Early one mornin'
the sun was shinin'
I was layin' in bed
Wondering' if she'd
changed at all
If her hair was
still red.
Her folks they said
our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's
homemade dress
Papa's bankbook
wasn't big enough
And I was standin'
on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out
for the East Coast
Lord knows
I've paid some dues
gettin' through
Tangled up in blue.
She was married
when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out
of ajam I guess
But I used a little
too much force.
We drove that car
as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up
on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around
to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say
over my shoulder
We'll meet again someday
on the avenue
Tangled up in blue.
I had a job
in the great north woods
Working as a cook
for a spell
But I never did like it
all that much
And one day
the axe just fell.
So I drifted down
to New Orleans
Where I happened
to be employed
Workin' for a while
on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while
I was alone
The past was close behind
I seen a lot of women
But she never
escaped my mind
and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.
She was workin'
in a topless place
And I stopped
in for a beer
I just kept lookin'
at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on
as the crowd thinned out
I's just about
to do the same
She was standing there
in back of my chair
Said to me
Don't I know your name
I muttered somethin'
underneath my breath
She studied the lines
on my face.
I must admit
I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down
to tie the laces of my shoe
Tangled up in blue.
She lit a burner on the stove
and offered me a pipe
I thought you'd never
say hello she said
You look like the silent type
Then she opened up
a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an ltalian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them
words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written
in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue
I lived with them
on Montague Street
In a basement
down the stairs
There was music
in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air
Then he started
into dealing with slaves
And something
inside of him died.
She had to sell
everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally
the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn
The only thing
I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on
like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue.
So now I'm goin' back again
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it
all got started
I don't know what
they're doin' with their lives.
But me I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same
We just saw it from
a different point of view
Tangled up in blue....