2 posts tagged “bob dylan”

Based on a conversation I had with a friend over dinner last night.  It's so very true...

In a soldier's stance
I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy.
In the instant that I preach,
My pathway lead by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.

But I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now.

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats,
Too noble to neglect,
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect.
Good and bad,
I define these terms
Quite clear,
No doubt,
Somehow.

Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.
- Bob Dylan, "My Back Pages"

I swear I posted this last night.  I have no idea why it's not there.  Ah well.  The wonders of the internet...

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced.
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 sad dark 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 ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for awhile on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
And the past was close behind,
I'd 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 was just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
She said, "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.
- Bob Dylan (though the one in my head is the Indigo Girls version), "Tangled Up In Blue"