Pretty Penny

I think, this has something to deal with family tragedy. I don't really know...

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

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

i have never understood this song.... anyone have any ideas????

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.