The Boxer

   C                                              Ami 
1. I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told 
           G 
   I have squandered my resistance 
                                           C 
   for a pocket full of mumbles such are promises 
                 Ami 
   all lies and jests 
            G                 F 
   still a man hears what he wants to hear 
                       C  G C 
   and disregards the rest. 
           C                                               Ami 
2. When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy 
           G 
   in the company of strangers 
           Dmi7                         C 
   in the quiet of the railway station running scared 
           Ami         G               F 
   laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters 
                            C 
   where the ragged people go 
            G             F      Emi Dmi    C 
   looking for the places only they would know. 
           Ami G Ami F G C 
R: Lie la lie ... 
          C                                          Ami 
3. Asking only workman's wages I come looking for a job 
                G 
   but I get no offers, 
           Dmi7                       C 
   just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue 
            Ami             Dmi7      C      F 
   I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome 
                         C           G C 
   I took some comfort there oo-la-la ... 
R: 
             C                           G7   C             Ami 
4. Then I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone 
          G 
   going home 
              Dmi7     G7          G        C 
   where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me 
            Emi Ami    G  C 
   leading me,  going home. 
            C                                            Ami 
5. In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade 
           G 
   and he carries the reminders 
      G7 
   of ev'ry glove that laid him down 
       C       Dmi7 G7  C 
   or cut him till he cried out 
                          Ami 
   in his anger and his shame 
          G             F 
   "I am leaving, I am leaving" 
                            C 
   but the fighter still remains. 
R: 
R: 
R: ...