The Boxer Lyrics
apparently it was originally written with another verse listed below. anyhow...great song i'm surprised there aren't more comments.
"Now the years are rolling by me They are rocking evenly I am older than I once was Younger than I'll be, that's not unusual. No, it isn't strange After changes upon changes We are more or less the same After changes we are more or less the same"
I think the meaning of this song is described so well by the exerpt of "fanfare for the common man" that is in the song. Aren't we all fighting for life and love. The boxer is the everyman. The last line gets me teared up for the futility of the boxers (and my own) cry. Someday both the me and the boxer will find our home. P.S. I always thought it was "a come on from the warzone (as in army recruiters) 7th avenue. The next line makes more sense now.
Hmmm.....not sure about the fanfare for the common man. Isn't this song really a veiled reference to Bob Dylan ?
That "other verse" can be heard in the Concert in Central Park version ... I dunno if it's original or added later.
I've heard that Paul wrote about himself at the time, even though many people think it's about Bob Dylan. He was struggling to express himself creatively (which is amazing given his extraordinary output of that era). But he felt he had to struggle to say what he wanted, he felt like an old, defeated, yet unbowed boxer.
It's my favourite S&G tune of all.
I used to play this album in the 1980s on vinyl, three or four times a night, probably every day of my life from about 9 through to 16, with those huge 70s' headphones on because it drove my parents bonkers
Kind of reminds me of 'Catcher in the Rye' - same kind of messed up state in a NYC boy.
I think he is telling the story of anyone growing up early, or young. leaving home and making it, sure they were poor, often times lonely, but pushing on. and life happens and you are older, but we all know you can never go home. the last verse is the meaning, the boxer may be leaving, meaning you can quit doing something or change careers, but what you are or are made of stays, hence the fighter still remains. That is what the elusive 4 verse means with, after changes upon changes we are more or less the same.
I think it was based on Hemingway's Nick Adams stories which eventually became a movie Adventures of a Young Man (1961)