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Length: 5:06
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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
Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-mm
Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm
When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the 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-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-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
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
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 every glove that laid him down
And cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains
Mm-mm-mm
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-lie
Lie-la-lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
![](https://i.redd.it/x4p7rh6imd871.jpg)
On this album cover if you put your finger over Paul Simonˇs face, it looks like Art Garfunkel has a huge Cossack moustache.
Too funny! GREAT TUNE! Thanx RP!
![angel](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/eusa_angel.gif)
![clap](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/eusa_clap.gif)
Remember first hearing this song in my early teens and for some unknown reason then, identifying with it. Some 50 yrs later I now understand. Guess I’m a slow learner.
NO - just a dreamer - I hope some of those came true...
Greater than the sum of their parts -
FAR Greater.
Much of Paul's solo work was more advanced than his S & G material, although both were great. No need for the hyperbole.
As for Arty, can't argue with you on that.
Is that a horse or a pony clip-clopping in the background?
I believe that is the sound of two empty halves of coconut being banged together.
![angel](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/eusa_angel.gif)
Greater than the sum of their parts -
FAR Greater.
Especially since, as we later learned, Art Garfunkel was actually a negative value.
I still have this album.....thus dating myself!
Yep ...
![yes](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_yes.gif)
Me too!!
Enough said.
Simon's songwriting skills are up there. May not be your style, but brilliant chords and lyrics.
Simon and Garfunkel
Greater than the sum of their parts -
FAR Greater.
![crown](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/crown.gif)
Might you consider giving this one a few seconds of silence after it's through to gather ourselves and prepare to go on?
I am blown away by the 33 sucko-barfo ratings. I mean, I really can't believe that those people are out there, listening to RP. A "10" for me...
I sure wish I could sing those harmonies like Garfunkel. I would be the 2nd coolest kid on the block. But, alas, I am cursed with a deep, soft baritone. Why God, why? This song is a 10 and that's all there is to it. Now goodnight.
a deep, soft baritone - sounds like you'd be incredible on so many of my favorite tunes
I still have this album.....thus dating myself!
I was nine when this came out. Decades later, I sang these songs (probably badly to my kids as lullabies. It apparently stuck as Paul Simon is one of my college-age daughter's favorite artists.
On this album cover if you put your finger over Paul Simonˇs face, it looks like Art Garfunkel has a huge Cossack moustache.
Yes!
![clap](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/eusa_clap.gif)
![roflol](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
Hahahahaha...thats brilliant...made my day
![stupid](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_stupid.gif)
![crown](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/crown.gif)
A little over 15 years later there are 204 votes of 7 or less, including 25 1's. Must be that "younger generation".
Paul Simon had a sound in his head — an effect that he wanted — and nothing they tried in the studio worked. So one evening, after everyone had left the CBS building in New York City, the engineers put a snare drum at the bottom of an elevator shaft and a microphone at the top — 22 stories up.
BOOM! It worked.
I just made the sound with my mouth when I'd sing this to my kids when they were babies. That worked too Always made them laugh. Now they are both seniors. one in college the other in high school, and they still love S&G.
To say the least.
Paul Simon had a sound in his head — an effect that he wanted — and nothing they tried in the studio worked. So one evening, after everyone had left the CBS building in New York City, the engineers put a snare drum at the bottom of an elevator shaft and a microphone at the top — 22 stories up.
BOOM! It worked.
I listen to RP and college raydidio religiously. My 16-year old kvetches about RP's being too soft (hey, I'm in charge of the remote control and the whole-house sound system, hee hee), but he continues to place Lay Lady Lay, the last 4 Beatles albums, Simon & Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, Miles, and Pucini up at the top with Sabbath, Led Zep, Mettalica, Kendrick, & Snoop. Not long ago, after a couple of years of whining, he inquired about Alt-J (thx RP), and has now been hittin' it pretty good too.
The more things change, the more they stay the same, AND great music ... is ... GREAT.
Rock it RP!
Ah, but if they had, bet you wouldn't remember the song today.
Those "lie-la-lie"s and that reverbed drum really raise the song to hit status.
Wouldn't have chopped the tarts otherwise.
Wisdom far beyond their years.
Something off about her anyway (him too.) Married when he was 50 and she was 25...
![{#Eek} {#Eek}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_eek.gif)
Like the last four minutes of "Hey Jude"? There are probably enough lyrics, I always wondered how they got that cannon in the studio.
![{#Propeller} {#Propeller}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/propeller.gif)
i heard an interview with Art where he said the "cannon" was a kettle drum sped up a little. They spent fair amount of time getting it just so. I think the hit the whole song, perhaps the whole album, just as perfectly.
Absolutely!
Like the last four minutes of "Hey Jude"? There are probably enough lyrics, I always wondered how they got that cannon in the studio.
![{#Propeller} {#Propeller}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/propeller.gif)
![{#Sunny} {#Sunny}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/sunny.gif)
I think this is so as many of us have been there at some point in our lives. The eternal struggle of life...
Not a rifle blast, though. Check out these two great pieces on the making of the song.
https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/takes_from_the_top_recording_simon_garfunkels_the_boxer
The spirit of technical creativity continued weeks later back in New York City. In an effort to fulfill his love of big natural reverb, producer Halee rang up session drummer Hal Blaine, who eventually found himself standing alongside a large empty elevator shaft inside Columbia’s East 52nd Street studio building on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon.
“There we were with all these mic cables, my drums, and a set of headphones,” says Blaine. “When the chorus came around — the ‘lie-la-lie’ bit — Roy had me come down on my snare drum as hard as I could. In that hallway, right next to this open elevator shaft, it sounded like a cannon shot! Which was just the kind of sound we were after.”
From another very good article:
https://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2751
The legendary session drummer Hal Blaine created the huge drum sound with the help of producer Roy Halee, who found a spot for the drums in front of an elevator in the Columbia offices. As recounted in the 2011 Making of Bridge Over Troubled Water documentary, Blaine would pound the drums at the end of the "Lie la lie" vocals that were playing in his headphones, and at one point, an elderly security guard got a big surprise when he came out of the elevator and was startled by Blaine's thunderous drums.
I just hope the guard got the chance to realize later that he'd witnessed musical history in the making.
![https://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2013/02/04/ali-beatles-1964.jpg](https://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/sports/photos/2013/02/04/ali-beatles-1964.jpg)
but the fight still remains!"
knot in my throat ...
actually "the fighter still remains" which is similar but open to more interpretation. Great song, great album.
![{#Notworthy} {#Notworthy}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_notworthy.gif)
No argument here
I be the holy ghost of big stud Romeo Tuma... time flies when we're having fun... love this song...
This is the last album they recorded together before splitting up. What a way to go out - in a brilliant flash of pure musical genius.
One of the reasons this album sounds so good is that many of the instruments were played by four members of the famous "Wrecking Crew" - Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, Joe Osborn and Gary Coleman.
![{#Notworthy} {#Notworthy}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_notworthy.gif)
Yep......me too. Is in my top 10's
Yeah, isn't it funny how you can have great power in a song without thunderous bass, huge amps, big hair, and screeching guitars?
On second thought, I may have to reconsider the part about big hair.
Apparently, Paul and Art eventually reconsidered their hair options too.
![s&g](https://25.media.tumblr.com/c10db7f4737edf1de0a538e7673cb5ca/tumblr_mivt18m0nB1rp9z6eo1_500.jpg)
interesting....the same mix just played today
![](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/eusa_think.gif)
This cut is a contender for "Best Folk Song Ever Recorded". It would be a hands-down winner if Simon had resisted the over-orchestrated and far, far too long ending. Still a terrific cut, some of Simon's best lyrics.
dig it
Yeah, isn't it funny how you can have great power in a song without thunderous bass, huge amps, big hair, and screeching guitars?
On second thought, I may have to reconsider the part about big hair.
Me too. Now that I'm old and live in California I can see that my vision about the 'wide world' was pretty much bulls*it. But the sun will come out later and the pretty young girls will promenade and it will all seem to make sense and somehow be OK.
You mean did I hear it after I punched a hole into the PSD button? No, I didn't hear it.
but the fight still remains!"
knot in my throat ...
Same here
as good as it gets... and what a truly great album...
Yup
![{#Jump} {#Jump}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_jump.gif)
That's weird! I've ALSO heard it 12,446 times, and also am not tired of it, and it's a 10 in my book too!
Strange, I would be content with another 12, 446 times and it's a 10 for me as well.
That's weird! I've ALSO heard it 12,446 times, and also am not tired of it, and it's a 10 in my book too!
He's a very talented finger picking guitarist. Not a bad songwriter either.
![{#Wink} {#Wink}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/smiley-wink.gif)
A 10
kaybee wrote:
![{#Roflol} {#Roflol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
![{#Lol} {#Lol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_lol.gif)
![{#Roflol} {#Roflol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
Proclivities wrote:
This file has a better view of Art's moustache:
![s&g](https://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/8214f78d4fecec8cd99232404eb7f7eb0b065fe6_m.gif)
Brilliant song, by the way.
Art was always shy about that mustache
A 10
kaybee wrote:
![{#Roflol} {#Roflol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
![{#Lol} {#Lol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_lol.gif)
![{#Roflol} {#Roflol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
Proclivities wrote:
This file has a better view of Art's moustache:
![s&g](https://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/8214f78d4fecec8cd99232404eb7f7eb0b065fe6_m.gif)
Brilliant song, by the way.
"I am leaving! I am leaving. But the fighter still remains." Genius.
She did, I didn't.
![{#Roflol} {#Roflol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
By the way, a very well told story!!!
This file has a better view of Art's moustache:
![s&g](https://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/8214f78d4fecec8cd99232404eb7f7eb0b065fe6_m.gif)
Brilliant song, by the way.
I've laughed myself into hiccups... I hate you. I love you. I think I need therapy now.
She did, I didn't.
Amazing.
I just commented on that to my wife. Refreshing, gives me hope for humanity :)
Just because something is/was popular, don't mean it ain't good!
This file has a better view of Art's moustache:
![s&g](https://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/8214f78d4fecec8cd99232404eb7f7eb0b065fe6_m.gif)
Brilliant song, by the way.
I will never listen to this song or see this album cover the same way again.
![{#Roflol} {#Roflol}](https://img.radioparadise.com/emoji/icon_roflol.gif)
....where the city winters are'nt bleeding me, that's what you mean, isn't it?