I am just a poor boy 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 hmmmm

When I left my home and my family I's no more than a boy
In the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station runnin' scared laying low
Seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know.

Li la li...

Asking only workman's wages I come lookin' for a job
But I get no offers
Just a come-on from the whores on 7th Avenue.
I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome
I took some comfort there.

La la la...

now the years are rolling by me they are -[rockin evenly]-
i am older than i once was
and younger than i'll be that's not unusual.
no it isnt strange after changes upon changes we are more or less the same
after changes we are more or less the same

Li la li...

And I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone
goin' home
Where the New York City winters aren't bleedin' me leadin' me
goin' 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 or cut him
'Til he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving I am leaving
but the fighter still remains.

Li la li...