Tangled Up In Blue- Bob Dylan

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Tangled Up In Blue is a lyrically daring song that tells its story in the first and third person and mixes past, present, and future together. It ranked it #68 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Strumming

You can almost use just straight-eight strumming patterns. I said “almost”, because to really liven up the part you’ll want to throw in occasional sixteenth notes as accents.

The G/A chord is a G chord that uses an A note as its lowest note. To form the chord is super easy as we’ll only need to fret the 3rd fret of the high E string then strum all other strings, except the low E string, open. Don’t play the low E as it will change the sound of the chord drastically.

Verse 1

A                     G/A 
Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
A               G/A 
I was layin' in bed
A                  G/A 
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
       D               
If her hair was still red.
A                       G/A 
Her folks they said our lives together
A                 G/A 
Sure was gonna be rough
A                          G/A 
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
       D 
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.

E                              F#m 
And I was standin' on the side of the road
A                  D 
Rain fallin' on my shoes
E                   F#m 
Heading out for the East Coast
     A                    D            E 
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
G       D     A   G/A  A  G/A
Tangled up in blue.

Verse 2

A                     G/A 
She was married when we first met
A                     G/A 
Soon to be divorced
A                     G/A 
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
      D
But I used a little too much force.
A                     G/A 
We drove that car as far as we could
A                     G/A 
Abandoned it out West
A                     G/A 
Split up on a dark sad night
        D
Both agreeing it was best.

E                              F#m 
She turned around to look at me
A                  D 
As I was walkin' away
E                              F#m 
I heard her say over my shoulder,
     A                    D            E 
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
G       D     A    G/A  A  G/A
Tangled up in blue.

Verse 3

A                     G/A 
I had a job in the great north woods
A                     G/A 
Working as a cook for a spell
A                     G/A 
But I never did like it all that much
      D
And one day the axe just fell.
A                     G/A 
So I drifted down to New Orleans
A                     G/A 
Where I happened to be employed
A                     G/A 
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
      D
Right outside of Delacroix.

E                              F#m 
But all the while I was alone
A                  D 
The past was close behind,
E                              F#m 
I seen a lot of women
     A                    D            E 
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
G       D     A    G/A  A  G/A
Tangled up in blue.

Verse 4

A                     G/A 
She was workin' in a topless place
A                     G/A 
And I stopped in for a beer,
A                     G/A 
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
      D
In the spotlight so clear.
A                     G/A 
And later on as the crowd thinned out
A                     G/A 
I's just about to do the same,
A                     G/A 
She was standing there in back of my chair
      D
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"

E                              F#m 
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
A                  D 
She studied the lines on my face.
Em                              F#m 
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
     A                    D            Em 
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
G       D     A    G/A  A  G/A
Tangled up in blue.

Verse 5

A                       G/A 
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
A                G/A    
"I thought you'd never 
 A                 G/A
say hello," she said
                D
"You look like the silent type."
 A                       G/A 
Then she opened up a book of poems
A                     G/A 
And handed it to me
A                     G/A 
Written by an Italian poet
     D 
From the thirteenth century.
       
E                              F#m 
And every one of them words rang true
A                  D 
And glowed like burnin' coal
E                              F#m 
Pourin' off of every page
     A                    D            E 
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
G       D     A    Asus  A  Asus
Tangled up in blue.

Verse 6

A                     G/A 
I lived with them on Montague Street
A                     G/A 
In a basement down the stairs,
A                     G/A
There was music in the cafes at night
      D
And revolution in the air.
A                     G/A 
Then he started into dealing with slaves
A                     G/A 
And something inside of him died.
A                     G/A 
She had to sell everything she owned
      D
And froze up inside.

E                              F#m 
And when finally the bottom fell out
A                  D 
I became withdrawn,
Em                              F#m 
The only thing I knew how to do
     A                    D            E 
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
G       D     A    Asus  A  Asus
Tangled up in blue.

Verse 7

A                     G/A 
So now I'm goin' back again,
A                     G/A 
I got to get to her somehow.
A                     G/A 
All the people we used to know
      D
They're an illusion to me now.
A                     G/A 
Some are mathematicians
A                     G/A 
Some are carpenter's wives.
A                     G/A 
Don't know how it all got started,
      D
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.

E                              F#m 
But me, I'm still on the road
A                  D 
Headin' for another joint
E                            F#m 
We always did feel the same,
     A                    D            E 
We just saw it from a different point of view,
G       D     A    Asus  A  Asus
Tangled up in blue.