I rolled off the San Francisco mint in 1909 The last one they ever made, you should've seen me shine When I landed on the counter they gave me to a kid Making change for a jaw breaker was the first thing that I did I got traded for a pocket knife, two marbles and some string Wound up on a railroad track waiting for a train Snatched up by a hobo and turned right into wine Pitched up against the wall at least a thousand times Chorus 'Round and 'round a penny goes 'Round and back again Listen and I'll tell you The places that I've been I got stolen from a banker by Pretty Boy Floyd and then He gave me to a farmer who was trying to save his land I was good luck to a soldier back in W.W.II He lost me in a poker game the day the war was through I got stuck behind the back seat of a '51 Chevrolet Spare change in the sixties, getting worth less every day Now it's piggy banks and gum machines and occasional wishing wells Or laying on a barroom floor, Indian heads or tails Chorus I'm a pretty lucky penny, Lord it happens every time Just when I start feeling lost and left behind Some kid will pick me up and wonder where I've been Put me in his pocket, and here I go again Chorus