Tangled Up in Blue
"Tangled Up in Blue" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Minneapolis, Minnesota) | ||||
Genre | Folk rock[1] | |||
Length | 5:41[2] | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan | |||
Producer(s) | David Zimmerman (uncredited) | |||
Bob Dylan singles chronology | ||||
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Blood on the Tracks track listing | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Tangled Up in Blue" (live) on YouTube |
"Tangled Up in Blue" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the opening track on his 15th studio album Blood on the Tracks (1975). The song was written by Dylan and produced by David Zimmerman, Dylan's brother. Released as a single, it reached No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song concerns relationships and contains different narrative perspectives. Dylan has altered the lyrics in subsequent performances, changing the point of view and details in the song.
The track was initially recorded in September 1974, but later re-recorded on 30 December of that year at
Background and recording
The song was written in the summer of 1974, after Dylan's
Dylan first recorded "Tangled Up in Blue" in New York City on 16 September 1974 during the initial Blood on the Tracks sessions at
David Zimmerman was the producer for the Minneapolis Blood on the Tracks recordings, but was not credited on the album.[14] The re-recorded versions were radical departures from the original recordings, and each new recording included changes to the lyrics from the earlier versions.[3][15][16] This recording featured a full band: Kevin Odegard (guitar), Chris Weber (guitar) Gregg Inhofer (keyboards), Billy Peterson (bass), and Bill Berg (drums), with Dylan singing, and on guitar and harmonica.[9] These musicians were based locally and had arrived at Zimmerman's invitation, and Dylan had not met them before they started working together on 27 December.[3]
The Minneapolis version was included as the opening track on Blood on the Tracks, released on 20 January 1975,
Composition and lyrical interpretation
With "Tangled Up in Blue", Dylan used shifting perspectives of time, influenced by his recent studies under Raeben.
Dylan continually re-worked the lyrics and arrangement even after the album was released.[23][9] During his 1978 World Tour, the line starting "She opened up a book of poems" became "She opened up the Bible and started quotin' it to me", becoming one of the first public indicators of Dylan's conversion to Christianity.[23] The version released on Real Live, as performed throughout his 1984 Europe tour, differs radically in structure and lyrics from earlier versions, with a more cynical view of romance.[23][9] Dylan said in 1985 that he was more satisfied with the implementation of multiple viewpoints in the song than he had been with the original.[11] Dylan has often stated that the song took "ten years to live and two years to write".[25]
In a 1985 interview with Bill Flanagan, Dylan said that although many people thought that the album Blood on the Tracks was autobiographical, "It didn't pertain to me. It was just a concept of putting in images that defy time – yesterday, today and tomorrow. I wanted to make them all connect in some kind of a strange way."[26] In his 2004 memoir Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan claimed that Blood on the Tracks was "an entire album based on Chekhov short stories. Critics thought it was autobiographical – that was fine."[12]
Critical reception
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
Some commentators have taken the reference in "Tangled Up in Blue" to the "Italian poet/From the thirteenth century" as a reference to Dante.[30][31] Matthew Collins of Harvard, noting that Dylan may not have been precise with dates, argues that there are similarities between elements of the lyrics of "Tangled up in Blue" and the fifth canto of Dante's 14th Century Inferno, but finds it unlikely that Dylan will ever confirm who the reference in the song is to.[32] Hampton, however, believes that the reference is more likely to Petrarch.[24] Both Collins and Hampton note that in a 1978 interview, in reference to "Tangled Up in Blue", Dylan was asked who the poet was and replied "Plutarch. Is that his name?"[32][24]
Don Stanley in
Jim Beviglia ranks "Tangled Up in Blue" 14th in his 2013 assessment of the 100 best Dylan songs, saying that "this masterful song doesn't skimp on the pain."[37] In a 2020 article for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis ranked it the twelfth-greatest of Dylan's songs.[38] The track was ranked 3rd on Rolling Stone's 2016 ranking of the 100 greatest Dylan songs, with the staff describing it as "where emotional truths meet the everlasting comfort of the American folk song."[39] Rolling Stone ranked it No. 68 on their 2011 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[40] and re-ranked it at No. 67 in 2021.[41] A 2021 Guardian article included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know".[42]
Live performances
Dylan has performed the song live 1,685 times up to August 2018. The first was on 13 November 1975 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New Haven.
Dylan played the song solo on acoustic guitar during the first leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1975, a performance of which is featured in Dylan's 1978 film Renaldo and Clara and which later became the song's official music video.[30][45] On the second leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue, in 1976, the song was performed with a full band in what Clinton Heylin has called a "gear-crunching heavy-metal" arrangement.[9] The 1978 World Tour performances were slower, with a big band.[30] After 1978, the next live performances were in 1984,[44] again solo on acoustic guitar but this time with radically reworked lyrics.[9] Versions performed after 1984 have been closer to the original.[23]
Credits and personnel
Credits for the Blood on the Tracks and single release, adapted from the Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track book.[2]
Musicians
- Bob Dylan – lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar, harmonica
- Kevin Odegard – acoustic lead guitar
- Chris Weber – acoustic lead guitar
- Gregg Inhofer – keyboards
- Billy Peterson – bass guitar
- drums
Technical
- David Zimmerman – producer (uncredited)
- Paul Martinson – engineering
Covers and references
The song has been covered by various artists, including
The song is a playable track on Rock Band 2, as the most difficult song in the vocal section, and the final song for the player to complete in the "Impossible Vocal Challenge".[48] "Tangled Up in Blue" is also published as one of two poems by Dylan in The Seagull Book of Poems.[52] Dylan reworked the lyrics again for an artwork, consisting of handwritten lyrics and a sketch of an abandoned car, displayed at the Halcyon Gallery's Mondo Scripto exhibition in 2018.[53][54]
Charts (single)
Chart (1975) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot 100[55] | 31 |
Official album releases
Album | Release Year | Recorded at | Recording date | Take/ version | Personnel | Ref. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Blood on the Tracks | 1975 | Sound 80 | 30 December 1974 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Kevin Odegard: guitar; Chris Weber: guitar; Gregg Inhofer: keyboards; Billy Peterson: bass; Bill Berg: drums | [9] | |
2 | Real Live | 1984 | Wembley Stadium | 7 July 1984 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Colin Allen: drums; Ian McLagan: keyboards; Gregg Sutton:bass guitar; Mick Taylor: guitar | [56][57] | |
3 | Biograph | 1985 | Blood on the Tracks version | [58] | |||
4 | The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 | 1991 | A&R Studios | 16 September 1974 | Take 3, Remake 2 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass. Unknown additional acoustic guitar, from one of Charles Brown, III, Eric Weissberg, or Barry Kornfeld. Later also released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks | [59][10] |
5 | Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume 3 | 1994 | Blood on the Tracks version | [60] | |||
6 | The Essential Bob Dylan | 2000 | Blood on the Tracks version | [61] | |||
7 | The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue | 2002 | Boston Music Hall | 21 Nov 1975 | Evening show | Later also released on Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings (Deluxe edition) (For personnel, see that entry) | [62][63] |
8 | The Best of Bob Dylan | 2005 | Blood on the Tracks version | [64] | |||
9 | Dylan | 2007 | Blood on the Tracks version | [65] | |||
10 | The Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks | 2018 | A&R Studios | 19 September 1974 | 19/9/74, Take 3, Remake 3 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass | [10][66] |
11 | The Bootleg Series Vol. 14: More Blood, More Tracks (Deluxe edition) | 2018 | A&R Studios | 16 September 1974 | Take 1 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass | [10][66] |
12 | A&R Studios | 17 September 1974 | Rehearsal | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass; Paul Griffin: organ | |||
13 | A&R Studios | 17 September 1974 | Take 2, Remake | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass; Paul Griffin: organ | |||
14 | A&R Studios | 17 September 1974 | Take 3, Remake | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass | |||
15 | A&R Studios | 19 September 1974 | Rehearsal and Take 1, Remake 2 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass | |||
16 | A&R Studios | 19 September 1974 | Take 2, Remake 2 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass | |||
17 | A&R Studios | 19 September 1974 | Take 3, Remake 2 | Included on a test pressing and also on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991) | |||
18 | A&R Studios | 19 September 1974 | Rehearsal and Takes 1–2, Remake 3 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass | |||
19 | A&R Studios | 19 September 1974 | Take 3, Remake 3 | Bob Dylan: vocals, guitar, harmonica; Tony Brown: bass | |||
20 | Blood on the Tracks version | ||||||
21 | Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings (Deluxe edition) | 2019 | Worcester Memorial Auditorium | 19 November 1975 | Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica; Bobby Neuwirth: guitar, vocals; Scarlet Rivera: violin; T Bone J. Henry Burnett: guitar, vocals; Steven Soles: guitar, vocals; Mick Ronson: guitar; David Mansfield: steel guitar, mandolin, violin, dobro; Rob Stoner: bass guitar, vocals; Howie Wyeth: drums, piano; Luther Rix: drums, percussion, congas; Ronee Blakley: vocals; Ramblin' Jack Elliott: vocals, guitar; Allen Ginsberg: vocals, finger cymbals; Joni Mitchell: vocals | [63] | |
22 | Boston Music Hall | 21 November 1975 | Evening show | ||||
23 | Forum de Montréal | 4 December 1975 |
Notes
References
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External links
- Lyrics at Bob Dylan's official website