holding and we are saying goodbye.
I love how a memory can be tucked away so nice and neat and then decades later something like a song can pull it out for a visit. I can remember using those fake coins to buy a batman action figure off my friend Phillip. It had an attachment for his back that would launch these little orange discs. I got it taken away after being in the front of the class playing with it and shooting my teacher in the leg with one of the discs. To get it back I had to save up my stars** over the course of the year and then choose that as one of the rewards when the time came where stars had worth. (**stars where another arbitrary currency that we would earn in elementary school for doing well with our work. A handful of times a year we could take our stars and buy things from our teachers. Mainly candy and stuff, but you could also use them to get things back that you had lost privilege too. Ah, development).
I can help but think of all the songs that I have written with the word penny in them. Now they (and all other songs singing about that little copper disc) all belong to a “pre-penny” time. I can imagine a future where someone listens to an old song and thinks “ah how quaint, the penny. I think my grandma has a jar of those somewhere. They are worth a lot now”
Should I start hoarding pennies?….
Previous Release - “Larry”
In case you missed the last musing, you can read about that one here.
For the chords, lyrics, voice memos, notebook pages, and more you can visit my website where I have over 100 songs broken down. The hope is always to inspire other songwriters, and I am always available for a chat about writing. Send me an email anytime! I love hearing from you.
Cheers,
Ben