[ORPHANS]
It's the hard-knock life for us
It's the hard-knock life for us

[ANNIE]
'Stead of treated

[ORPHANS]
We get tricked

[ANNIE]
'Stead of kisses

[ORPHANS]
We get kicked

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

[ANNIE]
Cotton blanket

[ORPHANS]
'Stead of wool
[ANNIE]
Empty bellies

[ORPHANS]
'Stead of full

[ALL]
It's the hard-knock life

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

[KATE & TESSA]
Don't it seem like there's never any light?

[ANNIE & MOLLY]
Once a day, don't you wanna throw the towel in?

[PEPPER & JULY]
It's easier than putting up a fight

[ANNIE]
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
[ALL]
From the crying, you would think this place would sink
Oh
Empty belly life
Rotten, smelly life
Full of sorrow life
No tomorrow life

[MOLLY]
Santa Claus, we never see

[ANNIE]
Santa Claus, what's that? Who's he?

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

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

[ORPHANS & MOLLY]
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
[MOLLY]
Get to work
Strip them beds
Scrub that floor
Polish my shoes
And I mean start now

[ALL & MOLLY]
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