BOB DYLAN, TANGLED UP IN BLUE

In english class we hears different songs lo learn that some songs can be short stories too. the las song we heard was Tangled up in blue, by Bob Dylan. Mark told us that this song was also a story, but that it was hard to get because it was not in order. In this post I will try to put in order the story and explain my interpretation. The lyrics of the song are:

Early one mornin’ the sun was shin in’
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

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 keepin’ on like a bird that flew
Tangled up in blue

So now I’m goin’ back again
I got to get to her somehow
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters’ 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 a different point of view
Tangled up in blue

I believe that the chronological order would be: verse 4, verse 5, verse 6, verse 2, verse, 1 and verse 7. With this order the lyrics would look like this:

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

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 keepin’ on like a bird that flew
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

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

So now I’m goin’ back again
I got to get to her somehow
All the people we used to know
They’re an illusion to me now
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenters’ 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 a different point of view
Tangled up in blue

With that chronological order my interpretation is that first he goes to a topples place and he finds her there. He wars to like her a little bit there, but in the next verse we can see that they are closer because she is showing a book to him. Also I think that he likes her for who she is. Then the author says that he moved with them; at this point we do not know who them is, but in the next verse it says they she was marries so I concluded that he moved with there girl and her husband. Then it says that the husband started dealing with slaves, and the only thing that made sense to me was they he was dealing with prostitution. This was the only thing I could come up with because the girl used to work on a topples place and prostitution is not so far away; also because I am pretty sure this sure this dong thames place on the XX century and slavery was over by that time. Then the author says that he could take it no longer and he decides to go away. The next verse says that he escapes from that with the girl but then they they had to get separated. Before she went away the girl said that they would meet again. The las two verses talk about the author missing the girl and him deciding to go look for her. 

Mark also gave us some questions that we need to try to answer. These are that questions: (and my answers)

1.    The geography of the song is interesting. Is there any direction in the United States that is not referred to? The song mentions this places: Montague Street
, the west , the east coast, the great north woods, and New Orleans. The only place that is not mentioned is the center of the U.S.

2.    The singer says in the last verse that he is still “on the road,” which can be taken as a reference to a great work of literature that deeply influenced Bob Dylan. What can you tell me about this? I searched really hard for this but I did not find anything. Sorry Mark

3.    Bob Dylan is taken very seriously as a poet as well as a singer-songwriter, and he takes himself seriously as part of the poetic tradition, too. How can you tell this from the song? Who could the poet that he refers to indirectly be? (There is not complete agreement on this point, but there is a pretty obvious candidate.)  You can see that he cared about poetry because the song has a lot of rhymes. They go every other line and are not always there, but they are constant enough to be noticed. I think they the  Italian poet from the 13th century he mentioned is Dante.

4.    Another great singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell, was a major influence on this song. How does Dylan acknowledge this fact in the song itself? Bob Dylan was really into the Blue album by Joni Mitchell when he wrote the song.