1. C I am just a poor boy
Though my story’s seldom Am told
I have G squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are C promises
All lies and Am jest
Still, a G man hears what he wants to F hear
And disregards the C rest
Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm-G mm
Mm-mm-mm-mm-C mm
When I C left my home and my family
I was no more than a Am boy
In the G company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station
C Running scared
Laying Am low, seeking G out the poorer F quarters
Where the ragged people C go
Looking G for the places F only they would C know
Lie-la-Am lie
Lie-la-Em lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-Amlie
Lie-la-G lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-C lie
2. Asking C only workman’s wages
I come looking for a Am job
But I get no G offers
Just a come-on from the whores on Seventh C Avenue
I do Am declare, there were G times when I was so F lonesome
I took some comfort C there
La-la-la-la-la-la-G la C
Now the C years are rolling by me
they are rockin’ Am evenly
I am G older than I once was
and younger than I’ll be and that’s not C unusual.
No it isn’t Am strange
after G changes upon F changes
we are more or less the C same
after G changes we are F more or less the C same
Lie-la-Am lie
Lie-la-Em lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-Amlie
Lie-la-G lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-C lie
3. Then I’m C laying out my winter clothes
And wishing I was Am gone
Going G home
Where the New York City winters aren’t C bleeding me
Em Leading Am me
Going G home C
In the C clearing stands a boxer
And a fighter by his Am trade
And he G carries the reminders
Of every glove that laid him down
Or C cut him till he cried out
In his anger and his Am shame
"I am G leaving, I am F leaving"
But the fighter still C remains G F C
Lie-la-Am lie
Lie-la-Em lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-Am lie
Lie-la-G lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-Am lie
Lie-la-Em lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-Amlie
Lie-la-G lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-Am lie
Lie-la-Em lie-lie-lie-lie-lie
Lie-la-Amlie
Lie-la-G lie-lie-lie-lie-lie, lie-lie-lie-lie-C lie
