Lyrics to
The Boxer

This version of The Boxer was released by Simon & Garfunkel in 1970.

Our About Simon & Garfunkel page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Boxer from 1970 as well as all of the other lyrics from Simon & Garfunkel that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Simon & Garfunkel or about the 1970s in general.

I am just a poor boy.
Though my story’s seldom told,
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles,
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 my 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.

Lie-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-lie…

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 ev’ry 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 remains

Lie-la-lie…

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Simon & Garfunkel has released many songs over the years besides The Boxer. Simon & Garfunkel released songs from 1964 to 2004 spanning across albums like Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme, Sounds Of Silence, Bookends, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Concert In Central Park, and Old Friends: Live On Stage. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Simon & Garfunkel.

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About Lyrics and The Boxer by Simon & Garfunkel

The lyrics for The Boxer are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1970 song by Simon & Garfunkel. 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 - Simon & Garfunkel 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 Simon & Garfunkel 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 Simon & Garfunkel. 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 Simon & Garfunkel 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.

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