ERIC PETERS

(key of G: “the people’s key”)
Oct. 13, 1996. This song was written on the fall 1996 tour with Caedmon’s Call. It was their first big national tour just before signing with Warner Records. We (Ridgely) were the opening act. I distinctly remember sitting in Don McCollister’s studio (Nickel & Dime Studios) in Atlanta on a night off and was struggling with the last line, the clincher, to “I give you my forever……”. Derek Webb (guitarist, singer/songwriter for the band) happened to be there listening in and offered “….and my spare change too”. Co-write. A nice moment in the grander scheme of things. Nickel & Dime Studios: where Caedmon’s Call’s self-titled Warner release was recorded as well as Ridgely’s The Only Thing.

I’ve always felt sorry for pennies, the loser of the coin family, the black sheep of the U.S. Mint, the valueless underdog in the financial world. I root for the underdog. Heck, even Andy Rooney gets in on the penny-bashing (“Costly pennies more trouble than they’re worth”). I remember as a kid finding a penny on the ground and thinking I’d stumbled upon a million bucks. To this day I still like to throw a penny or two on the ground in plain view every now and then and hope that a child will find it, pick it up and find joy in the copper face of Lincoln. For that reason I hope the U.S. Mint never does away with this little humble coin, regardless of its “worth” because we’ve all felt worthless before.