Tangled Up in Blue

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin' I was layin' in bed Wondrin' 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 bank book 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 some day 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 was looking for 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' 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 everyone 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of him died She had to sell everything she owned And froze up inside And when finally the bottom fell out I became withdrawn The only thing I knew how to do Was to keep on keepin' on Like a bird that flew Tangled up in blue So now I'm goin' back again I got to get to her somehow All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 carpenters' 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