by Bob Dylan



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 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 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 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