(capo 2ª casa)

D                                                   G
I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told.
          A
I have squandered my resistance,
                                   D
For a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises.
             Bm
All lies and jest.
        A              G                                D  A D
Still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

D                                                  G
When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy,
        A
In the company of strangers,
                                  D
In the quiet of a railway station, runnin' scared.
      Bm           A               G
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters,
                      D
Where the ragged people go.
        A           G       A          D
Lookin' for the places, only they would know.

       Bm         A
Lie-la-lie Lie-la-lie-la-la-la-lie
       Bm         G               A         D
Lie-la-lie Lie-le-lie-la-lie-la-la-la-la-la-lie

                                 G           Bm
Asking only workman's wages I come lookin' for a job,
             A
But I get no offers,
                                      D
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue.
        Bm             A              G
I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome,
                     D                 A
I took some comfort there la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

D                                                    G
Then I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone,
      A                                        D
Going home, where the New York City winters aren't bleedin' me.
Bm        F#m         A   D
Bleadin' me, to goin' home.

D                                                 G
In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade,
        A
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down,
    D                                           Bm
Or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame,
        A           G
"I am leaving, I am leaving."
                        D    A D
But the fighter still remains.