Tangled Up in Blue (BBC4 Bob Dylan Tribute Concert)
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Early one morning the sun was shining, I was laying in bed
Wondering if she'd changed at all, if her hair was still red
Her folks said our lives together sure was gonna be rough
And never did like mama's homemade dress
And papa's banquet wasn't big enough
I was standing at the side of the road, the rain falling on my shoes
Heading up for the east coast, Lord
Knows I 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 and abandoned it out west
Split up on the dock that night over being in the worst place
Turned around and looked 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
And I had a job in the Great North Coast 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, I was lucky enough to be employed
Working for a boy on a fishing boat right out of the Delacroix
And all the while I was alone, the past was close behind
I seen a lot of women, but she never escaped my mind
I'm just cruel, tangled up in blue
She was working in a topless place and I stopped in for a beer
Couldn't stop looking at the sight of
Her face in the spotlight so clear
And later on when the crowd turned out and I was about to do the same
She came up behind me at the 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
Must have made her feel a little uneasy when
She bent down to tie the laces of my shoes
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 in the fifteenth century
And every one of them words rang true while I burned and grew
Pouring out of every page like it was written in my soul to me
Tangled up in blue
I lived with them on Montague Street in a basement down the stairs
There was music in cafes at night and revolution in the air
But he got into dealing with slaves and something inside of him died
She had to sell everything she owned, it just froze up inside
And then when the bottom fell out and I became withdrawn
The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on
Not the perfect truth, tangled up in blue
Oh, and now I'm going back again, I've got to get to her somehow
And all the people I knew back then, they're illusions to me now
Some are mathematicians, some are common as wine
Don't know how it all got started and I don't
Know what they're doing with their lives
Me, I'm still on the road looking for another job
We always did feel the same, just
Saw it from a different point of view
Tangled up in blue