This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
The fields of Eden
Are full of trash
And if we beg and we borrow and steal
We'll never get it back
People are hungry
They crowd around
And the city gets bigger as the country comes begging to town
We're stuck between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
This talk of freedom
And human rights
Means bullying and private wars and chucking all the dust into our eyes
And peasant people
Poorer than dirt
Who are caught in the crossfire, and got nothing to lose but their shirts, yeah
We're stuck between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Between a rock
And a hard place
We're in the same boat
On the same sea
And we're sailing south
On the same breeze
Building dream churches
With a silver spires
And our rogue children
Playing loaded dice
Between a rock
And a hard place
You'd better stop
Yeah, get a load of that
Give me the truth now
Don't want no shame
I'd be hung drawn and quartered for a sheep just as well as a lamb
Stuck between a rock
And a hard place
A rock and a hard place
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Oh yeah
Can't you see, what you've done to me
Between a rock
And a hard place
(That's what I said)
Between a rock
And a hard place
(Yeah)
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Yeah!
Don't you believe anymore
Yeah! Come on now! Yeah
Between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
Are full of trash
And if we beg and we borrow and steal
We'll never get it back
People are hungry
They crowd around
And the city gets bigger as the country comes begging to town
We're stuck between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
This talk of freedom
And human rights
Means bullying and private wars and chucking all the dust into our eyes
And peasant people
Poorer than dirt
Who are caught in the crossfire, and got nothing to lose but their shirts, yeah
We're stuck between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Between a rock
And a hard place
We're in the same boat
On the same sea
And we're sailing south
On the same breeze
Building dream churches
With a silver spires
And our rogue children
Playing loaded dice
Between a rock
And a hard place
You'd better stop
Yeah, get a load of that
Give me the truth now
Don't want no shame
I'd be hung drawn and quartered for a sheep just as well as a lamb
Stuck between a rock
And a hard place
A rock and a hard place
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Oh yeah
Can't you see, what you've done to me
Between a rock
And a hard place
(That's what I said)
Between a rock
And a hard place
(Yeah)
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Yeah!
Don't you believe anymore
Yeah! Come on now! Yeah
Between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
You'd better stop
Put on a kind face
Between a rock
And a hard place
Between a rock
And a hard place
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar, edited by holybias11
Rock and a Hard Place Lyrics as written by Mick Jagger Keith Richards
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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It's about the war in Iraq.
This song predates the Iraq War by about 15 years. Heck, it even predates the Gulf War of 1990-91.