First Blood On The Tracks Session
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, 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]
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
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]
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updated 08 November 2016.