Early one morning, the sun was shining

I was laying in bed

Wondering 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 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 axe just fell

So I drifted down to New Orleans

Where I's lucky for 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 the sight of her face

In the spotlight so clear

And later on, when the crowd thinned out

I's just about to do the same

She was standing there in back of my chair

Said, "Tell 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 13th 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 cafés 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I became withdrawn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 do 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