The Boxer ~ Simon and Garfunkel  

BY REQUEST

Close friends since childhood, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up in the same Forest Hills neighborhood just blocks away from one another. They met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play Alice in Wonderland (Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat). They were classmates at Parsons Junior High School and Forest Hills High School in New York City, and began performing together in their junior year as Tom and Jerry, with Simon as Jerry Landis (whose last name he borrowed from a girl he had been dating) and Garfunkel as Tom Graph (so called because he was fond of tracking (“graphing”) hits on the pop charts). They began writing their own songs in 1955, and made their first professional recording, “Hey, Schoolgirl”, for Sid Prosen of Big Records in 1957. Released on 45 and 78 rpm records, the song with B side “Dancin’ Wild” sold 100,000 copies, hitting #49 on the Billboard charts. Both Simon and Garfunkel have acknowledged the tremendous impact of The Everly Brothers on their style, and many of their early songs (including “Hey, Schoolgirl”) bear the mark of this influence.

The Boxer

The original recording of the song is one of the duo’s most highly produced, and took over 100 hours to record. The recording was performed at multiple locations, including Nashville, St. Paul’s Church in New York city, and Columbia studios. Drummer Hal Blaine created the huge drum sound heard during the chorus by banging a heavy chain against the concrete floor of an empty storage closet.

The song’s lyrics take the form of a first-person lament, as the singer describes his struggles to overcome loneliness and poverty in New York City. The final verse switches to a third-person sketch of a boxer, who, despite the effects of “every glove that laid him down or cut him ’til he cried out”, perseveres.

It is sometimes suggested that the lyrics represent a “sustained attack on Bob Dylan”.[1] Bob Dylan thought the song was about him[citation needed], in turn covering it on his Self Portrait album, replacing the word “glove” with “blow.” Yet Paul Simon himself has suggested that the lyrics are largely autobiographical, written during a time when he felt he was being unfairly criticized:

“I think I was reading the Bible around that time. That’s where I think phrases such as ‘workman’s wages’ came from, and ’seeking out the poorer quarters’. That was biblical. I think the song was about me: everybody’s beating me up, and I’m telling you now I’m going to go away if you don’t stop.”

The chorus of the song is wordless, consisting of a repeated chant of “lie-la-lie”. Simon stated that this was due to a lapse on his part:

“I didn’t have any words! Then people said it was ‘lie’ but I didn’t really mean that. That it was a lie. But, it’s not a failure of songwriting, because people like that and they put enough meaning into it, and the rest of the song has enough power and emotion, I guess, to make it go, so it’s all right. But for me, every time I sing that part… [softly], I’m a little embarrassed.”

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 the 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,
I took some comfort there.
La, la, la, la, la, la, la.

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.”
But the fighter still remains.

Lie-la-lie …

“Missing” verse

“The Boxer” was originally written with a verse that is not present in the Bridge Over Troubled Water version:

Now the years are rolling by me
They are rocking evenly
And I am older than I once was
And younger than I’ll be, but that’s not unusual.
No, it isn’t strange
After changes upon changes
We are more or less the same
After changes we are more or less the same

This “missing verse” was performed by Simon and Garfunkel when they went on tour in November 1969, and Paul Simon when he performed it solo after the group’s breakup. Simon and Garfunkel also performed the “missing verse” on Saturday Night Live in 1975[citation needed] and when they reunited for The Concert in Central Park in 1981, and on Late Show with David Letterman.

Sludge Factory ~ Alice in Chains  

Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley.

In 1986, the band Sleeze disbanded and two of its members, vocalist Layne Staley and bassist Michael Starr met up with guitarist and songwriter Jerry Cantrell at the Music Bank — a Seattle werehouse that was illegally being used as a flop house and practice studio for several bands that later became the major “grunge” bands of the late 1980s to mid-1990s.

Staley grew up in Kirkland Washington and had formed the original band Alice N’ Chainz while in high school, a band which he said “dressed in drag and played speed metal”. After meeting up with Jerry Cantrell, he revived the name with the variation to become Alice in Chains. They found a drummer, Sean Kinney, who was dating Cantrell’s sister at the time and together began writing original material and performing at various clubs in Seattle.

In 1990, they released their first album, Facelift which reached number 42 on Billboard and was probably one of the anchor albums that started the “grunge” scene. The single, “Man in the Box” reached number 18 and even got play on MTV. RIAA rated the album gold in 1990, and they went on the Clash of the Titans tour with Anthrax, Megadeath, and Slayer, closing the year with Van Halen.

Between 1990 and 1998, Alice in Chains release a whole slew of great songs. In 1992 Michael Starr left the band due to a serious heroin habit and an arrest at the Denver airport for shoplifting. He was replaced by former Ozzie Osbourne bassist Mike Inez.

There were several periods of hiatus — one being in 1995 when Staley hooked up with Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready to tour in a band called Mad Season. In 1996 Alice in Chains got together to perform for MTV’s Unplugged. Their last concert with Layne Staley would be on July 3, 1996, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Staley’s health was an issue — he was getting deeper and deeper into heroin and cocaine. The death of his fiance in 1996 pushed Staley over the edge. He lost the will to live, and became a recluse. The last interview he gave he said, “I know I’m near death. I did crack and heroin for years. I never wanted to end my life this way.” He also said, “Don’t try to contact any Alice in Chains members. They are not my friends.” Layne was found dead in his University District condo, the cause of death being heroin and cocaine overdose.

The band officially disbanded after Layne’s death, but in 2005 Cantrell, Inez, and Kinney reunited for a benefit concert and in 2006 they officially got together and found a new lead singer, William DuVall formerly of Comes With Fall.

They tour with Velvet Revolver and plan on releasing a new album in 2008.

Sludge Factory

You insult me in my home, you’re forgiven this time
Things go well, your eyes dilate, you shake, and I’m high?
Look in my eyes deep and watch the clouds change with time
20 hours won’t print my picture milk carton size
Carton size, carton size, carton size

Call me up congratulations ain’t the real why
There’s no pressure besides brilliance let’s say by day 9
Endless corporate ignorance lets me control time
By the way, by the way, by the way, by the way

Once again you see an in, discolored skin gives you away
So afraid you kindly gurgle, out a date for me

Now the body of one soul I adore wants to die
You have always told me you’d not live past 25
I say stay long enough to repay all who cause strife

Once again you see an in, discolored skin gives you away
So afraid you kindly gurgle, out a date for me

Once again you see an in, discolored skin gives you away
So afraid you kindly gurgle, out a date for me

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) ~ The Beatles  

The Fab Four

The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960. Primarily the band consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Throughout their career, The Beatles are recognised for leading the mid-1960s musical “British Invasion” into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown skiffle, the group explored genres ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, styles, and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. After the band broke up in 1970, all four members embarked upon solo careers.

In March 1957, while attending Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool, John Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. Lennon met guitarist Paul McCartney in St. Peter’s Church, on 6 July 1957; Lennon added him to the group a few days later. On 6 February 1958 the 14-year-old guitarist George Harrison was invited to watch the group, which was then playing under a variety of names, at Wilson Hall, Garston, Liverpool. McCartney had become acquainted with Harrison on the morning bus ride to the Liverpool Institute, as they both lived in Speke. Despite Lennon’s initial reluctance due to Harrison’s young age, Harrison joined the Quarrymen as lead guitarist at McCartney’s insistence after a rehearsal in March 1958. Lennon and McCartney both played rhythm guitar during that period and, after original Quarrymen drummer Colin Hanton left the band in 1959 following an argument with other band members, had a high turnover of drummers. Lennon’s art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass in January 1960.

The Quarrymen went through a progression of names, including “Johnny and the Moondogs” and “Long John and The Beatles”. Sutcliffe suggested the name “The Beetles” as a tribute to Buddy Holly and The Crickets. After a tour with Johnny Gentle in Scotland, the band changed their name to “The Beatles”. Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia Lennon, suggested that Lennon came up with the name The Beatles at a “brainstorming session over a beer-soaked table in the Renshaw Hall bar.” Lennon, who was well known for giving multiple versions of the same story, joked in a 1961 Mersey Beat newspaper article that “It came in a vision — a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, ‘From this day on you are Beatles with an A’”.^[14] During an interview in 2001, McCartney took credit for the peculiar spelling of the name, saying that “John had the idea of calling us the Beetles; I said, ‘How about The Beatles; you know, like the beat of the drum?’ At the time, everyone was stoned enough to find it hilarious. It’s funny how history is made.”

In May 1960, the then Silver Beetles toured northeast Scotland as a back-up band with singer Johnny Gentle, whom the band had met an hour before their first gig. McCartney referred to the tour as a great experience for the band. For the tour, the often drummer-less group secured the services of Tommy Moore, who was considerably older than the others. Moore left the band soon after the tour and went back to work in a bottling factory as a forklift truck driver. Norman Chapman was the band’s next drummer, but was called up for National Service a few weeks later. His departure posed a serious problem, for the group’s unofficial manager, Allan Williams, had arranged for them to perform in clubs on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, West Germany.  They went through a long list of drummers over the next two years, but after signing a record contract they finally settled on Richard Starkey, known as Ringo Starr.  Starr had subbed a few times for the Beatles when they were in Hamburg, in early 1960 but only became permanent in 1962 when Pete Best was asked to leave the band.

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

The lyrics of the song sketch an encounter between the singer and an unnamed girl. They drink wine in her room and talk into the night. However, at 2 A.M. the unnamed girl ceases their flirtation, which the speaker may have been hoping to end in consummation, declaring “it’s time for bed”, leaving him to crawl off to “sleep in the bath” alone.

“Norwegian Wood” refers to the cheap pinewood that often finished the interiors of working class British flats. The last verse states that the singer lights a fire, the implication being that the singer in fact sets fire to the girl’s flat, presumably as revenge for not sleeping with the singer.

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me…
She showed me her room, isn’t it good, norwegian wood?

She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn’t a chair.

I sat on a rug, drinking her wine, biting my time,
We talked until two and then she said, “It’s time for bed”

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didn’t and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn’t it good, norwegian wood.