(by Ray Charles)

My mother told me
´Fore she passed away
Said son when I´m gone

Don´t forget to pray

´Cause there´ll be hard times
Lord those hard times
Who knows better than I?

Well I soon found out
Just what she meant
When I had to pawn my clothes
Just to pay the rent

Talkin´ ´bout hard times
Lord those hard times
Who knows better than I?

I had a woman
Who was always around
But when I lost my money

She put me down

Talkin´ ´bout hard times
Hard times
Yeah, yeah, who knows better than I?

Lord, one of these days
There´ll be no more sorrow
When I pass away

And no more hard times
No more hard times
Yeah, yeah, who knows better than I?