10 Rock Songs That Waited Years Before Being Released

10. Tangled Up in Blue - Bob Dylan

If we’ve learned anything from his career, Bob Dylan is not a musician that should be rushed. If he has a classic under his belt, he’s only going to put it out when he thinks it’s fully realized, otherwise we get projects like Self Portrait that feel like an intentional middle finger to the audience. Blood on the Tracks was the big divorce record though, and Tangled Up in Blue took him years to live in before actually singing.

In between studio sessions, Dylan had also started taking different courses in New York City, which managed to completely upend his style of writing. When finally laying down each verse of this song, Dylan practically frames the story of these two lost lovers trying to find each other in a complete narrative. Going from the first verse to the final verse, you can see the full romantic plotline play out, talking about how he helped her out of a bind with a lover that she didn’t like until eventually falling apart themselves and hoping to find each other again somewhere along the line.

Even when the final version was done, Dylan was still having a few doubts, down to rerecording the entire song with a new band after hearing feedback from his friends that it sounded too sad. Relationships like this don’t always end the happiest though, and Tangled Up in Blue is a real take on how to make peace with all that heartache still trapped inside you.