Tonight’s song is a whole life in seven verses. A man and a woman meet, part, meet again, in different cities, over many years. And the story jumps around in time, like memories do.
Learn from Songs · Unit 12: Review · B2
Tangled Up in Blue
Bob Dylan’s great story-song, which jumps across years and places: all the narrative tenses together (past simple, continuous, perfect, used to, would), time linkers across a life (later on, years after, by then), and changing points of view, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
PHILO
Like a dream.
SOPHIA
Dylan said he wanted the song to be like a painting: you see the past, present and future all at once. To follow it, you need every narrative tense we have studied.
MARCOS
Every tense? This is a review lesson, isn’t it?
Before you listen: the song
New York and Minneapolis, 1974
Bob Dylan wrote the songs for Blood on the Tracks (1975) at a difficult time in his own life. Many critics think it is his finest album, and “Tangled Up in Blue” is its first song.
Dylan said he had been taking painting lessons, and he wanted to write a song that worked like a painting, where you can see different times at once. Over the years he has changed the words many times when singing it live, sometimes telling the story as “he” instead of “I”.
In the song, the narrator remembers a woman he met when he was young. They had many adventures, they split up, and years later he found her again. By then, both of them had changed. He is still on the road, still looking for her.
Memories don’t come in order.
Listen: the jumps in time
PHILO
Listen once. How many places and times can you hear? When does the story jump?
SOPHIA
Then answer Section A.
🎨 Listen to the song: “Tangled Up in Blue” (Bob Dylan, 1975), by Bob Dylan.Find the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Tangled Up in Blue”, Bob Dylan.Read the lyrics →
All the narrative tenses
MARCOS
He was walking (background) when he saw her (event). She had left years before (earlier past). They used to / would sit by the river (old habits).
SOPHIA
past continuous = background; past simple = events; past perfect = earlier events; used to / would = repeated habits. would for habits only with actions, not states: We used to live there (not “would live”).
Time linkers across a life
DEMETRIA
Early one morning… Later on… Years after… By then… Meanwhile… Eventually…
SOPHIA
by then / by that time + past perfect: By then she had moved away. eventually = in the end, after a long time (not “actually”!). meanwhile = at the same time, somewhere else.
Points of view
PHILO
I was standing by the road. → He was standing by the road.
SOPHIA
Changing from I (first person) to he (third person) changes how close the story feels. Dylan does this in live versions. Try it with your own story.
Sophia’s comparison: Odysseus tells his own story
SOPHIA
Homer doesn’t begin the Odyssey at the beginning. He begins in the middle, with Odysseus on Calypso’s island. Then, at the court of the Phaeacians, Odysseus tells his own adventures, years of them, and suddenly the story is in his voice.
PHILO
And Joseph: we see him sold as a boy, then years in prison, then a ruler of Egypt. When his brothers came, he remembered his dreams. The past and the present at once, like a painting.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| past continuous / past simple | background / events | He was walking when he saw her. |
| past perfect | earlier past | By then she had left. |
| used to / would | past habits | We used to / would sit by the river. |
| later on, years after, eventually | time linkers | Eventually he found her. |
| I → he | changing point of view | I was standing… / He was standing… |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. What is the song about?
2. How is the story told?
3. What did Dylan want the song to be like?
4. Which album does it open?
5. What has Dylan changed in live versions?
6. At the end, where is the narrator?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. He was walking when he her. (see)
8. By then she moved away.
9. We to sit by the river every evening.
10. , after many years, he found her. (in the end)
11. , back in the city, she was working in a café. (at the same time)
12. We used to in that house. (live)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “We would live in New York.” (= for many years)
14. “By then, she had already left.”
15. “Eventually means really.”
16. “He was standing by the road when a car stopped.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Tell it out of order. Tell a partner a story from your life, but start in the middle, then jump back, then forward. Your partner must put it in order.
Discuss. 1. Why do memories come out of order? 2. Does a story feel different with “I” or “he”? 3. Why do some songs tell long stories?
Write (150–180 words). Tangled up. Write a short story that jumps in time, using all the narrative tenses, by then, eventually and meanwhile.
Now play the gamebook: an old sailor’s story, and the right order.Play the gamebook →