Lyrics to
Hard Times

This version of Hard Times was released by Kiss in 1979.

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Well, I recall days in the city
And I think back, “Oh what a pity”
Rememberin’ how it wasn’t pretty
Every day life in the city

Out in the street we had to take it
With friends around, couldn’t it
What wasn’t there, we had to make it
Hangin’ out down in the city

The hard times are dead and gone
But the hard times have made me strong
And the hard times have made me see
That the hard times ain’t where I wanna be

We had to fight to be accepted
It wasn’t right and I protested
For hangin’ out we got arrested
Every day life in the city

We’d go to school and then we’d cut out
Go to the park and space our heads out
We called it fun but there was some doubt
Hangin’ out down in the city

The hard times are dead and gone
But the hard times have made me strong
And the hard times have made me see
That the hard times ain’t where I wanna be

I don’t wanna be there or even think back
I don’t wanna be there, now I’m on the right track, yeah

The hard times are dead and gone
But the hard times have made me strong
And the hard times have made me see
That the hard times ain’t where I wanna be

I don’t wanna be there or even think back
I don’t wanna be there, ’cause I’m on the right track
Now I’m on the right track
I’m finally on the right track
I’m finally on the right track

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Kiss has released many songs over the years besides Hard Times. Kiss released songs from 1974 to 1998 spanning across albums like Kiss, Hotter Than Hell, Dressed To Kill, Rock And Roll Over, Destroyer, Love Gun, Dynasty, Unmasked, Music From The Elder, Creatures Of The Night, Lick It Up, Animalize, Asylum, Crazy Nights, Hot In The Shade, Revenge, Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions, and Psycho Circus. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Kiss.

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About Lyrics and Hard Times by Kiss

The lyrics to Hard Times are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Kiss used when the song was created in 1979. The lyrics to Hard Times have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Kiss and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Hard Times by Kiss. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Hard Times" means the words set to the music of Hard Times, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Kiss. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Hard Times and the lyrics to Hard Times are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Kiss who came here looking just for the lyrics to Hard Times, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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