"Take It So Hard" is the first single from

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

' first solo record, ''

Talk Is Cheap ''Talk Is Cheap'' is the debut solo album by English musician Keith Richards, the guitarist of the Rolling Stones, released in 1988. Recorded and released during a long-standing falling out with Mick Jagger, ''Talk Is Cheap'' received positive r ...

''. The long-time

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

recorded the record after bandmate

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

refused to tour in 1986 in support of the album '' Dirty Work''. The second song of the eleven track record, it is a powerful example of vocal rock harmonies and

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

ic guitar, piano and percussion

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "place ...

, with an overlay of vocal tracks that bury the lyrics within the push and pull of the music. It received heavy airplay on US rock radio, reaching #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks. Richards described writing and recording ''Talk is Cheap'' as a bit by bit accumulation of song threads and recording sessions. Except for "Make No Mistake", which he said came to him all at once, "Take It So Hard" like other songs was put together through several recording sessions in 1987 and 1988. The song was reviewed in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine positively, but Richards never explained the lyrics. The song was discussed in the ''Wall Street Journal's'' weekly music column, week of March 25, 2019, by Keith Richards and Steve Jordan. The song started with a guitar riff, as is usual for Keith Richards, and he quickly came up with the refrain. The rest of the lyrics developed from a vowel exercise that Keith Richards has also used on other songs, to see what fits the music, and once he had vowels he came up with words to go with the vowels.

Kurt Loder Kurtis Loder (born May 5, 1945) is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at ''Rolling Stone'', during a tenure that ''Reason'' later called "legendary". He has contribute ...

called it the "perfect Keith single".Loder, Kurt. "Liner Notes". '' Live at the Hollywood Palladium, December 15, 1988''. Virgin Records. 1991. The music video for the song shows Richards and the X-Pensive Winos- the name for Richards' backing band- in the ruins of a sports stadium playing in the nuclear dust after an

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

has destroyed everyone but the cat-like musician. "Take It So Hard" led off the 1988 concert tour sets, and was played in the 1992–1993 ''

Main Offender ''Main Offender'' is the second studio album by Keith Richards, released in 1992 between the Rolling Stones' '' Steel Wheels'' and ''Voodoo Lounge'' projects. Richards teamed with '' Talk Is Cheap'' collaborator Steve Jordan and added Waddy W ...

'' dates as well.

Personnel

*Keith Richards: lead and background vocal, guitar *

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy N ...

: guitar * Steve Jordan: background vocal, bass *

Charley Drayton Charles Leslie Drayton (born May 9, 1965) is an American multi-instrumentalist and producer, known primarily as a drummer. Artists he has recorded or performed with include The Cult, Keith Richards, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Mi ...

: drums *

Ivan Neville Ivan Neville (born August 19, 1959) is an American multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the son of Aaron Neville and nephew to members of The Neville Brothers. Career He has released four solo (music), solo albums and ha ...

: piano and keyboards

Notes

{{Keith Richards Keith Richards songs 1988 singles Virgin Records singles 1988 songs Songs written by Keith Richards Songs written by Steve Jordan (musician)