Tangled Up in Blue
Early one mornin’ the sun was shinin’I was layin’ in bedWond’rin’ if she’d changed at allIf her hair was still redHer folks they said our lives togetherSure was gonna be roughThey never did like Mama’s homemade dressPapa’s bankbook wasn’t big enoughAnd I was standin’ on the side of the roadRain fallin’ on my shoesHeading out for the East CoastLord knows I’ve paid some dues gettin’ throughTangled up in blue
She was married when we first metSoon to be divorcedI helped her out of a jam, I guessBut I used a little too much forceWe drove that car as far as we couldAbandoned it out WestSplit up on a dark sad nightBoth agreeing it was bestShe turned around to look at meAs I was walkin’ awayI 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 woodsWorking as a cook for a spellBut I never did like it all that muchAnd one day the ax just fellSo I drifted down to New OrleansWhere I happened to be employedWorkin’ for a while on a fishin’ boatRight outside of DelacroixBut all the while I was aloneThe past was close behindI seen a lot of womenBut she never escaped my mind, and I just grewTangled up in blue
She was workin’ in a topless placeAnd I stopped in for a beerI just kept lookin’ at the side of her faceIn the spotlight so clearAnd later on as the crowd thinned outI’s just about to do the sameShe was standing there in back of my chairSaid to me, “Don’t I know your name?”I muttered somethin’ underneath my breathShe studied the lines on my faceI must admit I felt a little uneasyWhen she bent down to tie the laces of my shoeTangled up in blue
She lit a burner on the stoveAnd 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 poemsAnd handed it to meWritten by an Italian poetFrom the thirteenth centuryAnd every one of them words rang trueAnd glowed like burnin’ coalPourin’ off of every pageLike it was written in my soul from me to youTangled up in blue
I lived with them on Montague StreetIn a basement down the stairsThere was music in the cafés at nightAnd revolution in the airThen he started into dealing with slavesAnd something inside of him diedShe had to sell everything she ownedAnd froze up insideAnd when finally the bottom fell outI became withdrawnThe only thing I knew how to doWas to keep on keepin’ on like a bird that flewTangled up in blue
So now I’m goin’ back againI got to get to her somehowAll the people we used to knowThey’re an illusion to me nowSome are mathematiciansSome are carpenters’ wivesDon’t know how it all got startedI don’t know what they’re doin’ with their livesBut me, I’m still on the roadHeadin’ for another jointWe always did feel the sameWe just saw it from a different point of viewTangled up in blue