I woke up this morning
With a pounding in my brain
And a half a dozen roaches
Crawling down the window pain
Got no food in the kitchen
I can't afford the rent
I had some money yesterday
But I don't know where it went
I can not find a job
I can not get a loan
I could not pay the bills
So they took back my telephone
My girlfriend, Josephine
She gave me back my ring
She said, "Baby till you get some dough
You can forget about the wild thing"
Hard times in America, Hard times in America
Hard times in America, Hard times in America
The farmer down the road
He never did no harm
But he could not make the payments
So they auctioned off his farm
All across the heartland
From Mexico to Main
People out of work
Locked up in the human chain, singing...
Repeat They say it's getting better
We're closing the gap
You know as well as I do
That's just a load of crap
The rich are getting richer
The poor are staying poor
I do believe the Grim Reaper
Is knocking at the door
Repeat The widow next store
Though once a blushing bride
Is now a pile of skin and bones
Afraid to go outside
Where hustlers and pimps
And murderers have been
Dressed in rags in feathers
On the outside looking in
People eating garbage
People drinking rain
Sleeping on the sidewalk
In a cardboard hurricane
Some are drinking whiskey
Some are taking drugs
The victims of a society
Still working out the bugs
Hard times in America, Hard times in America
Hard times in America, Hard times in America
Hard times in America, Hard times in America
Hard times in America, Hard times in America