Hard Luck Woman – Kiss

One of the most endearing songs that Kiss ever released was this acoustic guitar based ballad that featured lead vocals from drummer Peter Criss. It remains one of writer  Paul Stanley’s masterstrokes in the evolution of the band.

It was a formulaic song in the way in was structured and it was highly reminiscent of a Faces song like Maggie May or You Wear It Well more so than most of the rock music that had carried Kiss into the hearts and minds of fans around the world. It’s no surprise then that Stanley actually wrote it with the intention of Rod Stewart singing it. Hard Luck woman was later covered by Garth Brooks for a Kiss tribute album

Where Stanley was clever here is that he cast the title character as a completely different kind of woman than those usually found in Kiss songs. “A sailors only daughter” was not the image of the kind of woman that Kiss usually lauded and by giving Criss the task of singing this song it helped establish a character for the “cat” that actually had an identity. It was a process that had started with Beth and Hard Luck Woman bought in home.

Criss was a limited vocalist but his raspy tone and sincere performance on this song was ideal for what it sought to achieve.