A prayer for everyone who’s ever been out on the pavement …
“A Hard Day’s Night,” The Beatles
“Hard Headed Woman,” Cat Stevens
“Hard Luck & Heart Attack,” Vigilantes of Love
“A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians
“Hard Times Come Again No More,” Bob Dylan
“Hard Times Come Again No More,” Eastmountainsouth
“Hard Times Come Again No More,” Emmylou Harris
“Hard Times Come Again No More,” The Lost Dogs
“Hard Times Come Again No More,” Mavis Staples
“Hard to Get,” Rich Mullins
“Hard to Handle,” The Black Crowes
“The Hard Way,” Kasey Chambers
“The Harder They Come,” Jimmy Cliff
“Harder to Believe Than Not To,” Steve Taylor
“Hardknock Life,” Jay-Z
Rich Mullins left before we could get a good video of him singing “Hard to Get,” so the video link above is to a lovely version by Phil Stacey. All those things we said about XTC’s “Dear God” or Billy Corgan’s “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” are true for this song, too, but Rich was more convinced that someone was listening. (That song probably hits the target Steve Taylor was shooting for better than Taylor’s song does, but Steve gets a pass for bringing together Flannery O’Connor, Rachmaninov and Sandy Patti — that’s almost as audacious as sampling “Annie” for a hip-hop track.)
The obvious missing songs in the list above are Otis Redding’s original of “Hard to Handle” and Dylan’s original of “Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.” Yeah, I had the Born on the Fourth of July soundtrack, but not “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” Sad. According to Wikipedia, there are also a whole bunch of versions of Stephen Foster’s ’50s hit “Hard Times Come Again No More” that I’ve yet to hear. For now, my favorite is probably the one from Mavis Staples.
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