Talk:The Boxer

lyrics

you give us the missing verse lyrics but not the rest of the lyrics of the song? Please fix. 67.190.37.235 03:45, 28 June 2007 (UTC)agm

It's a question of copyright and fair use. In a nutshell, if you only give a portion of a copyrighted song's lyrics, particularly if it is done in order to discuss something significant about just that portion, you're usually on safe ground. Printing the whole thing, even to discuss each part, is much more likely to get Wikipedia into legal trouble. Lawikitejana (talk) 07:33, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Fixed last word of the second line. Various audio and written sources can be found to corroborate. Including the Central Park concert referenced in the paragraph below. It wasn't "easily" but "evenly" wich also makes a bit more sense (Although Joan Baez did use "easily" in her cover in 1988). - Cheers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.168.73.118 (talk) 00:44, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

The lyric change from blow to glove surprises me. On the album cut it is clearly a word that sounds like blow, certainly not glove, but I always thought it was 'bloke'. It always made sense to me and I thought was a throwback to Simon's time in England. Obviously I am deaf, but Emmylou's version is clearly bloke. (Victor Middlesex (talk) 15:57, 26 January 2018 (UTC))

What this song is about

This article talks all about the song's history but there is nothing about what the song IS. I do not know what the song is about, so I can't add this. -Rolypolyman 03:43, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Dylan

Personally, I don't like the way that Bob Dylan is portrayed in this article. I think specific words make it sound like Dylan is overly egotystical. I agree with the information that there were theories that claimed that "The Boxer" was about Bob Dylan, and I know that Dylan recorded it on his "Self Portrait" album, but I am almost certian that Dylan never specified why he covered the song. I think a simple change of wording could easily fix the problem. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.7.226.32 (talk) 01:59, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Agreed the article was not to my liking of how they portrayed Dylan. But some simple changes can be made to fix it.--DavidD4scnrt (talk) 06:47, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Ali

I thought the song was about Muhammad Ali. I have no documentation for this theory but the song does include a bit of the Olympic fanfare. Also, where the lyrics say "going home" we hear some twangy guitar picking which I took to be a musical reference to Louisville, Kentucky, Ali's hometown. I also saw a photo many years ago of Ali and someone else (Bob Dylan, if memory serves) and the caption read "The Boxer". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elfonleft (talk • contribs) 09:44, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

sourcing

alternate source to replace the dead link: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2751 is that suitable? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.64.188.169 (talk) 17:26, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Drum sound

Apparently the big drum sound was created by Blaine using his tire chains, "dragging and slapping them on a cement floor": [1] Other sources mention a concrete floor in a storage closet. Is this true? And should it be added? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:57, 9 February 2013 (UTC)

Actually, you are correct that this effect that you mention was used by Hal Blaine during recording of the Bridge Over Troubled Water recording sessions, but not for The Boxer. Rather it was done for those intense 'cymbal' crashes at the end of the title song, as per Hal , himself. I think I will add it to the article on 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'

https://www.musicradar.com/news/drums/the-wrecking-crews-hal-blaine-my-11-greatest-recordings-of-all-time-450846

(page 7 of 12)

songwriting credit

The lede makes the claim that the song is credited, uniquely, to Simon and Garfunkel rather than Paul Simon alone. This is unsourced and is probably incorrect. Paul Simon's official website cites it as Word and Music Paul Simon, consistent with information on record labels and album covers. https://www.paulsimon.com/track/the-boxer-5/

A recent article in the Daily Telegraph's magazine repeated the claim but presumably derive it from here.

Given the acrimonious relationship between them and Simon's prickliness about Garfunkel being though of as a joint songwriter, strong evidence is required.Martinlc (talk) 20:57, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

I have remove the claim pending sources.Martinlc (talk) 21:33, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Twilight Zone inspiration for lyrics?

Since the only way to verify this is to actually watch:

"The Big Tall Wish" is episode twenty-seven of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, with an original score by Jerry Goldsmith. It originally aired on April 8, 1960 on CBS.

there really is no other point of reference for this observation. When the song goes on to say "and he carries the reminders, of every blow that laid him down or cut him 'till he cried out, in his anger and his shame"

it is very similar to the episode where the boxer tells of how he doesn't need a scrapbook, and points out the scars on his face, explaining how he got this one from this fight, and this one from that fight. While watching this, I found it very deep, and powerful, and made the immediate connection to the song.

Being that I haven't seen anyone else even suggesting that this might have been an influence, I thought it was worth a mention, as the similarity is unquestionable. It certainly wouldn't be a far stretch to think that Simon had seen this episode at some point in his life. But as simply being an observation, it does not warrant a place in the article. Perhaps someone might ask Paul about this some day. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kaytrox (talk • contribs) 13:13, 10 October 2019 (UTC)

UPDATE. I actually found a more succinct reference to the 'reminders' aspect.

http://www.tv.com/shows/the-twilight-zone/the-big-tall-wish-12611/trivia/

References