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"It's the Hard Knock Life" is a song from the musical Annie with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin. The song is sung by the eponymous protagonist, together with her fellow orphan girls, and is about how the girls are treated by Miss Hannigan.

In the 2014 film adaptation, the lyrics in the line "No one cares for you a smidge, when you're in an orphanage", have been changed to "no one cares for you a bit, when you're a foster kid". As well as the line "You'll stay up 'til this dump shines like the top of the Chrysler building", has been changed to "Make my bathroom shine, but don't touch my medicine cabinet".

Cover versions

• The song is sampled in the Jay-Z song "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)." The Jay-Z version is parodied in the Mike Myers James Bond parody film Austin Powers in Goldmember.
• The song is sampled in the Lil' Romeo track "We Can Make It Right" from his second album Game Time.
• Play covered the song in 2004 for their third studio album Don't Stop the Music which was later featured 20th Anniversary DVD release of Annie.
• The song is interpolated in the chorus of Lukas Graham's 2014 single "Mama Said".

References

1. Haun, Harry (October 2, 2012). "Thirty-Five Years Young: Despite a Hard-Knock Life, Annie's Hardly Showing Her Age". The New York Observer. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
2. "Musicnotes.com: Unsupported Browser or Operating System". Musicnotes. January 2, 2002.
3. "It's the Hard Knock Life – ANNIE to Close on Broadway January 5, 2014". Broadway World. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
4. "Annie Fun Facts". Pittsburgh CLO. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
5. Jessie Strasbaugh (December 27, 2014). "Orphants to foster kids: a century of Annie". Oxford University Press. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
6. "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) by Jay-Z Songfacts".
7. "Lukas Graham's Mama Said". WhoSampled. Retrieved February 25, 2016.

• 1977 songs
• Songs from musicals
• Songs with music by Charles Strouse
• Songs with lyrics by Martin Charnin
• Little Orphan Annie