The Hard Feelings/Make You Strong
“Make You Strong” was a big evolution for me as a songwriter. Now it doesn’t seem so advanced. I hadn’t read Nietzsche at the time I wrote it. I just liked the idea but mostly it was the descending chord structure that excitied me about the song.
The verse about the “death fantasy” feels like a vestige of the days of the AIDs epidemic when any sexually active young person lived with the threat of an ugly death hanging over every fluid exchange.
While I may have mixed emotions about “Make You Strong” I remain very happy with “The Hard Feelings” intro section. It has that grey Olympia feel I love and introduces the album’s antipathy toward technology which will show up throughout the record.
Lyrics
The Hard Feelings/Make You Strong
Hey everybody
Come out of your houses
’cause there ain’t nothing on TV
Hang up the phone, babe
and turn out the lights
Start dancing on your misery
I was on that ship before I sunk it in the sound
and sailed on and on and on and on
There’s a rhythm to this life
and there’s a groove under the ground
And there’s music and you can hear it
if you just turn your radio down
I was on that ship before I sunk it in the sound
and sailed on and on and on and on
Here they come
It’s the hard feelings
First of all let’s get things straight
I ain’t complainin’
I’m just laying out the facts
I’m just setting the scene
Y’see my future missus moved
but her memorie’s remaining
and it walks around this house
and I wish that it would leave
Well it must be good for something
I hope it don’t last much longer
They say if it don’t kill you
It’ll make you strong
It’s awful hard these days
I mean it’s hard getting up
from a hard wood floor
because she took the bed
so I’m makin’ lots of excuses
not to come home until late at night
and then not to turn out the light
and turn on something else instead
Well it must be good for something
I hope it don’t last much longer
They say if it don’t kill you
It’ll make you strong
Make you strong
Well I just had another one of my
death fantasies
I’d been diagnosed
with a deadly disease
They gave me six months to live
and I lived them well
I recorded all these songs
and I was gone
Well it must be good for something
I hope it don’t last much longer
They say if it don’t kill you
It’ll make you strong
Make you strong
Make. You. Strong.
Credits
Written by Andras Jones
Engineered by Mike Deneen, Colin Mahoney & Earle Mankey
Andras Jones – Lead Vocals & Acoustic Guitar
Lily Gobeil, James Lee Harris, Cindy Wasserman – Backing Vocals
John Nason – Electric Guitar
Marshall Thompson – Piano & Keyboards
R. Walt Vincent – Bass Guitar
Colin Mahoney – Drums
Purchase
$1.50