The Boxer

1. I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told

I have squandered my resistance

for a pocket full of mumbles such are promises

Ami

all lies and jests

still a man hears what he wants to hear

and disregards the rest.

2. 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.

R: Lie la lie ...

3. 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 oo-la-la ...

R:

4. 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.

5. In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade

and he carries the reminders

G7

of ev'ry glove that laid him down

or cut him till he cried out

Ami

in his anger and his shame

"I am leaving, I am leaving"

but the fighter still remains.

R:

R:

R: ...