It’s Hard
The Who
1982 ReleasedUpvote Your Favorite Album Today!
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Digging into It’s Hard - what's your favorite track or standout moment? 🤘
1
Athena
03 : 48
2
It’s Your Turn
03 : 41
3
Cooks County
03 : 50
4
It’s Hard
03 : 46
5
Dangerous
03 : 20
6
Eminence Front
05 : 39
7
I’ve Known No War
05 : 58
8
One Life’s Enough
02 : 21
9
One at a Time
03 : 03
10
Why Did I Fall for That
03 : 25
11
A Man Is a Man
03 : 56
12
Cry If You Want
04 : 39
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Track Lyrics
Athena Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Athena, I had no idea how much I would need her
In peaceful times I hold her close and I feed her
My heart starts palpitating when I think my guess was wrong
But I think I will get along
She's just a girl – she's a bomb
Athena, all I ever want to do is please her
My life has been so settled and she is the reason
Just one word from her and my troubles are long gone
But I think I'll get along
She's just a girl – she's a bomb
[Chorus]
Just a girl, just a girl[x3]
She's just a girl
[Verse 2]
Athena, my heart felt like a shattered glass in an acid bath
I felt like one of those flattened ants you find on a crazy path
I would of topped myself to give her time she did not need to ask
Was I a suicidal psychopath?
She's just a girl – she's a bomb
Consumed, there was a beautiful white horse I saw on a dream stage
He had a snake the size of a sewer pipe living in his rib cage
I felt like a pickled priest who was being flambed
You got me requisitioned Blondie
She's just a girl – she's a bomb
[Chorus]
I'm happy, I'm ecstatic
Just a girl, just a girl[x3]
She's just a girl
[Verse 3]
Look into the face of a child
Measure how long you smiled
Before the memory claimed
How long would children remain
How long could children remain
Athena, you picked me up by my lapels and screamed "leave her"
It felt like waking up in heaven on an empty meter
And now you are stuck with a castrated leader
And I hate the creep, I didn't mean that
[Bridge]
She's a bomb
I just said it
She is a bomb
I didn't mean it, please
She's a bomb
[Outro]
Athena, I had no idea how much I need her
My life has been so settled and she is the reason
Just one word from her and my troubles are long gone
But I get along
She's just a girl, she's a bomb[x2]
It’s Your Turn Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Up here on the ledge
I'm getting pushed to the edge
People line up behind me to step into my shoes
Up here on the precipice
I'm getting close to my nemesis
People fighting each other to jump into my blues
[Chorus]
There's a young kid inside me somewhere
He stays up all night, a vampire that never dies
With the blood and the moon in his eyes
I hear his voice when I'm coming down
Sleep is for fools, who never see the sunrise
Who never get to live twice
[Verse 2]
I was a face in a magazine
When you were still playing with your plasticine
Now you're dogging my tail, riding the slipstream
You can take the fans and the enemies
The little girls who squeeze and tease
Then pass on their social disease
Go get your penicillin
I know you young and dumb
I know where you're coming from
Don't know where you're going to
But I been there same as you
You're running out of ideas
And new hats to try on
I know you middle age
Same song, different page
I know what you're going through
Made the same mistakes as you
All you want is some hope
And a shoulder to cry on
[Chorus]
There is a stranger inside me somewhere
That shadow behind me, don't even look like me
An echoed apology
He's a wolf in a sheep's disguise
I wake up in places I don't even recognize
Pretender in paradise
[Outro]
It's your turn, step up and take it
If you've got the guts to hang on
You can make it
Come on, come on, come on
Ooh take it!
Cooks County Lyrics
2 ContributorsCooks County LyricsPeople are suffering
I'll say it again
People are suffering
I'll say it again
People are suffering
I'll say it again
So remember when you're looking for trouble
That trouble is already busy with weaker men
People are hungry
I'll say it again
People are hungry
I'll say it again
People are hungry
I'll say it again
So don't you abuse that body
It'll snap without assistance my friends
The song goes on
I'll sing again until the music enervates
The song goes on
The sting of pain will dull and finally fade away
The song goes on
Through centuries of history it reverberates
The song goes on
On curving comets track the music makes its way
This song is so long
It ends up where it begins
People are lonely
I'll say it again
People are lonely
I'll say it again
People are lonely
I'll say it again
So don't let them run too far from home
You'll be alone for sure on that you can depend
People are bleeding
I'll say it again
People are bleeding
I'll say it again
People are bleeding
I'll say it again
So put away that switchblade knife
Tighten up the knot that'll help this bloodshed end
The song goes on - the song goes on
This song
Is so long
It ends up where it begins
People are suffering
I'll say it again and again
People are hungry
I'll say it again and again
People are lonely
I'll say it again and again
It’s Hard Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Any tough can fight - few can play
Any fool can fall - few can lay
Any stud can reproduce - few can please
Anyone can pay - few can lease
[Chorus]
It's hard – It's very very very very hard - so very hard
It's hard
(It's a hard hard hand to hold
It's a hard land to control)
[Verse 2]
Any man can claim - few can find
Any girl can blink - few can lie
Anyone can promise - few can raise
Anyone can try - but a few can stay
[Chorus]
It's hard – It's very very very very hard - so very hard
It's hard
(It's a hard hard hand to hold
It's a hard land to control)
[Verse 3]
Any brain can hide - few can stand
Any kid can fly - few can land
Any gang can scatter - few can form
Any kid can chatter - few can inform
[Chorus]
It's hard – It's very very very very hard - so very hard
It's hard
(It's a hard hard hand to hold
It's a hard land to control)
[Verse 4]
Any soul can sleep - few can die
Any wimp can weep - few can cry
Everyone complains - few can state
Anyone can stop - but few can wait
[Outro]
It's hard – It's very very very very hard - so hard
Anyone can do anything if they hold the right card
So I am thinking about my life now
I am thinking very hard
Deal me another hand Lord, this one's very hard[x2]
Dangerous Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Can you feel it? Watching you in the darkness
Touching you like a sickness
Fear is taking control
The beach head is the street
In the gutter lies defeat
Fear is the key to your soul
That makes you dangerous
So dangerous to yourself
[Chorus]
Can you feel it in the shadows?
Watching you, touching you
Can you feel it in the shadows?
Watching you, touching you
Changing you into a mad dog
Howling at the moon
And you are so far out of tune
Better learn how to sing
Fences, we put up defenses
Then we come to our senses
It may keep them out
But it keeps us in
And that makes us dangerous
We're all dangerous to ourselves
[Verse 2]
This is a jungle, not illusion
Jungle city, in confusion
We are the next step in evolution
The new stone age, revolution
Back to the stone age, constitution
No solution
[Chorus]
Can you feel it in the shadows?
Watching you, touching you
Can you feel it as the shadows
Follow you, swallow you?
Can you feel it?
Fear is the key
Can you feel it?
Fear is the key
Can you feel it? Can you feel it?
Fear is the key to your soul
Eminence Front Lyrics
[Verse 1]
The sun shines
And people forget
The spray flies as the speedboat glides
And people forget
Forget they're hiding
The girls smile and people forget
The snow packs as the skier tracks
And people forget
Forget they're hiding
[Chorus]
Behind an eminence front
Eminence front, it's a put on
It's an eminence front
It's an eminence front, it's a put on
An eminence front
Eminence front, it's a put on, eminence front
It's an eminence front
It's an eminence front, it's a put on
It's a put on, it's a put on, it's a put on
[Post-Chorus]
Come on join the party, dress to kill
Won't you come and join the party dress to kill
Dress to kill
[Verse 2]
The drinks flow people forget
That big wheel spins, the hair thins
People forget
Forget they're hiding
The news slows
People forget
The shares crash, hopes are dashed
People forget
Forget they're hiding
[Chorus]
Behind an eminence front
Eminence front, it's a put on
It's just an eminence front
An eminence front, it's a put on
An eminence front
An eminence front, it's a put on
Eminence front
It's an eminence front, it's a put on
It's a put on, it's a put on, it's a put on
[Outro]
Come and join the party, dress to
Come and join the party, dress to
Come on join the party, dress to
Come on join the party, dress to kill
Dress yourself to kill
I’ve Known No War Lyrics
[Verse 1]
I've known no war
And if I ever do I won't know for sure
Who will be fighting whom
For the soldier's lonely tomb
Now opens as soon as the referee's gun starts to roar
I'll know no war
I'll never know war
Galbraith took his pen
To break down the men
Of the German army defeated
On the nineteenth day
Of a spring day in May
Albert Speer was deleted
And as soon as the battle was over
I was born in victorious clover
And I've never been shot at or gassed
Never tortured or stabbed
And I'm sure – I'll never know war
No, I'll never know war
No no no
[Chorus]
I know I'll never know war
And if I ever do
The glimpse will be short
Fireball in the sky
No front line battle cries
Can be heard as the button is pushed
By a soul that's been bought
I'll know no war
No, I'll know no war
[Verse 2]
In and out of reach loft
The medals are lost
They belong to a lone broken sailor
His provinces now
Are the bars of the town
His songs and his poems of failure
For his grandchildren can't see the glory
And his own kids are bored with the story
But for him they'd have burned behind netting
From the brink they were grabbed
And I'm sure
I'll never know war
I'll never know war
I've known no war
And if I ever do I won't know for sure
Who will be fighting whom
For the soldiers lonely tomb
Now opens as soon as the referee's gun starts to roar
I'll know no war
[Chorus]
War – I've known no war
I'll never know war
And if I ever know it
The glimpse will be short
Fireball in the sky
No front line battle cries
Can be heard as the button is pushed by a soul that's been bought
And the armies remaining will judge without people or courts
And there's no point pretending that knowing will help us abort
I'll know no war
One Life’s Enough Lyrics
[Verse 1]
There's a scene
Indelible, it hangs before my eyes
In our teens, incredibly
Together with no ties
That was a life enough for me
One life's enough for me
[Chorus][x2]
Throw back your head
Let your body curve
Into the long grass of the bed
Pull me down into your hair
And I will push and swerve
As we both gasp in the evening air
Yeah
One at a Time Lyrics
[Verse 1]
One at a time
Always ready to fight over the little things
One at a time, she is
Always ready to fight over the little things
She's going crazy and the table starts shaking
She's been abusing her body again
Her vision gets hazy and the bottles start breaking
She's been seeing that man again
[Chorus]
If you want her, you can keep her
'Cos I can only handle one at a time
You can take her
I've got someone waiting in line
And I'd like to
But I can only handle one at a time
One at a time
[Verse 2]
I found out she's continually cheating
She insists, she's so innocent
So I stayed out at another late meeting
And she waited up for the argument
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
I'm moving on to something better
There must be something better than this
She's got me so confused
As to who's being used
Call her up right away
You've got her number
And I promise not to answer the phone
You can pick her up in your clapped out Humber
I just hope it can get you home
[Chorus]
One at a time
One at a time
One at a time
One at a time
One at a time
One at a time...
Why Did I Fall for That Lyrics
[Verse 1]
The streets of the future littered with remains
Of both the fools and all the so called brains
The whole prediction is enough to kill
But only God knows if it won't or it will
[Chorus 1]
Nobody knows why we fell so flat
Some silly creature said we'd never crack
Most would just survive and then bounce back
But the rest are crying "Why'd I fall for that crap"
Why did I fall for that?
[Verse 2]
So many rash promises sincerely made
By people who believed that we were being saved
They made us all believe that we were acting white
But the truth is we've forgotten how we used to fight
[Chorus 2]
Nobody knows why we fell so flat
We're impotent and neutered like whining cats
We've found the piper but we've lost the rats
But the kids are crying "Why'd you fall for that Dad?"
Why did you fall?
[Bridge]
It never rains under my umbrella
[Verse 3]
Four minutes to midnight on a sunny day
Maybe if we smile the clock will fade away
Maybe we can force the hands to just reverse
Maybe as a word, maybe maybe's a curse
[Chorus 3]
Nobody knows why we fell so flat
We've never been taught to fight or to face up to facts
We simply believe that we'd remain intact
But history is asking why'd you fall for that?
[Outro]
Why did you fall?
Why did I fall for that [x3]
A Man Is a Man Lyrics
[Verse 1]
You talk about your crazy affairs
You talk about your life as though it really mattered
You get attention 'cos you block the stairs
Bragging about some bottles you have shattered
Well I met a man who really lives
He really does it all
But what really matters is the heart he gives
He makes your talk seem small
[Chorus]
When a man is a man
He doesn't act to a plan
He don't have to perform like John Wayne in some B feature flick
A man is a man
When he can offer his hand
Not afraid of appearing insane if he can't break a brick
I know a man who's a man
[Verse 2]
Can't you sometimes crack a smile
Do you think if you did we would run and tell
I know one day your big villain style
Will collapse as they turn the key in the door of your cell
I know a man who was once like you
But he opened his heart
No one is really bad right through
He's just another part
[Chorus]
When a man is a man
And he drinks 'til he's canned
He can drop to the floor, he can weep, we won't ask the price
A man is a man
He can fall he can stand
We won't love him more if he keeps his soul on the ice
I know a man who's a man
[Bridge]
Every one of us is looking for fame
He's a looker
He's a dresser
He's a genius under pressure
I know a man who could tighten your rein
He's a father
He's a brother
He's a rocker
He's a lover
[Outro]
He's a man he's a man
He doesn't act to a plan
He don't have to get hitched to a train in some muscle beach trick
A man is a man
When he can offer his hand
Not afraid of appearing insane if he can't break a brick
Be a man who's a man
Cry If You Want Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Once it was just innocence
Brash ideas and insolence
But you will never get away
With the things you say today
But you can cry if you want
Don't you get embarrassed when you read the precious things you said
Many many years ago when life appeared a rosy red
No one ever shared your bed
Nothing ever filled your head
Except yourself and little Ted
And scary dreams that you were dead
Don't you want to hide your face
When going through your teenage books
And read the kind of crap you wrote
About "Ban the Bomb" and city crooks
Think about how long it took
To get over that sudden "Yuk"
When in the mirror you would look
Well now my son you are well in stook
[Chorus]
Cry if you want
[Verse 2]
Didn't you wrath in anger when you saw the man in his big car
Didn't you drive a banger and a gallon didn't get you far
Should have been a famous star
But that ain't what you really are
You could shout your last hurrah
While they are propping up the bar
Maybe things were better then
Before you led a promised life
Rash commitments and heavy raps and left wing spiel all compromised
You fall in love with other's wives
Drive 'em nuts with empty lies
Angry 'cause you lost the prize
Forgot the color of their eyes
[Chorus]
Cry if you want
Let your tears flow
Let your past go
[Verse 3]
Don't you get embarrassed when you think about the way you were
Yesterday the day before when you were young with much to learn
Aren't you glad it's your last term
No more acting lowly worm
You can make the suckers squirm
When you tell them how much you earn
Don't you feel ashamed at all the bitterness you feel inside
Does your ego save your face "I had a go - I really tried"
Now you know your leaders lied
Does it stop you acting snide
Or are you still a boy that cried
Tears now surely long since dried
[Chorus]