Lyrics to
The Boxer

This version of The Boxer was released by Bob Dylan in 1970.

Our Bob Dylan Songs profile has The Boxer lyrics from 1970 and most if not all of the lyrics by Bob Dylan that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Bob Dylan or about the 1970s in general.

I’m just a poor boy
Though my story’s seldom told
I have squadered my resistance
For a pocketful of numbles
Such are promises, all lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest.

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

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.

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
And cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
“I am leaving, I am leaving”
But the fighter still ramains.

---

Bob Dylan has released many songs over the years besides The Boxer. Bob Dylan released songs from 1962 to 2006 spanning across albums like Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Another Side Of Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing All Back Home, Blonde On Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Selfportrait, New Morning, Dylan, Planet Waves, The Basement Tapes, Blood On The Tracks, Desire, Street Legal, Slow Train Coming, Saved, Shot Of Love, Infidels, Empire Burlesque, Knocked Out Loaded, Down In The Groove, Oh Mercy, Under The Red Sky, Good As I Been To You, World Gone Wrong, Time Out Of Mind, Love And Theft, and Modern Times. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Bob Dylan.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1970 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Boxer by Bob Dylan

The lyrics for The Boxer are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1970 song by Bob Dylan. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to The Boxer have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for The Boxer - Bob Dylan and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to The Boxer by Bob Dylan in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to The Boxer" means the words set to the music of The Boxer, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Bob Dylan. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to The Boxer and the lyrics to The Boxer are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Bob Dylan who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Boxer, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Bob Dylan

Visit our Bob Dylan profile for more Bob Dylan songs, lyrics & info!

)