Early one mornin' the sun was shinin', I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' 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 I was standin' on the side of the road Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' 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 walkin' 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
Workin' for a while on a fishin' 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 workin' in a topless place And I stopped in for a 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'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?"
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.