Bob Dylan

 

Tangled Up in Blue

 

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.

She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.

I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I 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 the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' 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 shoe,
Tangled up in blue.

She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then 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 burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.

I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.

So now I'm goin' back again,
I 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 carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.

 

Tangled Up in Blue by Bob Dylan is a great song. It is catchy but makes me want to stop and listen to the lyrics closely rather than just ignore them and dance to the beat. Tangled up in Blue is more than just an average song, it is almost like a short story or novel. It is so filled with imagery that i feel like I am watching the narrators story as opposed to just listening to it. I also loved the harmonica at the end. I really enjoyed this song.

     Every generation goes through the same thing, the previous generation disapproving of the pop culture of the time. In the 1920's the deemed "scandalous" behavior was dresses showing the shin bone, girls wearing makeup, swing music and the dancing to it. Today is the so called scandalous behavior is not all that diffrent. Teens today are criticized for the way we dress, the way we do our makeup and the way we dance. Though our dresses today show more than just the shin bone, the principal is the same, every generation is going to disaprove of something the next generation is going to do. My grandparents disaproved oof the way my mother dressed in highschool, my mother disaproves of some of the outfits I wear, and I am certain i will disaprove of the outfits my future children will wear. It is a cycle, the next generation is not neccecarilly worse than the previous, just diffrent.

Robben Ford

 

One Man's Celing is Another Man's Floor

By Robben Ford

 

There's been some hard feelings here
About some words that were said
Been some hard feelings here
And what is more
There's been a bloody purple nose
And some bloody purple clothes
That were messing up the lobby floor
It's just apartment house rules
So all you 'partment house fools
Remember: one man's ceiling is another man's floor!
One man's ceiling is another man's floor


There's been some strange goin's on
And some folks have come and gone
Like the elevator man don't work no more
I heard a racket in the hall
And I thought I heard a call
But I never opened up my door
It's just apartment house sense
It's like apartment house rents
Remember: one man's ceiling is another man's floor!
one man's ceiling is another man's floor!


There's an alley
in the back of my building
Where some people congregate in shame
I was walking with my dog
And the night was black with smog
When I thought I heard somebody
Call my name

Uh… Uh…Uh…

Remember: one man's ceiling is another man's floor!
one man's ceiling is another man's floor!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zim8dInI8nU

 

 

     One Man's Ceiling is Another Man's floor by Robben Ford is about a run down apartment complex. The artist is trying to say that this apartment complex represents the rock bottom of someones life. This is the place you do not want to live in, but at some point you might have to; whether its where you start out or where you end up. The line "One man's ceiling is another man's floor" means that just that. I enjoyed this song because the music is upbeat and the lyrics are catchy. The thing that this song has in common with the legendary blues songs is just the theme of going through hard times.