Charles Strouse
It’s A Hard-Knock Life
[ORPHANS]
It's a hard-knock life for us
It's a hard-knock life for us

[ANNIE]
'Steada treated

[ORPHANS]
We get tricked

[ANNIE]
'Steada kisses

[ORPHANS]
We get kicked

[ALL]
It's a hard-knock life

Got no folks to speak of so
It's a hard-knock row we hoe

[ANNIE]
Cotton blankets

[ORPHANS]
'Steada of wool
[ANNIE]
Empty bellies

[ORPHANS]
'Steada of full

[ALL]
It's a hard-knock life

[ANNIE]
Don't it feel like the wind is always howlin'?

[KATE]
Don't it seem like there's never any light?

[DUFFY]
Once a day don't you wanna throw the towel in?

[ORPHANS]
It's easier than puttin' up a fight

[ANNIE]
No one's there when your dreams at night get creepy
No one cares if you grow or if you shrink
No one dries when your eyes get wet and weepy
[ALL]
From the cryin' you would think this place's a sink!
Oh!

Empty belly life!
Rotten smelly life!
Full of sorrow life!
No tomorrow life!

[MOLLY]
Santa Claus we never see

[ANNIE]
Santa Claus?
What's that?
Who's he?

[ALL]
No one cares for you a smidge
When you're in an orphanage!
It's the hard-knocklife

[MOLLY, spoken]
(Making a whistling sound and imitating Miss. Hannigan)
You'll stay up till this dump shines like the top of the Chrysler
Building
[ANNIE & ORPHANS]
Yank the whiskers from her chin
Jab her with a safety pin
Make her drink a Mickey Finn
I love you, Miss Hannigan

It's a hard-knock life for us
It's a hard-knock life for us
No one cares for you a smidge
When your in an orphanage

It's a hard-knock life
It's a hard-knock life
It's a hard-knock life