Talk:Tangled Up in Blue

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What is the literal meaning of this song's title? Is he talking about being weighed down (Tangled up) by sadness (the blues, or feeling blue)? Vorenus 17:35, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Meaning of Tangled Up In Blue

Not being an expert in interpreting poetry or songwriting styles etc, here's my take:

I understand the concept of writing outside the framework of time, and the fact that both cars, and slaves are mentioned, seeming to imply different historical time frames.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that these reflect real events in Dylan's life, and that he was thinking of a specific incident for each verse. Perhaps it's a collage of a single person, or period in his life. HE knows what he was thinking for each verse, and I bet it was a real event.

I personally don't see the reference to "slaves" as being necessarily literal. It could just as easily be some guy he knew starting to pimp his druggie girlfriends, who knows?

I think Bob likes to tell the story of the world the way it is, but from his own perspective and without too much explanation. He wants to impart the feelings and leave you to figure out the facts.

Anyone who hears this song will get the sense of youth turning to maturity, losing friends in good and bad ways, and never really understanding what happened. It's true we all just "keep on keepin on, like a bird that flew". That's life and he communicated it beautifully. I don't think it has squat to do with slavery or history or anything. It's just a collage of his life's experiences. "slaves" is just his term for something that struck him like slavery.

I wish he would read this, and tell us all what he was thinking when he wrote it.

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