Song Lyrics for Tough Times

When hard times hit, they hit hard.  And right now, hard times have clobbered America with one hell of a sucker punch.  The economy has nosedived like a stalled airplane, and if you’ve been fortunate enough to dodge its crash, you probably know at least one person tangled in the wreckage.  Some people drag themselves out and cry in their beer, some become stoic, some are eternally optimistic, and others defiantly thrust their middle finger into adversity’s face.

Here are several songs whose lyrics tackle adversity, and the ways people have handled it.

“Allentown” – by Billy Joel

Billy Joel was inspired to write this song after witnessing the decline and demise of the steel industry—and its impact upon workers—in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he often played at the beginning of his career.  The song’s frank, heartbreaking lyrics include, “Well we’re waiting here in Allentown/For the Pennsylvania we never found/For the promises our teachers gave/If we worked hard/If we behaved.”  When the song achieved popularity, Joel donated a portion of its royalties to Allentown, and was awarded a key to the city.  That year, the song and its poignant lyrics received a five-minute standing ovation from a sold-out crowd at Bethlehem’s Stabler Arena.

“It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” – by R.E.M.

This song is a mere shrug at disaster.  Singer Michael Stipe fires off line after line of apocalyptic lyrics, only to mildly punctuate them with the chorus’ nonchalant lyrics,  “It’s the end of the world as we know it/And I feel fine.”  According to Stipe, he has many dreams about the end of the world, and destruction of cities and buildings, and tried to create a dreamlike ambiance with the lyrics’ stream-of-consciousness flow.

“Blue Collar Man (Long Nights)” – by Styx

A 1978 hit single penned by guitarist Tommy Shaw, this song and its lyrics about unemployment are powerfully relevant today.  A strong, dramatic tune, its lyrics concerns the mockery a jobless man endures from his family, and his desperation to find work.  These highly relatable lyrics include:  “Give me a job, give me security/Give me a chance to survive/I’m just a poor soul in the unemployment line/My God, I’m hardly alive.”  Yet, beneath the man’s anguish lies a core of hope and determination, reflected in the lyrics, “But I’ve got the power/And I’ve got the will/I’m not a charity case.”

“Take This Job and Shove It” – by Johnny Paycheck

This 1978 song’s lyrics could apply to anyone today who’s seen the handwriting on the wall that a big layoff is coming, and has beaten the boss to the punch by quitting.  A country western tune written by David Allan Coe and transformed into a Number One hit by Johnny Paycheck, the tune’s lyrics rebelliously state, “Take this job and shove it/I ain’t workin’ here no more/…Ya better not try to stand in my way/As I’m walkin’ out that door.”  Some people have been known to email these lyrics to their boss as their final notice.

If you, or someone you know, has been hit below the belt by the economy, there are plenty of song lyrics that sum up exactly what you’re feeling.  And there are also just as many lyrics that keep hope alive for a brighter tomorrow.

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