Tangled up in Blue

Early one morning the sun was shining I was laying in bed Wond'ring if she'd changed it 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 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 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 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 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 Working for a while on a fishing 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 working in a topless place And I stopped in for a beer I just kept looking at her side of her face In the spotlight so clear And later on as the crowd thinned out I was 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 something 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 fifteenth century And every one of them words rang true And glowed like burning coal Pouring 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 cafe 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of him died She had to sell everything she owned And froze up inside And when finally the bottom fell out I became withdrawn The only thing I knew how to do Was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew Tangled up in blue. So now I'm going back again I got to get 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 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.