The U.S. just produced its final penny — so I rounded up 12 iconic songs that immortalized America’s humblest coin.
(November 15, 2025). With the news that the U.S. Mint has produced its last penny effective this past week, DJROBBLOG is commemorating America’s oldest form of currency with a tribute listing a dozen of the most famous songs ever to reference it, whether in their titles or their lyrics.
Over the decades, pop and soul have given us mongrels without a penny, gamblers tossing pennies, girls named Penny (we think), pennies for your thoughts, and enough good-luck/bad-luck pennies to make highly superstitious people take note. As we say goodbye after 238 years of penny production, here — in no particular order — are 12 tunes that will keep our one cent piece in the cultural mix long after inflation and plastic made it obsolete. We’ve added a thirteenth for good measure (but you can keep the change!).
Of course, these are just ours. Feel free to drop your own favorite “penny mentions” in the comments below or on any of the social media platforms where this article appears.
“Wood” – Taylor Swift
One of the most recent — and cheekiest — examples, in Swift’s playful ode to her fiancé’s manhood she drops this line in the first verse: “Penny’s unlucky, I took him back; And then stepped on a crack, and the black cat laughed.” She’s referencing the age-old superstition about finding a penny on heads for good luck — or on tails for the opposite. Here, Taylor implies she kept finding the latter given her previous choices in men, but kept taking them back anyway.
“Back to Black” – Amy Winehouse
On the landmark title track to her 2006 album, Winehouse laments a breakup that’s left her spiraling: “I’m a tiny penny rollin’ up the walls inside.” A rolling penny is directionless and chaotic, an apt metaphor for Amy’s emotional unraveling and the addiction struggles that shadowed her final years.
“Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” – Elton John
Near the end of the second verse, Elton sighs: “Maybe you’ll get a replacement, there’s plenty like me to be found: Mongrels who ain’t got a penny…” The tune imagines the dissolution of his and lyricist Bernie Taupin’s superstardom — or their own partnership — as it critiques fame and fortune and ponders a return to a life similar to what each man had before that partnership changed everything.
“Money, Money, Money” – ABBA
It’s a rich man’s world, or at least so goes the refrain in this ABBA classic from their 1976 album Arrival. The problem — as Annifrid sings — is she works all night and day to pay her bills, “and still there never seems to be a single penny left for me.” Her solution? Snag herself a rich man so she wouldn’t have to work at all. Instead, she’d simply “fool around and have a ball.” Problem solved (1970s style).
“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” – The Proclaimers
“And when the money comes in for the work I do I’ll pass almost every penny on to you.” Those are the words that begin the second verse of the Proclaimers’ biggest hit in America (No. 3 peak in 1993). It’s a simple uptempo love song about a man’s dedication to the love of his life, one for whom he’s willing to make the ultimate financial sacrifice…well, “almost.”(Apparently, even love has overhead.)
“Creeque Alley” – The Mama’s & the Papas
This autobiographical 1967 top five hit chronicles the tangled folk music scene that birthed the Mamas and the Papas. The penny mention is fleeting: “Zal and Denny workin’ for a penny; Tryin’ to get a fish on the line.” Zal Yanovsky (from fellow ‘60s group The Lovin’ Spoonful) and “Papa” Denny Doherty were hustling long before fame found them.
“Fancy” – Reba McEntire (or Bobbie Gentry’s original, if you prefer)
This tale of hard-luck feminism chronicles a girl named Fancy’s rise from a childhood of poverty to financial wealth as a sex worker, perhaps at her mother’s behest. How do we know? Because “Mama spent every last penny we had to buy me a dancing dress.” And, given her circumstances, we know Fancy wasn’t taking ballet classes.
“Living For the City” – Stevie Wonder
This streetwise song penned by Wonder tells of a wayward Mississippi boy whose humble beginnings foretell a troubled future and a bad decision with dire consequences. Stevie sets it up in the first verse: “His mother goes to scrub the floors for many; And you’d best believe, she hardly gets a penny.” The song made Wonder more than a penny; it reached the pop top ten and topped the soul chart in early 1974.
“The City of New Orleans” – Arlo Guthrie
Written by Chicago-area native Steve Goodman, this song about a long train ride from his hometown to New Orleans was most famously covered by Arlo Guthrie and made into a 1973 top ten smash. The song’s second verse is what lands it here: “Dealin’ cards with the old men in the club car; Penny a point ain’t no one keepin’ score.” Yeah, and ain’t no one really tryin’ to make any money on this southbound train they call ‘The City of New Orleans.’
“Down on the Corner” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Aside from being the only song to rhyme Kalamazoo with kazoo, this CCR hit is about something we’ve all seen before: street corner musicians playing for a little donation. But as the third verse begins, “You don’t need a penny just to hang around, but if you’ve got a nickel, won’t you lay your money down.” Perhaps, John Fogerty and Co. were foreshadowing the penny’s demise 55 years before Congress agreed.
“I’ve Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts” – Danny Kaye
“Roll or bowl a ball, a penny a pitch.” Written in 1944, and a top 30 hit for Danny Kaye and the Harmonaires in 1951, this novelty hit has one of the catchiest choruses of any tune on this list. It’s a simple song about a carnival barker at an English fair encouraging patrons to toss coconuts for a “penny a pitch.” Each ball you throw will (eventually) make him (and his wife) rich.
“Penny Lover” – Lionel Richie
Perhaps the most ambiguous of the songs included here, we’re not sure what Lionel meant by the song’s title or when he sang “Penny Lover don’t you walk on by.” Was it a cheap lover? Or a woman named Penny? Or a lover whose bronze skin reminded him of a penny? Either way, the song was a hit and made Richie’s Can’t Slow Down only the second album ever to generate at least five top ten singles (MJ’s Thriller was the first a year earlier).
“Penny Lane” – The Beatles
Perhaps the most famous “Penny” song of all was not about currency. It was Paul McCartney’s 1967 nostalgic ode to a street in the Beatles’ hometown of Liverpool recalling his and future songwriting partner John Lennon’s youths and immortalizing barbers, bankers, firemen and those childhood memories. To date, it is still the only “Penny” that’s ever topped the Hot 100.
For a coin worth so little, the penny has meant an awful lot. Hundreds of songs have reflected it as a symbol of luck, longing, labor, nostalgia, poverty, romance, whimsy, and childhood innocence. It’s rolled through metaphors, rhymes, and melodies for nearly a century of popular music—outlasting fads, genres, and even some of the artists who sang about it.
As the penny officially exits U.S. production after 238 years, these songs keep its spirit polished and gleaming. Long after we stop finding pennies on sidewalks, we’ll still find them in our music — and maybe that’s the most valuable change of all.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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