“Love’s a Hard Game to Play” is Track 9 on Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks (1991), Stevie Nicks‘ first retrospective release.
About the Song
In the Timespace liner notes, Stevie wrote that Bret Michaels from the rock band Poison inspired the recording of “Love’s a Hard Game to Play.” “This song was just brought to me barely two weeks ago by a most extraordinary young man. One of those men who has everything…beauty, sensitivity, warmth, and a love for life that I had not seen in a long time. I recorded his song, singing it for him to the best of my ability…hoping that the people would love the song as much as we loved doing it. A new friend, in this business, who asks for nothing but for me to be happy, is a very rare thing. I hope he will remain my friend for a long time, because finding someone like him seldom happens in one’s lifetime. But when it does…there is nothing like it. He was happy because I believed in him. And he had brought something back to me that I thought I had lost…my laughter.”
Release
Modern Records released a remixed “Love’s a Hard Game to Play” on cassette single in the U.S., with a previously unreleased remix of “Sleeping Angel” as the b-side. Stevie helped promote the single by performing “Love’s a Hard Game to Play” live (along with “Stand Back”) on with The Arsenio Hall Show.
Release History
- Love’s a Hard Game to Play (1991) – U.S. promo single
- Love’s a Hard Game to Play (1991) – U.S. cassette single
- A Hard Game to Play (1992) – Japan EP
- Complete Studio Albums & Rarities (2023)
Lyrics
Wake up my sweet child
There’s something I’ve got to say to you tonight
It’s time you took a look at me
‘Cause there’s so much more to me than meets the eye
Well, there’s more to love than makin’ time
The harder you look the more you’ll find
It’s never easy no matter what they say
Love’s a hard game to play
The heart’s the price you pay
Love’s a hard game to play
No matter what they say
Win or lose, no matter what they say
Love’s a hard game to play
The problem here is not my fear
The trouble is you can’t convince yourself
(You can’t convince yourself)
For tonight let’s lose the past
Make love last, put our worries up on the shelf
We’ve been through thick and thin and back again
And we can endure love’s sweet pain
Well, remember starting the fire is easy
The hardest part is learning how to keep the flame
Love’s like walking a real fine line
You get too close you’ll go blind
Let go too long and it will drift away
Love’s a hard game to play
The heart’s the price you pay
Love’s a hard game to play
No matter what you say
So win or lose, no matter what you say
Just when I feel like I’m losin’ you
I hear the voices call
They say it’s better to have lost at love
Than never to have loved at all
Lose or win, stand or fall
Stand tall
Well, there’s more to love than makin’ time
The harder you look, the more you’ll find
It’s never easy, no matter what they say
Love’s a hard game to play, baby
(Ooh…)
Love’s a hard game to play
The heart’s the price you pay
Love’s a hard game to play
(Don’t you know that…)
No matter what you say
Love’s a hard game to play
(So hard, baby)
The heart’s the price you’ll pay
Love’s….a hard game to play
(Don’t you know that…)
(Don’t you know that…)
No matter what they say
‘Cause win or lose, no matter what they say
Well, love’s a hard game to play
A hard game
A hard game to play
(Bret Michaels/Pat Schunk) © Flesh Pretezel Publishing admin. by Willesden Music (BMI)/Schunk Songs (ASCAP).
Credits
Pat Schunk: Acoustic and electric guita, bass, keyboards
Denny Fongheiser: Drums
Bret Michaels: 12 string guitar, additional vocals
Sharon Celani: Background vocals
Lori Perry Nicks: Background vocals
Roger Love: Background vocals
Dave Harte: Tambourine
Produced by Bret Michaels
Engineered by Tom Rothrock and Rob Schaff
Mixed by Bret Michaels, Tom Rothrock and Rob Schaff
Reference
Nicks, S. (1991). Timespace: the best of Stevie Nicks [Liner notes].
