The Boxer by Paul Simon

Intro: C (picked or strummed - listen to the song and it's simple enough)


Verse 1:


C
I am just a poor boy

                  G/B     Am
Though my story's seldom told,

        G
I have squandered my resistance

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

     G/B      Am
All lies and jest,

         G                F
Still a man hears what he wants to hear

                   C    G  C  
And disregards the rest.



Verse 2:


        C
When I left my home and my family
 
               G/B    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.

G/B     Am           G              F
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters

                        C
Where the ragged people go

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



Chorus 1:


        Am          Em
Lie la lie, lie la lie lie, lie la lie,

        Am
Lie la lie,

        G7                            C
Lie la lie la lie la lie la la la la lie.



Verse 3:


        C
Asking only workmans wages

                G/B   Am
I come looking for a job 
 
               G
But I get no offers,

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

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

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



Musical bridge:

C, C G/B Am, G, G7, C
C G/B Am, G F, F C, G F, C



Chorus 2: (Same as chorus one)



Verse 4:


     C
Then I'm laying out my winter clothes 

             G/B   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

              G/B      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
     
             G/B     Am
In his anger and his shame,

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

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



Chorus 3: (Same) Repeat X8



Outro:


C, C G/B Am, G, G7, C
C G/B Am, G F, F C, G F, C