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 you know my name?"
I muttered somethin' under 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

I lived with them on Montague Street in a basement down the stairs
There was music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air
Then he started into dealing with slaves and something inside 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And when finally the bottom fell out I became withdrawn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 keepin' on
Like a bird that flew, tangled up in blue

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 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 another point of view
Tangled up in blue