Paul Simon - The Boxer

      Verse 1:


C
I am just a poor boy

                           Am
Though my story's seldom told,

        G
I have squandered my resistance

       G7                              C
For a pocket full of mumbles such are promises.

              Am
All lies and jest,

         G                F
Still a man hears what he wants to hear

                   C     F  G  C
And disregards the rest.

Verse 2:


        C
When I left my home and my family

                      Am
I was no more than a boy

        G
In the company of strangers,

        G7                         C
In the quiet of a railway station running scared.

        Am           G              F
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters

                        C
Where the ragged people go

         G              F        G      C
Looking for the places only the would know.

Chorus


        Am          G
Lie la lie, lie la lie lie, lie la lie,

        Am
Lie la lie,

       F         G                   C
Lie la lie la lie la lie la la la la lie.

Verse 3:


        C
Asking only workmans wages

                      Am
I come looking for a job

               G
But I get no offers,

        G7                   G              C
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue.

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

                     C           G       F  G   C
I took some comfort there, la la la la la.


        Am          G
Lie la lie, lie la lie lie, lie la lie,

        Am
Lie la lie,

       F         G                   C
Lie la lie la lie la lie la la la la lie.

Verse 4:


     C
Then I'm laying out my winter clothes

                   Am
And wishing I was gone,

       G
Going home

           G7                           C
Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me,

Em           Am         G     C
Bleeding me ____ Going home.

Verse 5:


        C
In the clearing stands the boxer

                       Am
And a fighter by his trade

       G
And he carries the reminders

    G7
Of Every glove that layed him down

    C
Or cut him till he cried out

                       Am
In his anger and his shame,

      G             F
"I am leaving, I am leaving!"

                      C       G, F, G,  C
But the fighter still remains.

        Am          G
Lie la lie, lie la lie lie, lie la lie,

        Am
Lie la lie,

       F         G                   C
Lie la lie la lie la lie la la la la lie.