The Boxer

Listen while you read:  Mumford & Sons version

I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles
Such as promises, all lies and jests
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
Staying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

Asking only workman's wages, I come looking for a job
But I get no offers, only a come-on from the whores on 7th Avenue
I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there

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 every glove that laid him out
Or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving," but the fighter still remains

~  Paul Simon

Happy Boxing Day! No, this song has nothing to do with Boxing Day! And the link won't even take you to the Simon & Garfunkel original, which appears on 1970's Bridge Over Troubled Water. Instead, I linked a Mumford & Sons cover from 2012's Babel. Why? Mostly because I just love Jerry Douglas' dobro on it. You will, too. Give it a listen.

Boxing Day originated in the United Kingdom and is still celebrated in several countries once owned by the Brits. The original purpose was to bestow gifts (in boxes, of course) on the lower classes, the servants who tended to the wealthy (who exchanged their gifts on Christmas Day). I wonder if Boxing Day was the precursor to regifting? Imagine a lord or lady receiving a Chia Pet and passing it on the next day to some ragged servant whose job it was to scrub the floors of the castle.

Paul Simon readily admits that he is "the boxer." After receiving such high praise for the early work of Simon & Garfunkel, the critics began to pick at subsequent efforts, and Simon had to deal with that. He imagined himself beaten up by the critics . . . but the fighter still remains. Lucky for us that he didn't quit. He also confesses that his melodic chorus of "lie la lie . . . " was a "placeholder" when he couldn't come up with the lyrics. Somehow it stuck and became a classic singalong.

There was an additional verse to the song which didn't make it onto the album, but Simon and Garfunkel have included it at some live performances.  I was happy to find it today, thinking it a suitable verse to add as another year reaches its close. And for those of us who lived during that magical age of good music (otherwise known as "the Sixties"), it seems strange to imagine a young Paul Simon crafting these lyrics:

Now the years are rolling by me
They are rockin' evenly
I am older than I once was
And younger than I'll be
That's not unusual
No, it isn't strange
After changes upon changes
We are more or less the same
After changes, we are more or less the same

Now go box up that Talking Fish and find someone to give it to!