THE BOXER                Paul Simon
Key:   C

C                                       G      Am
I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told,
       G
I have squandered my resistance for a pocket-full of mumbles,
         C             G        Am
Such are promises, all lies and jest,
        G                 F                                C         G  C
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest....


Whan I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy,
In the company of strangers, in the quiet of a railway station
Running scared, laying low,
Seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go,
Looking for the places only they would know.

       Am
Lie-la-lie.
       G
Lie-la-la-la-lie-la-lie
       Am
Lie-la-lie.
       G                             C
Lie-la-lie-la-lie-la-lie-la-la-la-la-lie.


Asking only workman's wages I come looking for a job,
But I get no offers, just a come-on from the whores
On Seventh Avenue. I do declare,
There were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there.
Lie-la-la-lie.....

(inst.)

Then I'm laying out my Winter clothes and wishing I was gone,
Going home, where the New York City Winters
Aren't bleeding me... leading me...
Going home.

In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving!" but the fighter still remains....

Lie - la - lie .... (x8) & fade ....