Early one mornin' the sun was shinin', I was layin' in bed

Wond'rin 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 a jam, 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 ax 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 you know my name?"

I muttered somethin' under 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 Italian 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 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And when finally the bottom fell out I became withdrawn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



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 another point of view

Tangled up in blue