The Boxer

(album: The Chain - 2007)

I am just a poor boy
Though my story is seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises

All lies and jest
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

Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places, only they would know

Lie-la-lie

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
La, la, la, la, la, la, la

Lie-la-lie

And 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 home, 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 down

Or cut him 'til he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leavin'"
But the fighter still remains, still remains

Lie-la-lie