Happy Tuesday! Of course I didn’t post a playlist yesterday, it was Christmas. I was eating my own weight in ravioli. But today is Boxing Day, and since I can never let a day where I can purposefully misunderstand the purpose of the day for a giggle, here’s a list of boxing-themed songs for this week’s playlist, the last of 2023!

1. Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”: You knew this was going to be the first, most obvious song on this list, right? Of course you did.
2. Mark Knopfler, “Song For Sonny Liston”: A biographical look at the life of boxer Sonny Liston.
3. The Gaslight Anthem, “Boxer”: I’m not really sure what this song has to do with boxing or being a boxer, but the chorus does include the line, “Remember when I knew a boxer, baby.” So there’s that.
4. Bruce Springsteen, “The Hitter”: Bruce takes a look at an aging, worn-out fighter.
5. The Extra Lens, “Cruiserweights”: John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats is apparently so engaged with the sport of boxing that he formed a second group, the Extra Lens, that recorded an entire album about a boxer.
6. Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”: It would have been very easy to just make this playlist all songs from the Rocky movies. Don’t think I didn’t think about it.
7. Rush, “Cinderella Man”: A song about a man trying to achieve his dream against staggering odds and prog rock.
8. Rachel Platten, “Fight Song”: Isn’t boxing just fighting with rules? I’m pretty sure it’s just fighting with rules.
9. Ben Folds Five, “Boxing”: Apparently this song is designed to be an imagined conversation between Muhammad Ali and Howard Cossel, the sportscaster, who apparently made his name commentating on boxing matches.
10. The Boxer Rebellion, “Spitting Fire”: The Boxer Rebellion was a fight between a small group of Chinese kung fu experts (called the Order of the Holy Fist, or “Boxers”) and the English, all about opium. It…didn’t go well for the Boxers.