Response to MartinL on Tangled Up In Blue

There were some re-occurring themes in this song that we did not discuss that I think are important to its interpretation. The first one is locations; north, south, east west. In the fist verse he writes “headed out for the East Coast”, in the second verse he writes “we drove that car as far as we could Abandoned it out West”, in the third verse he writes “I had a job in the great north woods” and “I drifted down to New Orleans”. If we interpret these verses as happening in chronological order, then he starts out in the first verse with a woman not in the East Coast, presumable in the West coast so he leaves the West and heads to the east. Then, he drives as far as he can with another woman and they reach the West coast. Next, he is in the north working in the woods before he ‘drifts’ down South and finds work on a fishing boat. The first two lines mentioning location are evidence to the song being about different women, one being in the East and one in he West. The next two mentions of location are linked to his wandering or drifting around, possibly looking for another woman, maybe he’s looking for the perfect woman and he is singing about why all his relationships have failed. The jobs he mentions are interesting – a cook and a fisherman. Is he trying to learn how to be a better provider for his women I wonder? He later mentions friends who became mathematicians, and carpenter’s wives. These differ from his jobs in that a mathematician uses their mind, not their hands. I don’t know what that says about being a carpenter’s wife. In the last verse he writes “headin’ for another point”, a very vague description of where he is heading to. Maybe this song is about how he has been all over the country and hasn’t found that perfect woman.