BOB DYLAN - "Tangled Up In Blue"

Bob Dylan
"Tangled Up In Blue"
Single - B-side: "If You See Her, Say Hello"
Album: Blood on the Tracks
Released: 17 January 1975
Writer: Bob Dylan
Label: Columbia
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"Tangled Up in Blue" is a song by Bob Dylan. It appeared on his album Blood on the Tracks in 1975. Rolling Stone ranked it #68 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The Telegraph has described the song as, "The most dazzling lyric ever written, an abstract narrative of relationships told in an amorphous blend of first and third person, rolling past, present and future together, spilling out in tripping cadences and audacious internal rhymes, ripe with sharply turned images and observations and filled with a painfully desperate longing."

Bob Dylan's Single "Tangled Up In Blue" 1973(Photo courtesy of Columbia)

Bob Dylan's Single Vinyl "Tangled Up In Blue" 1975

"Tangled Up in Blue" is one of the clearest examples of Dylan's attempts to write "multi-dimensional" songs which defied a fixed notion of time and space. Dylan was influenced by his recent study of painting and the Cubist school of artists, who sought to incorporate multiple perspectives within a single plane of view.  In a 1978 interview Dylan explained this style of songwriting: "What's different about it is that there's a code in the lyrics, and there's also no sense of time. There's no respect for it. You've got yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the same room, and there's very little you can't imagine not happening".

Dylan wrote this in the summer of 1974 at a farm he had just bought in Minnesota. This is a very personal song for Dylan. It deals with the changes he was going through, including his marriage falling apart.

First recorded in New York with producer Phil Ramone, Dylan delayed the release and re-recorded it in Minnesota while visiting his brother, David, for the holidays. David organized the sessions and helped produce the version that went on the album. David also came up with the idea for the hi-hat cymbals at the beginning.

Among the musicians who recorded this in Minnesota were Billy Peterson, who became the bass player for Steve Miller, and Bill Berg, who became an animator for Disney (some of the films Berg has worked on include Beauty And The Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Hercules). The session musicians in Minnesota were not credited on the album because the packaging had already been printed. The book Simple Twist Of Fate by Andy Gill and Kevin Odegard, documents the recording of Blood On The Tracks (in particular the genesis of this song). It explains how 2 different sets of musicians were used in New York and Minnesota but the Minnesota musicians not only did not receive credit, but also have never received royalties. Obviously, they are not happy about this since the album has sold millions of copies.

Bob Dylan - "Tangled Up In Blue" (live)

Bob Dylan's plays live "Tangled Up In Blue"

When Dylan performs this song in concert he uses the third person perspective (He and She) that is on the version found onThe Bootleg Series Vol 1-3 album instead of the first person perspective that is on Blood On The Tracks. He also alters some of the lyrics, for instance: "One day the axe just fell" is changed to "One day it all went to hell." Dylan sometimes introduced this song on stage by saying it took  "ten years to live and two years to write."

Line-up / Musicians:
Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, harmonica, production
With:
Bill Berg – drums
Gregg Inhofer – keyboards
Kevin Odegard – guitar
Peter Ostroushko – mandolin
Billy Peterson – bass guitar
Chris Weber – guitar, 12-string guitar