Early one morning the sun was shining
I was lieing in bed.
Wondering if she’d changed it all,
If her hair was still red.
And her folks said our lives together,
Sure was going to be rough.
They never did like Mama’s homemade dress,
Papas bankbook wasn’t big enough.
But she was standing on the side of the road
As rain’s falling on my shoes.
I’m heading out for the old east coast,
Lord knows I’ve paid some dues.
Gettin’ through.
Tangled up in blue.
And she was married when we first met,
But soon to be divorced.
I helped her out of jam I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
So we drove that car as far as we could,
Abandoned it out west.
Split up on a dark side night,
Both agreeing it was best.
And she turned around and looked at me,
As I was walking away.
I Heard her say over my shoulder
We’re going to meet again some day,
On the avenue.
We got tangled up in blue.
So I had a job in the Paynoff 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 lucky enough to be employed.
Working for a while on a fishing boat
Right outside of Delaque.
But all the while I was alone,
The past was close behind me.
I’d seen I lot of women,
But she never escaped my mind.
Yeah I just grew.
Tangled up in blue.
She was working in a topless place,
And I just stopped in for a beer.
I just kept looking at the side of her face,
In the spotlight so clear.
Then later on as the crowd thinned out,
I was just about to do the same.
She was standing there at the back of my chair
Saying Tell me don’t I know your name?
I muttered something underneath the breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent to tie the lace
On my shoe.
We got tangled up in blue.
So lit a burner upon the stove.
And offered me a pint.
I thought that you would never say hello she said,
You look like the silent type.
Then she opened up a book o’ poems,
Handed it to me.
Written by an italian poet,
In the thirteenth century.
And every one of those 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.
So I lived with them on Montague St,
In a basement down these stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night,
A revloution in the air.
Then he started dealing with slaves,
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.
We got tangled up in blue.
Well now I’m going back again,
Got to get to her somehow.
All the people that we used to know,
They’re an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematictions,
Some are carpenters’ wives.
We don’t know how this got started,
Don’t know what we do with our lives.
Me I’m still on the road, heading for another joint.
We didn’t always see the same,
And we started from a different point of view.
Tangled up in blue.
