Lyrics for the album "It's Hard" by The Who

Athena

Athena, I had no idea how much I'd 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'll 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's 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

Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
She's just a girl

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'd of topped myself to give her time she didn't 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 were requisitioned blondie
She's just a girl - she's a bomb

I'm happy, I'm ecstatic
Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
Just a girl just a girl
She's just a girl

Look into the face of a child
Measure how long you smiled
Before the memory claimed
How long would children remain
How long would 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're stuck with a castrated leader
And I hate the creep, I didn't mean that
She's a bomb
I just said it
She's a bomb
I didn't mean it, please
She's a bomb

Athena, I had no idea how much I need her
My life has been so settled and she's 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
She's just a girl, she's a bomb

It's Your Turn

Up here on the ledge
I'm getting pushed to the edge
People line up behind me to step into my shoes,
Up here in the precipice
I'm getting close to my nemesis
People fighting each other to jump into my blues

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 comin' down,
Sleep is for fools, whe never see the sunrise,
Who never get to live twice.

I was a face in a magazine,
When you were still playin' with your plasticine,
Now you're doggin' my tail, ridin' 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 comin' from.
Don't know where you're goin' to,
But I bin 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 goin' through
Made the same mistakes as you,
All you want is some hope
And a shoulder to cry on.

There's a stranger inside me somewhere
That shadow behind me, don't even look like me.
An echoed apology.
He's a wolf in sheep disguise,
I wake up in places I don't even recognize,
Pretender in paradise.

It's your turn, step up and take it
If you've got the guts to hang on
You can make.
C'mon, c'mon, come on,
Ooooh take it!

Cooks County

People 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 it 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

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

It's hard
(It's a hard hard hand to hold
It's a hard land to control)

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

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

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)

Any soul can sleep - few can die
Any wimp can weep - few can cry
Everyone complains - few can state
Anyone can stop - few can wait

It's hard - It's very very very very hard - so hard

Anyone can do anything if they hold the right card
So I'm thinking about my life now
I'm thinking very hard
Deal me another hand Lord, this one's very hard
Deal me another hand Lord, this one's very hard

Dangerous

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

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're so far out of tune
Better learn how to sing.
Fences, we put up our defences.
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

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

Can you feel it in the shadows?
Watching you, touching you,
Can you feel it in 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

The 1 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.

Behind an eminence front
Eminence front - It's a put on.

Come on join the party
Dress to kill
Won't you come and join the party
Dress to kill.

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.

Behind an eminence front
Eminence front - it's a put on
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to
Come on join the party
Dress to kill
Dress yourself, dressed to kill.

I've Known No War

I've known no war
And if I ever do I won't know for sure
Who'll 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

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

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 and the button is pushed
By a soul that's been bought
I'll know no war

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've known no war
And if I ever do I won't know for sure
Who'll 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

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

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.

Throw back your heard
Let yout body curve
Into the long grass of the bed
Pull me down into your hair
And I'll push and swerve
As we both gasp in the evening air
Yeah -- -- -- -- --

Throw back your head
Ley your body curve
into the long grass of the bed
Pull me down into your hair
And I'll push and swerve
As we both gasp in the evening air

One At A Time

One at a time
Always ready to fight over the little things
One at a time, she's
Always ready to fight over the little things.
She's going crazy and the table starts shakin',
She's been abusin' her body again
Her vision gets hazy and the bottles start breakin'
She's been seeing that man again.

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 waitin' in line
And I'd like to
But I can only handle one at a time
One at a time.

I found out she's continually cheatin'
She insists, she so innocent.
So I stayed out at another late meeting
And she waited up for another arguement.

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 waitin' in line
And I'd like to
But I can only handle one at a time
One at a time.

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 pick up the phone
You can pick her up in your clapped out Humber
I just hope it can get you home

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 waitin' in line
And I'd like to
But I can only handle one at a time
One at a time.

Why Did I Fall For That

The streets of the future littered with remains
Of both the fools and the so called brains
The whole prediction is enough to kill
But only God knows if it won't or it will
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?

So many rash promises sincerly 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
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 I fall for that dad?"
Why did you fall?

It never rains under my umbrella

Four minutes to midnight on a sunny day
Maybe if we smile the clock'll fade away
Maybe we can force the hands to just reverse
Maybe a word, maybe maybe is a curse
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 did you fall for that
Why did you fall?

Why did I fall for that
Why did I fall for that
Why did I fall for that

A Man Is A Man

You talk about crazy affairs
You talk about your life as though it 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

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

Can't you sometimes crack a smile
Do you think if you did we would run and tell
I know one day your big villian 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

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

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 rock
He's a lover

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 apprearing insane if he can't break a brick
Be a man who's a man

Cry If You Want

Once it was just innocence
rash ideas and insolence
But you will never get away
With the things you say today

But you can try if you want

Dont' you get embarrassed when you read the precious things you said
Many many years ago when life appeared 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're well in stook

Cry if you want Cry if you want

Didn't you writh 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 harrah
While they are propping up the bar
Maybe things were better then
Before you led a promised life
Rash commitements and heavy raps and left wing spiel all compromised
You fall in love with other's wives
Drive 'em nuts with empty lies
Angry 'cos you lost the prize
Forgot the color of their eyes.

Cry if you want Cry if you wnat

Let your tears flow Let your past go

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 keep 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.

Cry if you want
Cry if you want