The Boxer
April 1969
The folk-rock ballad The Boxer (English for The Boxer ) of the American duo Simon & Garfunkel was written by Paul Simon in 1968. 1969 released as a single, it reached number 7 in the U.S. and number 19 in the German charts. The following year, she appeared on Bridge over Troubled Water, the last studio album the two musicians.
The song about a loser in the big city is known for its catchy chorus, where the melody with the syllables "lie -la- lie" [ laɪ̯ lɑ laɪ̯ ] is sung, accompanied by highly reverberant drum beats, and the guitar finger picking of Fred Carter Jr. and Paul Simon. The music magazine Rolling Stone leads the work on place 105 of its list of the 500 best songs of all time.
Text
The Boxer is content, the lament of a lonely, unsuccessful people. From the perspective of the narrator whose futile efforts are described, to fight against his loneliness and poverty in New York City. In the last stanza the narrative perspective changes to the description of a boxer who continues to fight despite many rainfall and injuries. Although he gets angry and ashamed, " I am leaving, I am leaving" ( German: "I 'm going away I 'm going away. . " ) But, the text continues, the fighter still remains ". Fighter But the silence remains" After these words is repeated, only the wordless chorus.
The boxer was taken by unscrupulous promoters victim and is now at the mercy of the dangerous streets of the city exposed. Under these circumstances, it is interesting by various traits. He takes some responsibility for his deceptions, he can fear and loneliness, wants to get to work honorable wage and refuses to be defeated by betting odds.
The inspiration for the text had Simon in reading the Bible. In an interview with Playboy in 1984, he said:
" I think I was reading the Bible did around time. That's where I think phrases: such as ' workman 's wages ' came from, and ' seeking out the Poorer quarters '. That was biblical. "
"I think I read at the time in the Bible. There are, I believe, passages such as ' workman 's wages ' [ German about: wage of a worker ']' [: Seek, The poorer quarters about '] forth, and ' seeking out the Poorer quarters. That was biblical. "
Simon drove away immediately, the song had described his own emotional state: From all sides he was referring blows, " and I'm telling you now I'm going to go away if you do not stop. " ( German: "and I tell you now, I'll go, if you so do not stop. " ) At that time they were the first time have faced criticism after it had only high praise for the first few years.
The fact that the refrain is without lyrics, was not originally planned. In an interview with the magazine song Talk Simon stated in 1990 that the multiple concatenated syllable sequence "lie -la- lie" should first serve only as placeholders:
" I thought that ' lie la lie' was a failure of songwriting. I did not have any words! Then people said it was ' lie' but I did not really mean that. That it was a lie. But, it 's not a failure of songwriting, Because people like that and They put enough meaning into it, and the rest of the song Has enough power and emotion, I guess, to make it go, so it's all right. But for me, every time I sing that part, I'm a little embarrassed. "
"I thought, ' lie la lie' was a mistake in the lyrics. I thought of no words! People said it was a ' lie' [dt. , Lie ' ], but I had not actually intended. That it was a lie. Nevertheless, there is no error in the lyrics, because people like that and they read enough meaning into it. The rest of the song has enough power and feel that it works, I think. Therefore, it is in order. But every time I sing that part, I'm a little embarrassed. "
Is underlaid this meaningless Textausfüller with reverberating through loud drum beats.
Recording
The basic recordings of the music track created in Nashville from 16 November 1968. Simon & Garfunkel were accompanied here by members of the professional Wrecking Crew. You can hear Paul Simon and studio musician Fred Carter Jr. ( guitar ) with his finger picking, Peter Drake ( pedal steel guitar and dobro ), Larry Knechtel (keyboards), Charlie McCoy ( harmonica), Joe Osborn (bass guitar), Hal Blaine ( drums) and Ernie Freeman and Jimmy Haskell ( violins ). Hal Blaine's drums were placed to enhance the reverberation effects against an elevator and amplifies the sound of the snare drum through a speaker in the elevator shaft. Buddy Harman, otherwise sought after drummers of the Nashville A-Team, played percussion. The distinctive intro is characterized by cascade playing acoustic guitars. Also disparate instrumentation like a round steel guitar, bass, harmonica, dobro and piccolo trumpet ( the instrumental part ) are installed.
Parts violin and vocals were then added to the Columbia studios in New York, the end part with the brass section was written in December 1968 in St. Paul's Cathedral, which offered an extraordinary acoustics thanks to its tiled dome. As a final chord of one of the most famous percussion coatings of recording history was chosen to then again to end with quiet acoustic guitars. Over one hundred hours of recording were necessary to complete the recording provided with frequent tempo changes. The Boxer was intended as part of the LP Bridge over Troubled Water, an admixture thereof only took place in November 1969 in Studio B of Columbia Records.
For the recording of the album one of the verses was deleted. It is described as the years go by, without changing the situation of the narrator. In various appearances Simon & Garfunkel this verse, however, have sung. They included, among others, on the live album Live in 1969, as well as in the recording from the concert in Central Park, which gave the duo on September 19, 1981.
Reception
Charts
The song first appeared as a 7 " single with the Baby Driver (Columbia 4-44785 ) B-side. It was the first single from the 1970 album Bridge over Troubled Water and at the same time the only publication by Simon & Garfunkel in 1969., Rising on April 12 of that year in the U.S. singles chart Billboard Hot 100, where they total remained ten weeks and reached number 7 in the meantime. So she stayed behind the success of the previous single, the number -one hit Mrs. Robinson, back.
On the European music markets the single was recorded differently. In the German Media Control Charts she stayed only a week and did not get beyond position 19. In the UK and Austria, she placed each in the top ten in the Swiss charts - then limited to ten places - they did not show up on the other hand.
A re-release of 1992 as a single with Cecilia as a B- side had no chart success.
Awards
The music magazine Rolling Stone chose the song in 2004 at No. 105 to its list of the 500 best songs of all time. It assesses him with it as the second best song of Simon & Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Water by.
Cover versions
The song has been covered many times, including Bob Dylan, released in June 1970 on Dylan's album Self Portrait, Paul Butterfield, appeared on the album Live the Butterfield Blues Band from the same year, and Emmylou Harris, appeared on the 1980 album Roses in the Snow. 2012 appeared a cover version of the song by Jerry Douglas with Mumford and Sons. There is also a German version of The Boxer by Hoffmann & Hoffmann.