1. I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told, I have squandered my resistance

2. When I left my home and my family, I was no more than a boy, in the company of strangers,

1. for a pocket full of mumbles such are promises.

2. in the quiet of the railway station running scared.

1. All lies and jests , still a man hears what he wants to hear,

2. Laying low, - seeking out the poorer quarters ,

1. and disregards the rest, m m m m m m m m m m m.

2. where the ragged people go, looking for the places only they would know.

Lie la lie, lie la lie la lei la lei, lie la lie, lie la lie la lei la lei, la la la la lei.

3. Asking only workman's wages, I come looking for a job, but I get no offers, -

3. just a "Come-on" from the whores on Seventh Avenue.

3. I do declare, there were times when I was so lonesome,

3. I took some comfort there, la la la la la la, la la la la la.

4. Then I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone,

4. going home, - where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me, bleeding me, going home.

4. In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade,

4. and he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down,

4. or cut him till he cried out . In his anger and his shame, - "I am leaving, I am leaving" ,

4. but the fighter still remains. mmmmmmmm.