Tangled Up in Blue

Early one mornin', the sun was shinin' He was lyin' in bed Wonderin' 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 he was standin' on the side of the road Rain fallin' on his shoes Heading out for the old East Coast Lord knows, he's paid some dues gettin' through Tangled up in blue She was married when they first met Soon to be divorced He helped her out of a jam, I guess But he used a little too much force And they drove that car as far as they could Abandoned it out west And split up on a dark sad night Both agreein' it was best And she turned around to look at him 'Cause he was walkin' away She said, "This can't be the end We'll meet on another day, on the avenue" Tangled up in blue He had a job in the old North Woods Workin' as a cook for a spell But he never did like it all that much And one day the ax just fell When he drifted down to L.A. Where he reckoned to try his luck Workin' for a while on an airplane plant Loading cargo on to a truck But all the while he was alone The past was close behind He'd seen a lot of women But she never escaped his mind, and he just grew Tangled up in blue She was workin' in a topless place I stopped in for 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 was about to do the same She was standing there in back of my chair Said to me, "What's 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 He was always in a hurry Too busy or too stoned And everything that she ever planned Just had to be postponed We thought they were successful She thought they were blessed With objects and material things But I never was impressed And when it all came crashin' down I became withdrawn The only thing I knew how to do Was keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew Tangled up in blue So now I'm going back again I got to get to her somehow All the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 doctor's wives Don't know how it all got started 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