The Boxer Lyrics

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

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About

Genius Annotation

“The Boxer” is considered one of Paul Simon’s masterpieces, telling the story of a young boy who laments his poverty and then turning to that of a boxer.

It was first suggested the lyrics were meant as a dig at Bob Dylan, but Paul Simon has noted they’re largely autobiographical, written at a time when he felt unfairly attacked. The ‘lie-la-lie’ refrain’s possible meaning has also been a source of disputes, though again Paul Simon mentioned it only acts as a filler:

I thought that ‘lie la lie’ was a failure of songwriting. I didn’t have any words! Then people said it was ‘lie’ but I didn’t really mean that. That it was a lie. 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” was released as the follow-up single to “Mrs. Robinson”, and reached #7 in Billboard’s Hot 100.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Simon & Garfunkel say about "The Boxer"?
Genius Answer

[“What inspired "The Boxer”?“] I think I was reading the Bible around that time. That’s where I think phrases such as ‘workman’s wages’ came from, and ‘seeking out the poorer quarters’. That was biblical. I think the song was about me: everybody’s beating me up, and I’m telling you now I’m going to go away if you don’t stop. By that time we had encountered our first criticism. For the first few years, it was just pure praise. It took two or three years for people to realize that we weren’t strange creatures that emerged from England but just two guys from Queens who used to sing rock'n'roll. And maybe we weren’t real folkies at all! Maybe we weren’t even hippies! – Paul Simon, 1984 Playboy interview.

Yeah, I knew “The Boxer” was great. For one thing, it’s a style that is our strong suit. Paul and Artie could sing most effectively when they were doing a Travis picking, very fluid, running-along-syllable-song like that. Whenever we did those folky, running things, the syllabication is ideal for what we had learned. We were tapping into something that went way back for us, and something we could get a blend on. So I always knew, whenever it was that kind of thing, I had a particular feel that I could do really well, and match Paul and make the whole thing ripple and articulate it just right. So just because it was in that category, I had a feeling that I could make it sound good. And the lyric is real nice. And the amount of labor in the studio was just unbelievable. That one took so many days. – Art Garfunkel, 1990 SongTalk interview.

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