WORDS FILL MY HEAD

 

First Blood On The Tracks Session

 

Idiot Wind.. 1

If You See Her, Say Hello.. 2

Simple Twist Of Fate.. 3

Tangled Up In Blue.. 4

 

 

Idiot Wind

 

Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press

Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out quick, when they will I can only guess

They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy

She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me

I can't help it if I'm lucky.

 

People see me all the time and they just can't remember how to act

Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts

And even you yesterday, you had to ask me where it was at,

I couldn't believe after all these years, you didn't know me any better than that,

Sweet lady

 

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth

Blowing down the back roads headin' south

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth

You're an idiot babe,

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

 

I threw the I Ching yesterday, it said there might be some thunder at the well

Peace and quiet's been avoiding me for so long, it seems like livin' hell

There's a lone soldier on the hill watching fallin' raindrops pour

You'd never know it to look at him, but at the final shot he won the war

After losing every battle.

 

I woke up on the roadside, daydreamin' about the way things sometimes are

Hoofbeats poundin' in my head at breakneck speed and makin' me see stars

You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies

One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes

Blood on your saddle.

 

Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb

Blowing through the curtains in your room

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth

You're an idiot babe,

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

 

It was gravity which pulled us in, and destiny which broke us apart

You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn't enough to change my heart

Now everything's a little upside down as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped

What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out when you reach the top

You're on the bottom

 

I noticed at the ceremony that you left all your bags behind

The driver came in after you left, he gave them all to me, and then he resigned

The priest wore black on the seventh day, waltzed around while the building burned

You didn't trust me for a minute, babe, I've never known the spring to turn

So quickly into autumn.

 

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your jaw

From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Mardi Gras

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth

You're an idiot babe,

It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

 

We pushed each other a little too far and one day it just jumped into a raging storm

A hound dog bayed behind your trees, as I was packin' up my uniform

I figured I'd lost you anyway, why go on, what's the use?

In order to get in a word with you, I'd had to come up with some excuse

And that just struck me kinda funny.

 

I've been double-crossed too much, at times I think I've almost lost my mind

Lady killers load dice on me, behind my back, while imitators steal me blind

You close your eyes and part your lips and slip your fingers from your glove

You can have the best there is, but it's gonna cost you all your love

You won't get it for money.

 

Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,

Blowing through the letters that we wrote

Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves

We're idiots babe,

It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.

 

[Source: Tape]

 

[TOP]

 

If You See Her, Say Hello

 

If you see her, say hello, she might be in Tangiers

She left here last early spring, is livin' there, I hear

Say for me that I'm all right though new things come and go

She might think that I've forgotten her, don't tell her it isn't so.

 

We had a falling-out, like lovers often will

But to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill

And though our separation, it pierced me to the heart

She still lives inside of me, we've never been apart.

 

If you're makin' love to her, kiss her for the kid,

Who always has respected her for doin' what she did

Oh, I know it had to be that way, it was written in the cards

Still the bitter taste still lingers on, it all came down so hard.

 

I see a lot of people as I make the rounds

And I hear her name here and there as I go from town to town

And I've never gotten used to it, I just learned to turn it off

Either I'm too sensitive or else I'm getting soft.

 

Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the past

I know every scene by heart, they all went by so fast

If she's passing back this way I'm not that hard to find

Tell her she can look me up if she's got the time.

 

[Source: Tape]

 

[TOP]

 

 

Simple Twist Of Fate

 

They sat together in the park

As the evening sky grew dark

She looked at him and felt a spark tingle to her bone

'Twas then she felt alone and wished that she'd gone straight

And watched out for a simple twist of fate

 

They walked along by the old canal

Down Grand Street, I remember well

Stopped into the El Centro hotel, he threw his wide-brim hat on the bed

Then he listened to something that she said, but he just could not wait

To take advantage of that simple twist of fate

 

A saxophone someplace quietly played

She was walking on by the arcade

She heard her melody rise and fade, the sun was coming up

She dropped a coin into the cup of a blind man at the gate

And forgot about that simple twist of fate

 

He woke up and she was gone

He didn't see nothing but the dawn

Got out of bed and put his wide-brim hat back on, pushed back the blinds

Found a note she'd left behind, but he just could not concentrate

On anything 'cept that simple twist of fate

 

He walks alone through the city blocks

Hunts her down by the way she talks

Hunts for her by the waterfront docks where the sailors all roll in

Maybe he'll find her once again, how long must he wait

One more time for a simple twist of fate

 

People tell me it's a crime

To have loved her for too long of a time

She should have caught me in my prime, she would have stayed with me

'Stead of going back off to sea, and leaving me to meditate

Upon that simple twist of fate.

 

Source

Audience recording from Houston, Texas, 12 November 1981.

Notes

There’s a Grand Street on Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York

"El Centro" is really a Mexican restaurant on 824 9th Avenue, New York City, New York

 

Tangled Up In Blue

 

Early one morning the sun was shinin'

He was layin' in bed

Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all

If her hair was still red

Her folks they said their lives together

Sure was gonna be rough

They never did like Mama's homemade dress,

Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough

And he was standin' at the side of the road

Rain fallin' on his shoes

Heading out for the old East Coast

Lord knows he paid some dues, gettin' through

Tangled up in blue.

 

She was married when they first met

Soon to be divorced

He helped her out of a jam I guess

But he used a little too much force

And he drove that car as far as he could

Abandoned it out west

And they split up on a dark sad night

Both agreeing it was best

And she turned around to look at him

As he was walkin' away

And she said "This ain't the end

We'll meet again some day, on the avenue,

Tangled up in blue."

 

He had a job in the great north woods

Working as a cook for a spell

But he never did like it all that much

And one day the axe just fell

So he drifted down to L.A.

Where he reckoned he tried his luck

Workin' for a-while in an airplane plant

Loading cargo onto a truck

But all the while he was alone

The past was close behind

He seen a lot of women

But she never escaped his mind and he 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 a spotlight so clear

And later on as the crowd thinned out

I's about to do the same

She was standing there in back of my chair

Sayin' to me "What's your name?"

I muttered something 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 shoes

Tangled up in blue.

 

She lit a burner on the stove

And offered me a pipe

"Thought you'd never say hello", she said

"You look like the silent type"

And 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 burning coal

Pouring off of every page

Like it was written in my soul from me to you

Tangled up in blue.

 

He was always in a hurry

Too busy or too stoned

And everything she ever planned

Just had to be postponed

She thought they were successful

He thought they were blessed

With objects and material things

But I never was impressed

And when it all came crashing down

I became withdrawn

The only thing I knew how to do

Was to keep on keeping on like a bird that flew

Tangled up in blue.

 

So now I'm going back again

Got to get to her somehow

All the people we used to know

They're an illusion to me now

Some are mathematicians

Some are doctor' wives

Don't know how it all got started

Don't know what they're doin' with their lives

But me, I'm still on the road

Heading for another joint

We always did feel the same

We just started from a different point of view

Tangled up in blue.

 

[Source: Tape]

 

[TOP]

 

This page last updated 08 November 2016.