Early one morning the sun was shining.
I was laying in bed
Wondering if she had changed it all.
If her hair was still red.
Her folks, they said, our lives together
Sure was gonna be tough.
They never did like Mama's homemade dress.
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough
And I was standing on the side of the road,
Rain falling on my shoes,
Heading out for the east coast.
Lord knows I've paid some dues getting through,
Tangled up in blue.
She was married when we first met.
Soon to be divorced.
Helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as fast we could;
Abandoned it out west.
Split it up on a dark sad night;
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walking away.
I heard her say over my shoulder
"We'll meet again one 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 Valley Ground
Happened to try my luck
Working for a while on an airplane plant, loadin' cargo onto a truck
And all the while I was alone.
The past was close behind.
I seen many women,
But she never escaped my mind and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.
She was working in a topless place
I stopped in for a beer.
I just kept looking 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?"
Well I said something underneath my breath.
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a lot uneasy
She bent down to tie the laces of my shoes.
Tangled up in blue.
She lit a burner on a 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 poem
Handed it to me.
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burning coal
Pouring off of every page
As if it was written in my soul from me to you
Tangled up in blue.
She was always in a hurry
Too busy or too stoned
And everything that they ever planned
Had to be postponed
She thought they were successful
He thought they were blessed
Always surround by material thing
I never was impressed
And when it all came crashing down
I became withdrawn.
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue.
Now I'm going back again.
Got to get her somehow.
All the people I used to know;
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians.
Some are doctor's wives.
I don't know how it all got started.
I don't what they're doing with their lives,
But me, I'm still on the road
Heading for another joint.
We always did feel the same.
We just saw it from a different point of view.
Tangled up in blue
One, two, three, four
♪
Tangled up in blue.