All the girls on the sidewalk. Mace in your purse and you're scared as hell
Scared this way nearly every damn day, all the touching and yelling
And you want to get mad, you want to fight back. But he's got a hundred pounds on you
What's he gonna do if you raise your voice? Ain't no telling

It's a hard world. Make no mistake, it's a hard world
Enough to make a heart break, hard world
For any kind of girl

All the girls in the movies. 30 years younger than your leading man
Falling like stars from view, when you leave your 20's
And all the girls on the radio. Little teen dreams in bikini strings
You can make a quick buck if you're young enough. If you stay real skinny

But it's a hard world. Baby, make no mistake, it's a hard world
Enough to make your heart break, hard world
For any kind of girl

And we've all got mothers, and we'll all have daughters
And I don't want to have to look her in the face and tell her

...

All the girls in a small town. Who married too young, now there's no way out
Cause he'll kill you if you think of leaving. And the kids need dinner
And it's a hard world. So baby, make no mistakes. It's a hard world
Enough to make your heart break, hard world

Hard world. Has it always been this way, such a hard world?
Can we make it turn someday, this hard world?
For our girls...
For any kind of girl