Single:
The Boxer entered the Australian singles chart* on 19 April 1969 and peaked at #8. The song was #57 on the Top 100 of 1969.
Album:
The song is on Bridge over Troubled Water which entered the Australian albums chart* on 6 April 1970. It debuted in the #1 position, which it held for a total of 15 weeks.
Songwriter:
Paul Simon
Producers:
Roy Halee, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel
Record label of Australian release:
CBS
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
BONUS VIDEO BELOW: Taylor Bloom and Benjamin Cooley from the touring The Simon and Garfunkel Story perform The Boxer
Wikipedia:
The song’s lyrics take the form of a first-person lament, as the singer describes his struggles to overcome loneliness and poverty in New York City. The final verse switches to a third-person sketch of a boxer, who, despite the fact that “he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him till he cried out”, “I am leaving, I am leaving”—”but”, the lyrics continue, “the fighter still remains.”
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boxer
Songfacts:
In his 1984 Playboy interview, Simon revealed that he wrote this song when critics were writing harsh things about his music – he was the boxer. Said Simon: “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 realise 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!”
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/simon-garfunkel/the-boxer
Lyrics:
I am just a poor boy
Though my story′s seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises
All lies and jest
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 60s
Find other songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
BONUS
In 2021-2022, Taylor Bloom and Benjamin Cooley toured America as the legendary title duo in The Simon and Garfunkel Story. The show with different casts toured Australia in 2018 and 2023. Here are the very talented Taylor and Ben from Taylor’s YouTube channel:
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