After nearly four decades of listening to and loving Paul Simon's classic "The Boxer" I have come to the realization that this great song may indeed be the result of a heavy influence by none other than Gord.
I never even heard HFTF until I started really listening to GL after GORD's GOLD was released. Then, like so many others, I began to backtrack his entire catalog to the U/A years and have remained a loyal GL guy since.
I have also performed both songs hundreds of times in many gig settings and never made the connection until now!
The guitar picking style, the theme of the songs, and even the recording styles are eerily similar. The main difference between the two is that Paul used a "HOOK" line throughout in the form of:
Li-la-li...li-la-li li li li li...etc. And, they threw the big guns at the production at the old CBS studios in NYC. Gord just sang and played from start to finish singing through the verses.
And let's not forget (for those who do not know) the incredible intro to The Boxer as recorded by the great Fred Carter Jr. (Deanna's Dad). Paul asked him to design an intro for the song and he came up with that classic intro in a matter of minutes in the studio on the fly!
Here is a cutout I took from Wikipedia:
Fred settled into the Nashville session scene in the early 1960s, becoming one of its most prominent players for the next two decades. His influence was not confined to Nashville however and he was a fixture in the folk music genre of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Fred can be heard on a multitude of Simon and Garfunkel classics - most notably "The Boxer" in which he played four guitars, including the memorable finger-picking intro and conclusion.
Fred also played with Ronnie Hawkins "The Hawk" for many years in the early days!
But as I conclude...I have A/B'd these two great songs today a few times....and I am completely convinced that Gordon Lightfoot planted the seed for The Boxer.
I do not think that it goes as far as plagiarism, but keep in mind that HFTF was 1967 and The Boxer was released the following year.
That's just my observation and I am very interested in your input!
Stay Cool!
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DJ
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