Talk:Tangled Up in Blue

Meaning of Tangled Up In Blue
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)

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.

Slaves
I think the line about


 * the beginning of the song mentions a cross-country car trip, but towards the end a minor character gets involved in "dealing with slaves" in New York; clearly the two cannot be happening in the same time period.

is far too literal. There's nothing to indicate that "dealing with slaves" is anything but metaphorical. Rewrite? Signinstranger 20:17, 13 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree - this sounds like original research. "slaves" could either be metaphorical or just mean sweatshop workers in NY, or something like that. It's hard to know. --Chinawhitecotton 14:45, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Connection to Joni Mitchell's Blue album?
I just read as a piece of trivia that Mitchell's Blue inspired this song. Anyone ever heard this before and know if it is verifiable?--Chinawhitecotton 14:48, 22 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Only via second-hand references. Ron Rosenbaum describes in a couple of places Slate and New York Observer that Dylan told him that during an interview published in the March 1978 issue of Playboy. However he reports that he was unable to verify it because he misplaced the original transcripts and the only copy he could obtain for that issue had missing pages from the interview. older ≠ wiser 14:20, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Lyrics
I've modified the simple phrase 'a love affair that has ended' to more nearly reflect the lyrics. The whole point surely is that, even though they're separated again, the bond between them has NOT ended! Bob aka Linuxlad (talk) 09:54, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

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Rock Band 2
The tracklist for Rock Band 2 has been announced, and Tangled Up in Blue is on it. Shouldn't this be in the article? Yeah, I know, I was surprised too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.59.231.204 (talk) 01:12, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

an Italian poet From the thirteenth century
Do any editors have any sources about who the "Italian poet From the thirteenth century" was? Just curious. SageGreenRider (talk) 01:34, 15 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a vague ref to Dante? http://www.expectingrain.com/dok/who/i/italianpoet.html SageGreenRider (talk) 02:00, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

Unverified info
I was unable to verify the following - please restore to the article if reliable sources can be found. Regards, BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 13:22, 24 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Science fiction author Joan D. Vinge published Tangled Up in Blue in 2000 as the fourth book in her Hugo Award-winning "Snow Queen" series. (Needs verification that this book title is related to the song)

Official album releases
To give some feedback on this section, I would like to comment that the refs should be centered and the take col should be retitled to Take/version so the Bloods on the Tracks version can be added to that. Once you have added the version under that col for appropriate albums, make sure that only goes in the col and does not span all the way across like it currently is, also use multiple rowspan where necessary. My pleasure to deliver comments. --K. Peake 12:59, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Hi, if you have time could you help out with some general feedback on the current state of the article now I've done a bit more work? I'd like to get it to a state where it can be nominated as a good article, so if you could give me some pointers I'd appreciate it. Thanks and regards, BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 23:36, 5 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the late response; I was offline mostly yesterday but here we go. The paragraphs in critical reception are too short, you should give mention as the last live performance as well as the first, should separate the sub-sections of credits and personnel with sub-headings instead of sub-sections and update charts to being in the commonly used format for Wiki. --K. Peake 08:31, 7 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I appreciate your advice. Regards, BennyOnTheLoose (talk) 08:41, 7 October 2020 (UTC)

Official video
This official (live) video is this one. But where and when was it recorded? The YouTube source doesn't seem to say. Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 19:10, 9 November 2021 (UTC)