La(3)                                                                Fa#m
I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told
         Mi(2)                                             Sim                  Mi                       La(3)
I have squandered my resistance for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises
                Fa#m               Mi                         Ré(2)
All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear
                            La               Mi   Mi7  Mi6  La(4)
And disregards the rest.

         La(3)                                                                            Fa#m
When I left my home and my family, I was no more than a boy
          Mi(2)                                      Mi7       Mi6                     La(3)
In the company of strangers in the quiet of a railway station, running scared
          Fa#m                  Mi                  Ré(2)                                                La
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go
            Mi                   Mi7           Mi6           La
Looking for the places only they would know

 Refrain 
       Fa#m(2)         Mi(2)                  Fa#m(2)          Mi                       Ré       La(2)
Lie la lie, Lie la lie la lie la lie, Lie la lie, Lie la lie la la la la, lie la la la la lie.


Asking only workman's wages I come looking 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 I took some comfort there
Lie lie lie lie la

 Pont 
 Refrain 

Then I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone
Going home where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me
Bleeding me, going home.

In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade
And he carries a reminders of every glove that laid him down
Or cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving, I am leaving but the fighter still remains
mmm mmm

 Refrain 
 AdLib