I am using the original version of Annie produced in 1982. This movie was based on the 1977 Broadway musical "of the same name" by Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, and Thomas Meehan. They came out with this musical off from the comic strip"Little Orphan Annie". This original film is set during the Great Depression in 1933.  It tells the story of Orphan Annie in New York City living in the orphanage and becoming adopted by billionaires. 

The song I am choosing from this movie is "It's the Hard Knock Life".  This song was produced by Charles Strouse and the lyrics were created by Martin Charnin. This song told the story of the hardships that the orphans lived in orphanages specifically in New York City. The song portrays that life in the orphanage is like a prison sentence. The children are showed no affection and are regulated by strict disciplinary actions if they don't follow the rules. They are treated as if no one wants them and  they are unloveable.

This song is written in common time. This song is very catchy and you find yourself tapping your foot to it. This song is played in Bb major and has a tempo of 130 beats per minute originally as a moderato tempo. The style of the song creates a low energy, but very danceable/catchy song. You can hear the repeating beat through out the song. 

Annie is the lead singer during this song. The rest of the orphans sing with little pieces during the verse, but mainly perform the chorus with Annie. At the 1:52 mark you notice the build up of the song with more power. It portrays just how neglected they are, even with the comment "Santa Claus who is he". Then they sing about the abuse they suffered daily from the Lady of the house. This version was a register higher than the original it was a bunch of young girls singing. The harmony in this song by them was amazing and the story of the song was felt more because it was girls of that age group singing about the hardships of orphanage living. 

I was disappointed that I couldn't find more information about the original works of this song and movie. It seems that the Jay Z version is more popular on the internet. If you have never seen the original I recommend that you watch it.

References:

"It's the Hard Knock Life". Wikipedia, 15 September 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_the_Hard_Knock_Life

Music Notes. Sheet Music Anywhere. https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0041182. Accessed 08 November 2021.

"Financial Times". The Life of a Song: 'It's the Hard Knock Life', April 10 2015,  https://www.ft.com/content/fbf3bec4-ce64-11e4-86fc-00144feab7de