Penny Wise

Lyrics

[Intro]
Mmm, children. Listen now.
There’s a lesson from the old books.
Penny wise…
And pound foolish.

[Verse 1]
Take a penny in your hand.
A little copper disc, worn smooth by the land.
It buys the needle, it buys the thread.
It buys a crust of day-old bread.
Back in sixteen hundred and twenty-one,
Beneath a scholar's candle, a new truth was spun.
Robert Burton dipped his quill in the night,
And wrote down a warning by that fading light.

[Chorus]
Oh, penny wise, and pound foolish.
It's the soul's bad bargain, the spirit's crooked math.
You're countin' all the pebbles, and losing the whole path.
Saving a single feather… and watching the wing break.
For a single penny's sake.

[Verse 2]
Now, a pound ain't a coin you can hold against your thumb.
It's a ghost in the ledger, a silent, heavy sum.
Twenty silver shillings, a whole year's sweat and tears.
A promise made of paper to quiet all your fears.
It's the weight of the harvest, the price of the roof.
It doesn't make a sound when you lose it, there's no proof.
Just a sudden, empty cold… a story left untold.

[Chorus]
Oh, penny wise, and pound foolish.
It's the soul's bad bargain, the spirit's crooked math.
You're countin' all the pebbles, and losing the whole path.
Saving a single feather… and watching the wing break.
For a single penny's sake.

[Bridge]
You buy the cheapest timber to build a family home.
And wonder why the winter wind chills you to the bone.
You buy the threadbare harness to pull the heavy cart.
And it snaps right in the mire and breaks your horse's heart.
You grip that little copper, oh, you hold it ever so tight…
You never even notice the pound slipping into the night.

[Outro]
Penny wise…
Pound foolish…
Oh, the bitter, foolish cost.
All is lost…