Lyrics:

It's the hard-knock life for us
It's the hard-knock life for us

'Stead of treated

We get tricked

'Stead of kisses

We get kicked

It's the hard-knock life
Got no folks to speak of, so
It's the hard-knock row we ho

Cotton blanket

'Stead of wool

Empty bellies

'Stead of full

It's the hard-knock life

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

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

Once a day, don't you wanna throw the towel in?

It's easier than putting up a fight

No one's there when your dreams at night are creepy
No one cares if you grow or if you shrink
No one dries when your eyes get wet and weepy

From the crying, you would think this place would sink
Oh
Empty belly life
Rotten, smelly life
Full of sorrow life
No tomorrow life
Santa Claus, we never see

Santa Claus, what's that? Who's he?

No one cares for you a smidge
When you're in an orphanage
It's the hard knock life

You'll stay up 'til this dump shines like the top of the Chrysler Building

Kill, kill
Yank the whiskers from her chin
Little pig droppings
Jab her with a safety pin
Rotten orphans
Make her drink a Mickey Finn
Nobody loves you
I love you, Miss Hannigan

Get to work
Strip them beds
Scrub that floor
Polish my shoes
And I mean start now

It's the hard-knock life for us
Mud in your eye
It's the hard-knock life for us
Egg in your beer
No one cares for you a smidge
Hair on your chest
When you're in an orphanage
It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life
It's the hard-knock life