Lyrics to
It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City

This version of It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City was released by Bruce Springsteen in 1973.

Our Bruce Springsteen Songs profile has It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City lyrics from 1973 and most if not all of the lyrics by Bruce Springsteen that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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I had skin like leather and the diamond-hard look of a cobra
I was born blue and weathered but I burst just like a supernova
I could walk like Brando right into the sunThen dance just like a Casanova
With my blackjack and jacket and hair slicked sweet
Silver star studs on my duds like a Harley in heat
When I strut down the street I could feel its heartbeat
The sisters fell back and said “Don’t that man look pretty”
The cripple on the corner cried out “Nickels for your pity”
Them downtown boys sure talk grittyIt’s so hard to be a saint in the city
I was the king if the alley I could talk some trash
I was the prince of the paupers crowned downtown at the beggar’s bash
I was the pimp’s main prophet I kept everythning cool
A backstreet gambler with the luck to lose
And when the heat came down it was left on the ground
The devil appeared like Jesus through the steam in the street
Showin’ me a hand I knew even the cops couldn’t beat
I felt his hot breath on my neck as I dove into the heat
It’s so hard to be a saint when you’re just a boy
And the sages of the subway sit just like the living dead
As the tracks clack out the rhythm their eyes fixed straightahead
They ride the line of balance and hold on by just a thread
But it’s too hot in these tunnels you can get hit up by the heat
You get up to get out at your next stop but they push you
back down in your seat
Your heart starts beatin’ faster as you struggle to your feet
Then you’re outa that hole and back up on the street
And them South Side sisters sure look pretty
The cripple on the corner cries out “Nickels for your pity”
And them downtown boys sure talk grittyIt’s so hard to be a saint in the city

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Want more lyrics and songs by Bruce Springsteen?

Bruce Springsteen has released many songs over the years besides It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City. Bruce Springsteen released songs from 1973 to 2007 spanning across albums like The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., Born To Run, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, The River, Nebraska, Born In The U.S.A., Tunnel Of Love, Human Touch, Lucky Town, The Ghost Of Tom Joad, The Rising, Devils & Dust, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, and Magic. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bruce Springsteen.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City by Bruce Springsteen

The lyrics for It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1973 song by Bruce Springsteen. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City - Bruce Springsteen and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City by Bruce Springsteen in multiple ways. 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 It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City" means the words set to the music of It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bruce Springsteen. 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 It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City and the lyrics to It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bruce Springsteen who came here looking just for the lyrics to It’S Hard To Be A Saint In The City, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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