Jimmy's got himself a dream machine
A ’57 Chevrolet
When words get hard and times get hot
Jimmy drives himself away
What do you tell the boy, what do you say
When you try to be his friend
When you say it easy, he laughs it off
It's gotten out of hand
There's just one thing he’ll understand

It takes a lot of tough love
No other way what you got to say
It takes stern stuff
Tell it straight, don't you hesitate
With that tough love

Sometimes the easy way is not enough
When someone's really wrong
No one ever wants to hurt a friend
But you gotta say it strong
Can't you see it never solves a thing
To sugarcoat the truth
Let him know your love is firm
You're gonna see him through
And what you're gonna do

Is give him that tough love
No other way what you got to say
It takes stern stuff
Tell it straight, don't you hesitate
It takes a hard stand
To care so much to be that friend
With that tough love
You'll never stop, it takes all you got
With that tough love

Oh, it takes a lot of tough love
No other way what you got to say
It takes stern stuff
Tell it straight, don’t you hesitate
With that tough love
No other way what you got to say
It takes a hard stand
To care so much to be that friend
With that tough love
With that tough love
Oh, with that tough love
Tough, tough, tough!
Give ’em that tough love, yeah
Tough, tough, tough!
Oh, give 'em that tough love
Tough, tough, tough!
Oh, give ’em that tough love
Tough, tough, tough!
Oh, give 'em that tough love
Tough, tough, tough!