Key: C
Introduction:
C
I am just a poor boy
Am
Though my story's seldom told
G
I have squandered my resistance
G7 G6 C
For a pocket full of mumbles such are promises
Am
All lies and jests
G F
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
C
And disregards the rest
C
When I left my home and my family
C G Am
I was no more than a boy
G
In the company of strangers
G7 G6 C
In the quiet of the railway station running scared
Am G F
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
C
Where the ragged people go
G F C
Looking for the places only they would know
Am
Lie-la-lie
G
Lie-la-lie la lie-la-lie
Am
Lie la lie
F C
Lie-la-lie la la la la lie la la la la lie
C
Asking only workman's wages
C G Am
I come looking for a job
G
But I get no offers,
G7 G6 C
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue
Am G F
I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome
C
I took some comfort there
C
Then I'm laying out my winter clothes
C G Am
And wishing I was gone
G
Going home
G7 G6 C
Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me
Am G
Bleeding me, going home
Repeat chorus
C
In the clearing stands a boxer
C G Am
And a fighter by his trade
G
And he carries the reminders
G7 G6
Of ev'ry glove that layed him down
C
Or cut him till he cried out
Am F
In his anger and his shame
G F
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
C
But the fighter still remains
Am
Lie-la-lie
G
Lie-la-lie la lie-la-lie
Am
Lie la lie
F Am
Lie-la-lie la la la la lie la la la la lie
G
Lie-la-lie la lie-la-lie
Am
Lie la lie
F C
Lie-la-lie la la la la lie la la la la lie