At the end, the narrator, 'still on the road,' is determined to get back to the woman, having left everyone else behind. But by the sixth verse, 'he' has returned, though the narrator remains present, and despite material success, the relationship once again falls apart. In the fourth verse, the narrator enters the story, becoming involved with the woman. The first three verses describe a 'he' and 'she' and their romantic comings and goings. 1-3 1961-1991 in 1991.) In these versions, the song is mainly in the third person.

(The second version was released on The Bootleg Series, Vols. Dylan first recorded it on September 12, 1974, and then re-recorded it four days later, initially opting to release the first version, which was put on the test pressing of Blood on the Tracks in November. The ambiguity is increased by the different versions of the song that exist. The grand subject of Blood on the Tracks was the ups and downs of mature romantic relationships, and 'Tangled Up in Blue' served as a masterful introduction, a seven-verse narrative about a couple or about a romantic triangle, or perhaps about several different couples.

If such a study were attempted, a great deal of space could be taken up with a discussion of 'Tangled Up in Blue,' a song Dylan wrote in 1974 that became the leadoff track of one of his greatest albums, Blood on the Tracks. It might be possible (and somebody may have done it already) to write a doctoral thesis on Bob Dylan's use of pronouns.

Tangled up in blue