The Boxer

Paul Simon / Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water (1969)

	C	Am
	I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom	told,

	G	Dm	G	C
I have	squandered my resistance - For a	pocket full of	mumbles, such are	promises.

	Am	G	F
All lies and	jest, still a	man hears what he	wants to hear,

	C	G	F	C
And disregards the	rest. (hm-hm	hm, hm -hm	hm-hm hm-hm	hm)

	C	Am	G
When I	left my home and my family, I was no more than a	boy - In the	company of strangers,

	Dm	G	C
In the	quiet of a	railway station,	running scared,

	Am	G	F
Laying	low, seeking	out the poorer	quarters -

	C	G	F	C
Where the ragged people	go, Looking	for the places	only they would	know.

	C	Am	G
Asking	only workman's wages I come looking for a	job - But I get no	offers,

	Dm	G	C
Just a	come-on from the	whores on Seventh	Avenue.

	Am	G	F
I do de	clare, there were	times when I was	so lonesome,

	C	G	F	C
I took some comfort	there. (La la	Lie, la la	lie lie la la	lie)

	C	Am	G
Then I'm	laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was	gone, Going	home;

	Dm	G	C	Am	G
Where the	New York City	winters aren't	bleeding me	Leading me, going	home.

	C	Am
In the	clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his	trade,

	G	G7
And he	carries a reminder of	ev'ry glove that laid him down

	C	Am	C	Am
Or	cut him till he	cried out in his	anger and his	shame:

	G	F	C
"I am	leaving, I am	leaving, But the fighter still re	mains".