Have you seen your mother, girl?
Has she gone away?
Gone away and found the pearl
But the price she paid

Gone
When you wake in the morning, gone
When you find that there's no one sleeping, gone
Pretty Penny was her name
She was loved and we all will miss her

How far will you go I say
Just to bait a mouse?
Shorter lived and longer gone
Can you figure out?

Gone
When you wake in the morning, gone
When you find that there's no one sleeping, gone
Pretty Penny was her name
She was loved and we all will miss her

Have you lost your sister, girl?
She's all but blown away
Blown away and lost the pearl
And the price she paid

Gone
When you wake in the morning, gone
When you find that there's no one sleeping, gone
Pretty Penny was her name
She was loved and we all will miss her


Lyrics submitted by dsfire

Pretty Penny Lyrics as written by Robert Emile Deleo Dean Deleo

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Pretty Penny song meanings
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27 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment
    I think, this has something to deal with family tragedy. I don't really know...
    mojo risinon June 25, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    Heard this song on christmas of 2003 and i been wondering for 3 years who it wuz by...at first i heard it on the radio and i always have in tuned in my head cuz it brought good memories of 2003 christmas then 3 years later im downloadin songs from Ares by stp and i hear this song and i'm blown away...my second favorite band sings this great tune
    Negrumon February 10, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    To me this is about a mother who OD's and dies. The "pearl of great price" in the Bible requires the buyer to sell everything to obtain it--addicts do that for their drugs. The chorus is the daughter waking up and not finding her at home--either dead or crashed out at somebody else's place.
    dontkillwhiteyon March 08, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    I do agree that it may have something to do with a family tragedy. I doubt it deals with the "second coming of Christ," but hey, anything's possible. :] I think the mother who OD's is the most accurate meaning. Does anybody think it might be about the worthlessness of one's life? That probably made no sense, so I'll explain a bit more... It mentions "Pretty Penny was her name," but was it really a name? If you compare a pearl to a penny, the penny is worth little, right? If Penny is the "name" then maybe it wasn't really a name like Bob, but more like a label of value... So when she finds the pearl, maybe she found somebody worth more than her and she leaves (by death or other means)... and it continues as such. Now, like I said before, I do believe the ODing of a mother is MUCH more accurate, but the above interpretation is how I first understood it. Reminds me of the sea.
    Cancerous Adversaryon December 05, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    youtube.com/… Scott Weiland said the song is dedicated to Robert Pirano and his family...probably a personal friend of his or the bands, so the song is definitely about family tragedy.
    surge3on October 05, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    this is what scott had to say about this song: "I wrote it third person and I only realized a couple weeks ago when I finally listened to the whole album that it was actually an introspective thing. It's easier to write in an allegorical sense-third person-when it's something you have a hard time looking at. It's probably one of my favorite songs on the album. I think people are going to either love it or hate it."
    stpfan22on April 28, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment
    Purple was one of the most varied and experimental albums of the so called 'grunge era'. There are so many different layers and textures to this record, yet so many critics and othes were stuck in that first impressions mode and couldn't accept that STP had changed and finally developed their own sound.
    charlymurphayon June 11, 2010   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation
    It's gotta be about a drug overdose - by a mother. Pearl is slang for cocaine or heroin. "Pretty Penny" means something - and in this case, someone - of value. I think it's pretty straightforward.
    $p$on December 03, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    i have never understood this song.... anyone have any ideas????
    randamanaeon February 22, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment
    My favorite STP song, I was 3 when this album came out and from about that age until I was about 5 Purple was the only album I owned. Played this song on repeat days in and days out.
    RasinManon October 06, 2009   Link

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