Homeless Persons' Memorial Day Top 100 Songs
Song #36
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Simon and Garfunkel
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disagreements and their breakup in 1970. Their final studio album, Bridge over Troubled Water, was released that year and became their most successful, becoming one of the world's best-selling albums.
Simon & Garfunkel won 10 Grammy Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Bridge over Troubled Water is ranked at number 51 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. They are among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 100 million records.
"The Boxer" was released as the lead single from Bridge over Troubled Water on March 21, 1969. The song, written by Paul Simon, is a folk rock ballad that variously takes the form of a first-person lament as well as a third-person sketch of a boxer. The lyrics are largely autobiographical and partially inspired by the Bible, according to Simon, and were written during a time when he felt he was being unfairly criticized. The song is particularly known for its plaintive refrain, in which they sing 'lie-la-lie' something that Simon says, "I didn't have any words! But, it's not a failure of songwriting, because people like that and they put enough meaning into it, and the rest of the song has enough power and emotion, I guess, to make it go, so it's all right. But for me, every time I sing that part... , I'm a little embarrassed."
"The Boxer" is not a song about homelessness, however, it does brilliantly and beautifully capture the painful human conditions of poverty and loneliness which are the essence of being homeless. Having personally experienced homelessness, I am drawn to the character of the Boxer himself. The Boxer reminds me of many homeless persons that I have known, many of them so tough, yet the struggle and the pain of poverty and loneliness take their toll until at some point it is no longer possible to hide their anger and shame.
Simon & Garfunkel won 10 Grammy Awards and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Bridge over Troubled Water is ranked at number 51 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. They are among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 100 million records.
"The Boxer" was released as the lead single from Bridge over Troubled Water on March 21, 1969. The song, written by Paul Simon, is a folk rock ballad that variously takes the form of a first-person lament as well as a third-person sketch of a boxer. The lyrics are largely autobiographical and partially inspired by the Bible, according to Simon, and were written during a time when he felt he was being unfairly criticized. The song is particularly known for its plaintive refrain, in which they sing 'lie-la-lie' something that Simon says, "I didn't have any words! But, it's not a failure of songwriting, because people like that and they put enough meaning into it, and the rest of the song has enough power and emotion, I guess, to make it go, so it's all right. But for me, every time I sing that part... , I'm a little embarrassed."
"The Boxer" is not a song about homelessness, however, it does brilliantly and beautifully capture the painful human conditions of poverty and loneliness which are the essence of being homeless. Having personally experienced homelessness, I am drawn to the character of the Boxer himself. The Boxer reminds me of many homeless persons that I have known, many of them so tough, yet the struggle and the pain of poverty and loneliness take their toll until at some point it is no longer possible to hide their anger and shame.
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 till he cried out
in his anger and his shame
and a fighter by his trade
and he carries the reminders
of every glove that laid him down
or cut him till he cried out
in his anger and his shame
I have witnessed firsthand, to my displeasure, the suffering and dying of people that live life on the street. They don't die all at once like we would think, they die little-by-little and bit-by-bit. Often times it is the soul that leaves first, the body is so physically tough that it actually survives what the soul can no longer withstand. After the initial shock upon finding out that a homeless friend had died, I quickly realized that I needed not to be shocked or surprised at all. In fact, I can almost remember the day that my friend had "given-up the ghost" spiritually. Suddenly I was able to reconcile the departure of a friends soul perhaps a few short months before his physical body gave up. The "Boxer" has left with all of the dignity and honor he could scrape-up before his soul passed on to heaven, and what remains is the fighter until his physical death.
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
but the fighter still remains
Lie la lie ...
"The Boxer"
Lyrics
I am just a poor boy
though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
for a pocket full of mumbles such are 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, 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
Lie la lie ...
(The following verse is not included in the orginal verison)
Now the years are rolling by me
they are rockin' evenly
I am older than I once was
and younger than I'll be and 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
Lie la lie ...
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,
bleeding 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 down
or cut him till he cried out
in his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
but the fighter still remains
Lie la lie ...
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