Simon & Garfunkel - The Boxer (2021 Remaster)

For the first time ever, a "flat-transfer" of the two-track stereo mixdown for the ground-breaking 1970 album "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which would be Simon & Garfunkel's final album.

I have performed a reverse-EQ procedure on the Mastersound Gold CD, which is sourced from the master tapes without any additional compression. The top-end should sound less veiled and a more even sound throughout.


Simon & Garfunkel, initially "Tom & Jerry", were already successful in the music industry. Their Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, the soundtrack album for Mike Nichols' film The Graduate and Bookends peaked at number three, two and one in the US Billboard 200, respectively, with the first and latter selling 3 million copies and 2 million copies in the United States alone. Art Garfunkel took the role of Captain Nately in another Nichols film, Catch-22, based on the novel of the same name. Initially Paul Simon was to play the character of Dunbar, but screenwriter Buck Henry felt the film was already crowded with characters and subsequently wrote Simon's part out. The unexpectedly long film production endangered the relationship between the duo; Garfunkel later stated in a 1990 interview with Paul Zollo in SongTalk magazine: "Our way of working was for Paul to write while we recorded. So we'd be in the studio for the better part of two months working on the three or four songs that Paul had written, recording them, and when they were done, we'd knock off for a couple of months while Paul was working on the next group of three or four songs. Then we'd book time and be in the studio again for three or four months, recording those . . . . Rather than wait for Paul to write the next bunch of songs, I went off and did this movie."

The filming of Catch-22 began in January 1969 and lasted about eight months. Simon had not completed any new songs at this point, and the duo planned to collaborate when the filming was finished. Roy Halee would produce the album, and as was the case with their most recent studio album, Bookends, they created an experimental sound, moving away from typical folk rock and instead exploring new genres.

Bridge over Troubled Water was also the duo's first album to credit the backing musicians in the liner notes. The credited musicians were Simon and Fred Carter, Jr. on guitars, and Hal Blaine on drums, Joe Osborn on bass and Larry Knechtel on keyboards, all of whom were famous Wrecking Crew members.

Side one

As Simon and Garfunkel were working busily on recording, they had to decline invitations to perform, including at the Woodstock Festival. Simon wrote "Bridge over Troubled Water". He wanted a gospel piano sound, so he hired session musician Larry Knechtel. The song was initially two verses long, but Garfunkel felt the song was too short and asked Knechtel to play a third verse, to which Simon would write more lyrics. Osborn played two bass guitar parts, one high and the other low. Blaine recorded the drums in an echo chamber, to achieve a hall effect. A horn section rounded off the track. Due to a series of factors, the duo had to work on a new tape; an arranger falsely labeled the song as "Like a Pitcher of Water" and wrote Garfunkel's name incorrectly (GarFunkel), and the string part was unsatisfactory.

The duo then returned to New York to record the vocals. The vocal style in "Bridge over Troubled Water" was inspired by Phil Spector's technique in "Old Man River" by the Righteous Brothers. After two months the song was finalized. Simon himself admitted that it sounded like the Beatles' "Let It Be", stating in a Rolling Stone interview: "They are very similar songs, certainly in instrumentation ..." The song has been covered by over 50 artists since then, including Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" was influenced by the gospel music to which Simon was listening at that time, especially the Swan Silvertones and their song "Mary Don't You Weep". The name of the title track was inspired by the latter's line "I'll be your bridge over deep water, if you trust in my name". According to gospel producer and historian Anthony Heilbut, Simon later acknowledged his musical debt to Claude Jeter in person, and additionally handed Jeter a check as compensation. "Bridge over Troubled Water" was addressed to Simon's wife Peggy, whom he'd met that year. The "silver girl" in the song refers to her, and her first gray hairs, and not to a drugged hypodermic needle, as was believed by some in the United States. Simon asked Garfunkel to sing lead on the song, and although Garfunkel initially refused this proposal and suggested that Simon should sing falsetto, later agreed to sing. Simon initially composed the song in G major, but arranger and composer Jimmie Haskell transposed the song to E-flat major to suit Garfunkel's voice.

"El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)" is a Peruvian song based on traditional Andean music

[nadinebridgett]

What a song, still sends tingles as I listen to it all these years later, remember it first time round, improves with age ! Timeless.

[christiaanjellesma]

3:18 Lay lay lay in combination with background music gives this song sooo much power

[johngreener]

Glad I found this... I listened to the other one (with 70 MILLLION VIEWS!! WOW!) And at first I could not hear a difference. Then I chopped it up in 10 second snippets and went back and forth. I can now DEFINITELY hear a "fuller" sound! I have ALWAYS loved this song. And I have ALWAYS been a HUGE fan of that Phil Spectorish "Wall of Sound". The ending to this song definitely hits my sweet spot! Just like other great records that have a ton of sh*t going on like Meatloaf (JIM STEINMAN R.I.P the dude was on my bucket list and only found out he passed away FOUR months after he did when I wikipediaed him! DAMN!) "Everytime I think of You" by the Babys, "What About Me" Moving Pictures, "La Vida" Coldplay are just a few that come to my mind right now... My dream is to hear a song with around 10000 violins, kettle drums, thousands of horns, grand pianos that are the size of houses.... you get the idea!! LOL!!

[bethtarlton]

My husband and i are having an argument about what instrument we hear at 4:20. I played low brass and claim it's a contra (upright) bass; he plays upright bass and claims it's a tuba. 😂 "It's you!" "No, it's you!" It's my favorite part of the music, so i guess I'm in the right house.

[thesnakeman]

3:18. Every time I hear this part of the song I imagine every "pounding" sound is of an actual boxer practicing with a punching bag

[juancortes]

Mi segunda canción después de the sounds of silence

[michelmarion]

The Boxer ( Complete Lyrics )

Simon & Garfunkel

I am just a poor boy
Though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance
For a pocketful of mumbles
Such are promises

All lies in 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
Running scared

Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know

Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie 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
La-la-la-la-la-la-la

Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie, la la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie, la la lie la lie

Then I'm laying out my winter clothes
Wishing I was gone
Going home
Where the New York City winters aren't bleeding me
Leading me
Going 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 till he cried out
In his anger and his shame
"I am leaving, I am leaving"
But the fighter still remains,

Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie, la la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie, la la lie la lie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la l.ie
Lie la lie, lie la lie la lie la lie, la la lie la lie...

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriter: Paul Simon

The Boxer lyrics ©MCA Music Ltd., Paul Simon Music, Warner/Chappell Music Ltd.

[Daldie-mxgn]

What's with the distortion around :46 in?

[garylillich]

How is the sound effect at 2:58 achieved?

[greggmatson]

I believe this song was inspired by the Hemingway short story: "The Battler."

[SpellboundWolf]

I need to know. Please help me. Were Simon & Garfunkel lovers or just friends?

[chass]

Quad versions slightly better. No offense, this is a good mix.

[nbuehster]

Fun fact: The chorus is about George Santos.



I hope I'm the only one who made that joke.

[frankpeters]

Even on this remaster there is an awful sound that comes in ... not exactly static, twangy like thats kids instrument - kazoo or whatever it is called. It's not my side - just a bad recording all round, and can't find another that is clear, and not live! Anyone got one they would recommend ?

[Dulcimerea]

Remastered? More liek ruined. This is not the same song.