The original lineup included three lead vocalists — Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron, and Cory Wells — along with Michael Allsup on guitar, Jimmy Greenspoon on keyboards Floyd Sneed on drums and Joe Schermie (from the Cory Wells Blues Band) on bass.
Three Dog Night recorded some tracks with Beach Boys producer, composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist Brian Wilson before signing with Dunhill Records and at the time went under the name Redwood. The band changed their name based on an article describing how Australian Aborigines slept with their dogs for warmth on cold nights, the coldest being a "three-dog night."
ipod Easy to Be Hard
Three Dog Night Lyrics
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How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard
Easy to be cold
How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud
Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about being proud
How about I need a friend, I need a friend
How can people be so heartless
You know I'm hung up on you
Easy to be proud
Easy to say no
Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about being proud
How about I need a friend, I need a friend
How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be proud, easy to say no
Easy to be gone, easy to say no
Come on, easy to get read
Easy to say no
But too easy to be cold
Easy to say no
But too easy to say no
The song "Easy To Be Hard" by Three Dog Night is a reflection on the lack of empathy and compassion that people can display towards one another. The lyrics are a lament on the way individuals can be heartless and cruel, and how it is all too easy for people to be cold, proud and say no. The song starts with a query about how people can be so tone-deaf and indifferent towards those around them, with the repeated line "Easy to be hard, easy to be cold" framing this question throughout.
The next few lines focus on the way that individuals can ignore their friends and loved ones, and how it is simple to be stubborn and refuse to help.When the singer asks whether people only care about being proud, he observes that this mindset can lead to neglecting one’s social responsibilities. In the final stanza, the singer admits to being “hung up” on someone, indicating a personal connection to the issue. This idea of how even those we are close to can be callous and dismissive underlines the point that the song is trying to make.
The message conveyed by "Easy To Be Hard" is simple yet powerful - that real strength lies in the human capacity for empathy and kindness. The song urges us to consider our responsibility towards our fellow beings and the ways we can help overcome the effects of social injustice.
Line by Line Meaning
How can people be so heartless
Expressing disbelief at the inhumanity of some people
How can people be so cruel
Expressing disbelief at the lack of compassion shown by some people
Easy to be hard
It's easy to put on a façade of toughness
Easy to be cold
It's easy to act aloof and distant
How can people have no feelings
Expressing disbelief at the apathy of some people
How can they ignore their friends
Expressing disbelief at the abandonment of those who once cared
Easy to be proud
It's easy to inflate one's own ego
Easy to say no
It's easy to reject others and their needs
Especially people who care about strangers
Emphasizing the hypocrisy of those who claim to care for others but neglect those close to them
Who care about evil and social injustice
Highlighting the contrast between those who focus on global issues and ignore the plight of those closest to them
Do you only care about being proud
Questioning the motives of those who appear to care, but only for self-serving purposes
How about I need a friend, I need a friend
Calling for genuine human connection in lieu of superficial self-interest
You know I'm hung up on you
Admitting an emotional connection despite the other person's coldness
Easy to be gone, easy to say no
Highlighting the ease with which one can abandon others and shut out their needs
Come on, easy to get red
Sarcastic comment about how easily one can be provoked and angered
But too easy to be cold
Warning about the danger of becoming emotionally detached and unfeeling
Easy to say no
Repeating the idea of the ease of rejecting others and their needs
But too easy to say no
Reiterating the danger of becoming too self-serving and emotionally removed
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: GALT MAC DERMOT, GEROME RAGNI, JAMES RADO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Christine Shire
on My Impersonal Life
Who sang vocals for this