The Deliberately Ambiguous Time Traveling Love Story Told in the Bob Dylan Song ‘Tangled Up in Blue’

YouTuber Polyphonic, who does incredibly informative video essays about music, took a long deep look at the iconic Bob Dylan song “Tangled Up in Blue” from the equally iconic album Blood on the Tracks and went through it verse by verse to unravel what was going on. What he discovered was a deliberately ambiguous time traveling tale wrapped up in a love story may or may not have gotten resolved in the end.

At its most basic ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ is a love song. While the specifics are unclear it appears to tell the story of the narrator’s long and winding relationship. It seems that this relationship has fallen apart for the time being, but the narrator is on a journey to get back to his love. Part of what makes the story so tough to nail down is also a big part of what makes it so great.