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 in jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. Hm…
When I left my home and my family, I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers in the quiet of a 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, lie-la-lie la lie-la-lie lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie la la la la lie la la la 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.
La-la-la la la la la.
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,
Leading me, going home.
In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade,
And he carries the reminders of ev’ry 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. Hm….
Lie-la-lie, lie-la-lie la lie-la-lie lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie la la la la lie la la la la lie. (Repeat several times, then end.)
1969 – Paul Simon – Performed by Simon & Garfunkle – Album: Bridge over Troubled Water