The hardest-hitting song off the Kinks’ 1975 album, Schoolboys in Disgrace. It shows a return to their original hard-rocking style after many more reserved songs on their recent concept albums.
[Verse 1]
Boys like you were born to waste
You never listen to a word I say
And if you think you're here to mess around, you're making a big mistake
'Cause you're gonna find out the hard way
You're gonna find out the hard way
[Verse 2]
No matter what I do or say
You're much too dumb to educate
One day life's gonna turn around and slap you in the face
Then you're gonna find out the hard way you took the hard way
Gonna take the hard way
[Refrain]
Well, you'll do it your way and I'll do it my way
And we'll see who's the one to survive
You'll find that with no foundation or qualifications
There's no way that you can get by, no
There's no way you can get by
[Verse 3]
Why don't you take the easy way?
Why don't you co-operate?
Don't just sit there and vegetate
Do you want to end up illiterate? Come on now
[Instrumental Break]
[Refrain]
You think that life's a vacation and you've no inclination
To dust away the cobwebs of your mind
Now it's time for confrontation and I'm tired of being patient
So I've got to be cruel to be kind, yeah
I've got to be cruel to be kind
[Verse 4]
I'm wasting my vocation teaching you to write neat
When you're only fit to sweep the street
Your intellect is such that it requires a killer's touch
So I'm gonna play it your way, you can take the hard way
Gonna take the hard way
[Outro]
You can take the hard way
Gonna take the hard way
You're gonna take the hard way
You're gonna—
The Hard Way was written by Ray Davies.
The Hard Way was produced by Ray Davies.
The Kinks released The Hard Way on Mon Nov 17 1975.