"THE BOXER"
words & music by Paul Simon

This is part of my story with this great song.

Listening to “The Boxer” this many years later, it occurs to me that this just may be one of Paul Simon’s finest works. Thanks to Paul Simon Music we have it here.

Although, our site’s aim is to publish my songs and in the end reach those who will find something they can enjoy, we’d like to add one cover song (a previously published song by another artist) per record and this time we’ve chosen, “The Boxer.”

“The Boxer” by Paul Simon is a timeless American song and one that always reminds me of bravery. Once upon a time, I was traveling in a 1937 Plymouth, to a part-time job after school and “The Boxer” new from Simon & Garfunkel and barely audible from the after-market radio seem to fill that wet spring day in my hometown. Many decades later, when Paul Simon was given honors at the Kennedy Center one of the songs chosen to best represent his musical power was “The Boxer.”

Over the years I’ve known so many people who’ve listened to “The Boxer” and loved the song because it fits so well into their lives. But they also tell me they really never think about what this great song is saying. That’s the genius of Paul Simon. In the end he created a song that is so beautiful to listen to without the need to wonder how it seeps into our lives or what it means. And yet for some of us it’s a story of human life wrapped up in a single ballad. I can’t listen to it, without living it. So in my view, this song tells my own story. I too, am just a poorboy. Again demonstrating the power of Paul Simon to write songs unique to him, but at the same time songs that feel as though they belong all of us.

As a cover song artist I was just a poorboy who played this song often. Over the years I changed the keys to suit my changing vocal ability, but also to find other ways to express it. In the end, for me this is one of my all time favorite songs to listen to and think about, but also to play. If you’ll just listen to our version, you’ll hear musicians who love it and appreciate it in their own way come together in a great studio band, to play this great song.

So, “The Boxer” is still the timeless masterpiece we all know it to be.

Once upon a time, returning home from classes at a downtown college, I drove through the night, almost alone on the wide interstate, I heard that truly unmistakable intro and I knew “The Boxer” was about to play from local radio. As I listened to the single speaker in the dash of my old van, I felt I was lifted above the road. My ride seemed effortless. The song ended and I heard the sound of silence as the DJ paused and then he said, just one word, “Timeless.”
And I knew he was expressing my thoughts exactly.

So, here’s “The Boxer.”

 

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