Escrita por Jimmy Cliff, foi lançada em 7 de julho de 1972 no disco The harder they come e depois em compacto que tinha Many rivers to cross como Lado B. É o número 350 da lista da revista Rolling Stone das 500 greatest songs of all time
Gladstone Anderson tocou piano. Winston Wright tocou órgão, Winston Grennan tocou bateria, Linford Brown toco guitarra solo, Ranford Williams tocou guitarra base e Clifton Jackson tocou baixo.
Foi regravada por Jerry Garcia, Cher, Keith Richards, Titãs e Willie Nelson, entre outros artistas.
A letra:
Well,
they tell me of a pie up in the sky
Waiting for me when I die
But
between the day you're born and when you die
They never seem to
hear even your cry
So as sure as the sun
will shine
I'm gonna get my share now, what's mine
And then the
harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the
harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Well, the oppressors
are trying to keep me down
Trying to drive me underground
And
they think that they have got the battle won
I say forgive them
Lord, they know not what they've done
'Cause, as sure as the
sun will shine
I'm gonna get my share now, what's mine
And then
the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the
harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all
And I keep on fighting
for the things I want
Though I know that when you're dead you
can't
But I'd rather be a free man in my grave
Than living as a
puppet or a slave
So as sure as the sun
will shine
I'm gonna get my share now, what's mine
And then the
harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the
harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all
Hey, the harder they
come
The harder they fall, one and all
Hey, the harder they
come
The harder they fall, one and all
Hey, the harder they
come
The harder they fall, one and all
A versão de Jimmy Cliff:
A versão de Willie Nelson:
A versão de Jerry Garcia e Merl Saunders: