It's Hard (song)
| "It's Hard" | ||||||||||
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| Single by The Who | ||||||||||
| from the album It's Hard | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Dangerous" | |||||||||
| Released | 4 September 1982 (album) February 1983 (single) |
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| Format | 7" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | Turn Up Turn Down Studios, Surrey, June 1982[1] | |||||||||
| Genre | Hard rock, pop rock | |||||||||
| Length | 3:47 | |||||||||
| Label | Polydor, Warner Bros. | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Pete Townshend | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | The Who | |||||||||
| The Who singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"It's Hard" is a song written by Pete Townshend that featured on British rock band The Who's tenth album, It's Hard, of which it was the title track. It was released as the third and final vinyl single from the album in 1983, backed with the John Entwistle written song "Dangerous", but failed to chart, although it reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks. This would become the last Who single of new material until "Real Good Looking Boy" in 2004, and the last album single by them until "Black Widow's Eyes", two years later.
Contents
Background
The lyrics to "It's Hard" were written long before the actual song.[2] It was originally presented to the Who in 1981 for the Who's previous album, Face Dances, in the form of a demo called "Popular", but the band's reaction was cool towards it, as the album was nearly finished at the time. The music of "Popular" was later re-written and the lyrics slightly altered and the song, as "It's Hard", was shown to the Who again and this time featured on the album. Pete Townshend said of the song:
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This one I've had for quite a long time as a lyric written on a piece of paper...I was imagining myself as a kind of Johnny Cash figure and talking about bravado and angst and, you know, it's easy to complain and it's easy to bluff. It's very hard to do.[2]
Townshend also said of the band's reaction to "Popular:"
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The band reaction was lukewarm; we were close to ending the album and were all unsure of what was happening. I later removed the 'Popular' chorus, replaced it with 'It's Hard' and managed to sell another song![2]
The original demo of "Popular" is featured on the Pete Townshend solo compilation album Scoop, which was released in 1983. The original mix featured an error in Townshend's opening guitar solo, which was fixed in the 1997 remix.
Live history
"It's Hard" was only performed live on the tour promoting the album in 1982, featuring Roger Daltrey on rhythm guitar, which was a very rare occasion. It was played at every concert on the tour, and featured a short full-band jam at the end. The version from the tour's final show at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on December 17 is included as a bonus track on the 1997 rerelease of It's Hard
The Who albums and videos featuring "It's Hard"
In order of release:
Personnel
- The Who
- Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, rhythm guitar in live performances
- Pete Townshend – rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals
- John Entwistle – bass guitar
- Kenney Jones – drums
- Additional musicians
