Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer [Madison Square Garden, 2009] 1080p

The legends who create magic by blending their voices.
Mary Beth Donnelly's interpretation of the song:
The boxer in the song is a metaphor: Despite having a strong memory for each and every defeat, setback, and humiliation the narrator has endured ("carries the reminder of every glove that laid him down or cut him til he cried out"), he will not give up but will persevere ("the fighter still remains").

The earlier verses show us that the narrator is particularly scarred by the experiences he has had as a young man who "left his home" and "family" when he "was no more than a boy" -- doing so under some vague pretense that life on his own would be better than wherever he came from ("a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises"). Chief among what the narrator has had to endure are loneliness, poverty, homesickness, and urban isolation ("where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me, leading me, to going home"). His overwhelming desire to overcome his isolation has led him to make some unsavory choices, in the form of seeking solace with prostitutes ("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"). The narrator clearly is very desperate for some sort of connection with the human race.

I've read the theories that this song was about Dylan and who knows, maybe it is. Dylan came to NYC as a young man; Simon was already there, as he grew up in Queens. I know Simon didn't care for Dylan, though he certainly seemed to emulate him. But I don't think we should ever presume to be certain who or what someone is singing about, or to think that the inspiration for the lyrics are so narrowly focused. The song raises broad themes that are pretty universal for anyone trying to make it on his/her own. For me, I've always been sure the theme was, at least in part, about Simon himself, since so many of his songs are about urban isolation (e.g., "The Sound of Silence") and hypersensitivity (e.g., "I Am a Rock"). After all, is it that hard to imagine that the guy who wrote two versions of a song called "Think Too Much" (both on the 1983 "Hearts and Bones" album) would compare his intense twenty something angst to an embittered, resilient prizefighter?
(Mary Beth Donnelly is an American Studies Teacher)