I am just a poor boy, though my story is 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.

When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy,
In the company of strangers,
In the quiet of a railway station, runnin' scared.
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters,
Where the ragged people go.
Lookin' for the places, only they would know.

Lie-la-lie. ..

Asking only workman's wages I come lookin' 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,
Find more similar lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.com/bxWI took some comfort there.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la.

Instrumental break

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."
Though the fighter still remains.

Lie-la-lie. ..