No. 10

Tangled Up In Blue - Bob Dylan (1975) Video - In my conversation yesterday with Rich Young, he mentioned that he expected to know only half of my top 10. Scanning the list, I agreed with him that half was about right. Half of the songs, you would have to have avoided hearing music to not know them. The other half, you would have had to take a deep interest in music to know them. I put this song with the last group. It's not one of Dylan's best-known works, though certainly belongs in his top 10.

Back when I used an alarm clock, I had this song wake me up every day for a year and loved it every time. It's held up to the test of time as I seemingly can't wear it out. The thing I like most about it is that I can't really relate to it at all. It speaks of a lifetime of drifting, which is something that's always interested me, but I've never done. Song No. 8 on my list is the female and 60s equivalent.

"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 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.

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 side 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 happened to be employed working for a while on a fishing boat right outside de la Croix but all the while I was alone the past was close behind, I seen a lot of women, but I never did change 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 side of her face in the spotlight so clear. And later on the crowd thinned out I was just about to do the same. She was standing there in the back of my chair said to 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 in the 13th century. And every one of them words rang true, 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 cafes 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 and 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 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, don't know 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."

Now THOSE are some lyrics!