Ear-

ly

one

mor-

nin'

the

sun

was

shi-

nin'

I

was

la-

yin'

in

bed

Wond-

rin'

if

she'd

changed

at

all

If

her

hair

was

still

red

Her

folks

they

said

our

lives

to-

ge-

ther

Sure

was

gon-

na

be

rough

They

ne-

ver

did

like

Ma-

ma's

home-

made

dress

Pa-

pa's

bank

book

wasn't

big

e-

nough

And

I

was

stan-

din'

on

the

side

of

the

road

Rain

fal-

lin'

on

my

shoes

Hea-

ding

out

for

the

east

coast

Lord

knows

I've

paid

some

dues

Get-

tin'

through

Tang-

led

up

in

blue

She

was

mar-

ried

when

we

first

met

Soon

to

be

di-

vorced

I

helped

her

out

of

a

jam

I

guess

But

I

used

a

lit-

tle

too

much

force

We

drove

that

car

as

far

as

we

could

A-

ban-

doned

it

out

west

Split

up

on

a

dark

sad

night

Both

ag-

ree-

ing

it

was

best

She

tur-

ned

a-

round

to

look

at

me

As

I

was

wal-

kin'

a-

way

I

heard

her

say

over

my

shoul-

der

We'll

meet

again

some

day

On

the

avenue

Tang-

led

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

Or-

leans

Where

I

was

looking

for

to

be

employed

Wor-

kin'

for

a

while

on

a

fi-

shin'

boat

Right

outside

of

De-

la-

croix

But

all

the

while

I

was

al-

one

The

past

was

close

be-

hind

I

seen

a

lot

of

wo-

men

But

she

never

escaped

my

mind

And

I

just

grew

Tang-

led

up

in

blue

She

was

wor-

kin'

in

a

top-

less

place

And

I

stop-

ped

in

for

a

beer

I

just

kept

lookin'

at

the

side

of

her

face

In

the

spot-

light

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

mut-

tered

some-

thin'

un-

der

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

Tang-

led

up

in

blue

She

lit

a

bur-

ner

on

the

stove

And

of-

fered

me

a

pipe

I

thought

you'd

ne-

ver

say

hel-

lo,

she

said

You

look

like

the

si-

lent

type

Then

she

opened

up

a

book

of

poems

And

han-

ded

it

to

me

Writ-

ten

by

an

I-

ta-

lian

po-

et

From

the

thir-

teenth

cen-

tu-

ry

And

e-

very-

one

of

them

words

rang

true

And

glo-

wed

like

bur-

nin'

coal

Pou-

rin'

off

of

every

page

Like

it

was

writ-

ten

in

my

soul

From

me

to

you

Tang-

led

up

in

blue

I

lived

with

them

on

Mon-

ta-

gue

Street

In

a

basement

down

the

stairs

There

was

music

in

the

cafés

at

night

And

re-

vo-

lu-

tion

in

the

air

Then

he

started

into

dea-

ling

with

slaves

And

something

inside

of

him

died

She

had

to

sell

e-

very-

thing

she

owned

And

froze

up

in-

side

And

when

fi-

nal-

ly

the

bot-

tom

fell

out

I

be-

came

with-

drawn

The

only

thing

I

knew

how

to

do

Was

to

keep

on

keepin'

on

Like

a

bird

that

flew

Tang-

led

up

in

blue

So

now

I'm

goin'

back

a-

gain

I

got

to

get

to

her

some-

how

All

the

peo-

ple

we

used

to

know

They're

an

il-

lusion

to

me

now

Some

are

ma-

the-

ma-

ti-

ci-

ans

Some

are

car-

pen-

ters'

wives

Don't

know

how

it

all

got

star-

ted

I

don't

know

what

they're

doin'

with

their

lives

But

me,

I'm

still

on

the

road

Hea-

din'

for

a-

no-

ther

joint

We

always

did

feel

the

same

We

just

saw

it

from

a

different

point

of

view

Tang-

led

up

in

blue