The Fighter in NYC

February 25, 2010 7:30 pm Tracy Travel

There are a lot of songs about New York that speak to the spectrum of human emotions.  The city is a fascinating place, and it’s often very exciting, with so many interesting things to do and see. It’s very easy to get caught up in the lights and the magic, and also easy to forget about the way that it’s also extremely challenging.  For people who live here, there are daily struggles that really don’t exist anywhere else.  Tourists won’t worry about the daily grind so much, because there are fabulous hotels, and the whole array of tourist attractions.

Most people know someone that lives here, however, and many visitors consider living in the city.  It’s tempting, and there are many different stories of different kinds of happiness that can be found here.  For the harder part of the struggle, though, when the ride becomes more challenging than imagined, there are songs like The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkle.  Paul Simon wrote it, but when they perform it together, it has that magic that only they could provide, as long as they were together.

Paul Simon has written a song here that speaks to a very particular part of the human experience.  There are many who interpret the song as being an inspiration for those who struggle against all the odds and come out winning, but a close look here doesn’t reveal a win on the part of the main character telling the song.  He goes through hard experience, and he is changed.  He doesn’t live through the difficulties by learning how to face them, in fact, he leaves.  This is a very important distinction, because it reflects a sentiment that would fall under the anti-hero umbrella rather than an underdog story.  It speaks to a feeling that an entire generation had in common, and one that resurfaces again when the stakes are high, but the value of the fight is in question. 

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