--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Lord knows I've paid my dues getting…" description: "\"Lord knows I've paid my dues getting through, tangled up in blue.\" — Bob Dylan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/bob-dylan-168_blue_lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-thr_2665887.jpg" --- # Lord knows I've paid my dues getting through, tangled up… ![“Lord knows I've paid my dues getting through, tangled up in blue.” quote by Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/bob-dylan-168_blue_lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-thr_2665887.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/bob-dylan-168_blue_lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-thr_2665887.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/bob-dylan-168_blue_lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-thr_2665887.jpg) > “Lord knows I've paid my dues getting through, tangled up in blue.” [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Acknowledges effort and hardship endured, symbolized by tangled blue struggles **In simple terms:** Hard work and struggle are recognized Key Takeaway Recognize and honor past sacrifices Themes perseverance struggle reflection Mood reflective melancholic Type lyetic personal When to use this quote - career setbacks - relationship challenges - creative projects - overcoming adversity Key Concepts Existentialism personal growth Questions to Reflect On - What burdens are you carrying? - How can you transform struggle into strength? A Different Perspective Hard work alone may not guarantee success ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blue/) [Dues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dues/) [Dues Getting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dues-getting-2464552/) [Knows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knows/) [Lord](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lord/) [Paid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paid/) [Paid Dues](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paid-dues-378113/) [Sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sadness/) [Tangled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tangled/) [Tangled Blue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tangled-blue-1685608/) [Tangled hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tangled-hair/) [Ve Paid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ve-paid-399418/) ## Related quotes > [ "Tangled Up in Blue," shifts perspective several times during the song to tell a "tangled" version of \[Bob\] Dylan's marriage and dissolution. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/tangled-up-in-blue-shifts-perspective-several-times-during-the-song/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Theophilus Crowe's mobile phone played eight bars of "Tangled Up in Blue" in an irritating electronic voice that sounded like a choir of suffering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-moore/theophilus-crowe-s-mobile-phone-played-eight-bars-of-tangled-up-in/) [Christopher Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-moore/) > [I think I've paid my dues. I've really put in a lot of time on set.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-pratt/i-think-i-ve-paid-my-dues-i-ve-really-put-in-a-lot-of-time-on-set/) [Victoria Pratt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-pratt/) > [I don't understand this phrase 'I've paid my dues.' We didn't have any money and lived on peanut butter and jelly, and I loved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronnie-van-zant/i-don-t-understand-this-phrase-i-ve-paid-my-dues-we-didn-t-have-any/) [Ronnie Van Zant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronnie-van-zant/) > [Some might say I didn't pay enough of my dues, and I think I've paid my dues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-frampton/some-might-say-i-didn-t-pay-enough-of-my-dues-and-i-think-i-ve-paid/) [Peter Frampton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-frampton/) > [I'm a New Yorker; I've paid my dues.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoe-kravitz/i-m-a-new-yorker-i-ve-paid-my-dues/) [Zoe Kravitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoe-kravitz/) > [A part of her wanted to tell him she still loved him, and that even though this love was hopeless and long over, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-brashares/a-part-of-her-wanted-to-tell-him-she-still-loved-him-and-that-even/) [Ann Brashares](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-brashares/) > [ I grew up on a Christmas tree farm with all this space to run around, and the \[freedom\] to be a crazy kid with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taylor-swift/i-grew-up-on-a-christmas-tree-farm-with-all-this-space-to-run-around/) [Taylor Swift](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/taylor-swift/) > [And the sun had on a crown Wrought of gilded thistledown, And a scarf of velvet vapor And a raveled rainbow gown; And his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-whitcomb-riley/and-the-sun-had-on-a-crown-wrought-of-gilded-thistledown-and-a-scarf/) [James Whitcomb Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-whitcomb-riley/) > [What is it with you today?” says Christina on the way to breakfast. Her eyes are still swollen from sleep and her tangled hair…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/what-is-it-with-you-today-says-christina-on-the-way-to-breakfast-her/) [Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/) > [Those East Coast rich kids are a different breed, on a fast track to nowhere. Your friends in Seattle are downright Canadian in their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-semple/those-east-coast-rich-kids-are-a-different-breed-on-a-fast-track-to/) [Maria Semple](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-semple/) > [Finnick!" Something between a shriek and a cry of joy. A lovely if somewhat bedraggled young woman--dark tangled hair, sea green eyes--runs toward us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/finnick-something-between-a-shriek-and-a-cry-of-joy-a-lovely-if/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [Aching familiar in a way that made me wish I was still eight. Eight was before death or divorce or heartbreak. Eight was just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-han/aching-familiar-in-a-way-that-made-me-wish-i-was-still-eight-eight/) [Jenny Han](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-han/) > [Stars got tangled in her hair whenever she played in the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laini-taylor/stars-got-tangled-in-her-hair-whenever-she-played-in-the-sky/) [Laini Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laini-taylor/) > [Well, my love,” said Alexia with prodigious daring to Lord Maccon, “shall we?” The earl started to move forward and then stopped abruptly and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-carriger/well-my-love-said-alexia-with-prodigious-daring-to-lord-maccon-shall/) [Gail Carriger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-carriger/) ## More by Bob Dylan > [The hollow horn plays wasted words, proves to warn that he not busy being born is busy dying.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/the-hollow-horn-plays-wasted-words-proves-to-warn-that-he-not-busy/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Don't forget to support your public library.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/don-t-forget-to-support-your-public-library/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [You don't count the dead, when god's on your side.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/you-don-t-count-the-dead-when-god-s-on-your-side/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [She makes love just like a woman.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/she-makes-love-just-like-a-woman/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Silvio, I gotta go, find out something only dead men know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/silvio-i-gotta-go-find-out-something-only-dead-men-know/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [I don't really have a retirement plan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/i-don-t-really-have-a-retirement-plan/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Just a reminder, if you tell anyone about what happened with Jonah last night, I'll destroy all of my writing and never play music…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/just-a-reminder-if-you-tell-anyone-about-what-happened-with-jonah/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Little red wagon, little red bike, I ain’t no monkey but I know what I like.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/little-red-wagon-little-red-bike-i-ain-t-no-monkey-but-i-know-what-i/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Twenty years of schooling and they put you on the day shift - look out out kid, they keep it all hid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/twenty-years-of-schooling-and-they-put-you-on-the-day-shift-look-out/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [The drunken politician leaps upon the street where mothers weep, and the saviors who are fast asleep, they wait for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/the-drunken-politician-leaps-upon-the-street-where-mothers-weep-and/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/your-eyes-are-like-two-jewels-in-the-sky/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [I gotta friend who spends his life, stabbing my picture with a bowie knife. Dreams of strangling me with a scarf, when my name…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/i-gotta-friend-who-spends-his-life-stabbing-my-picture-with-a-bowie/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [She speaks with a stutter and she and she walks with a hop. I don't know why I love her, but I just can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/she-speaks-with-a-stutter-and-she-and-she-walks-with-a-hop-i-don-t/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [The man in the coon skin cap in the pig pen wants eleven dollar bills, you've only got ten.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/the-man-in-the-coon-skin-cap-in-the-pig-pen-wants-eleven-dollar-bills/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) > [Don't put my faith in nobody, not even a scientist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/don-t-put-my-faith-in-nobody-not-even-a-scientist/) [Bob Dylan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) [Explore all 1,018 Bob Dylan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/) ## More Blue quotes > [When I haven't any blue I use red.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pablo-picasso/when-i-haven-t-any-blue-i-use-red/) [Pablo Picasso](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pablo-picasso/) > [It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/it-is-sometimes-said-that-scientists-are-unromantic-that-their/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [If you're white and you're wrong, then you're wrong; if you're black and you're wrong, you're wrong. People are people. Black, blue, pink, green…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-marley/if-you-re-white-and-you-re-wrong-then-you-re-wrong-if-you-re-black/) [Bob Marley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-marley/) > [Memory revises me. Even now a letter comes from a place I don’t know, from someone with my name and postmarked years ago, while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/li-young-lee/memory-revises-me-even-now-a-letter-comes-from-a-place-i-don-t-know/) [Li-Young Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/li-young-lee/) > [Human beings should stick together. Honestly, if I see a red-haired person with blue eyes now, I say, 'Is your granny black?'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-jones/human-beings-should-stick-together-honestly-if-i-see-a-red-haired/) [Grace Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-jones/) > [The Louvre! The Louvre has me in its clutches. Every time I'm there rich blessings rain down upon me. I am coming to understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paula-modersohn-becker/the-louvre-the-louvre-has-me-in-its-clutches-every-time-i-m-there/) [Paula Modersohn-Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paula-modersohn-becker/) > [We live in a state with a wonderful climate and plenty of natural beauty, from the shores of Cumberland Island to the Chattahoochee River…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roy-barnes/we-live-in-a-state-with-a-wonderful-climate-and-plenty-of-natural/) [Roy Barnes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roy-barnes/) > [I had never done anything with blue screen before, or prosthetics, or anything like that. Lord of the Rings was like stepping into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-blanchett/i-had-never-done-anything-with-blue-screen-before-or-prosthetics-or/) [Cate Blanchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-blanchett/) > [UN peacekeeping operations are now increasingly complex and multi-dimensional, going beyond monitoring a ceasefire to actually bringing failed States back to life, often after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kofi-annan/un-peacekeeping-operations-are-now-increasingly-complex-and-multi/) [Kofi Annan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kofi-annan/) > [Mother, she likes the blue material just fine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-white/mother-she-likes-the-blue-material-just-fine/) [Ron White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-white/) > [You know, I'm the only one in this family who has no problems, . . . And you know why? Because any time I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/you-know-i-m-the-only-one-in-this-family-who-has-no-problems-and-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [it'll be this kind of deep blue”she said. “The kind of color that somehow sucks your eyes and your ears and all your words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/banana-yoshimoto/it-ll-be-this-kind-of-deep-blue-she-said-the-kind-of-color-that/) [Banana Yoshimoto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/banana-yoshimoto/) > [It is moonlight. Alone in the silence I ascend my stairs once more, While waves remote in pale blue starlight Crash on a white…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/conrad-aiken/it-is-moonlight-alone-in-the-silence-i-ascend-my-stairs-once-more/) [Conrad Aiken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/conrad-aiken/) > [The grape Hyacinth is the favorite spring flower of my garden - but no! I though a minute ago the Scilla was! and what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-morse-earle/the-grape-hyacinth-is-the-favorite-spring-flower-of-my-garden-but-no/) [Alice Morse Earle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-morse-earle/) > [I swam with my first shark in the 1980s. I was 20 miles off the coast of Rhode Island, working with a group of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-skerry/i-swam-with-my-first-shark-in-the-1980s-i-was-20-miles-off-the-coast/) [Brian Skerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-skerry/) [Browse all 3,452 Blue quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blue/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Lord knows I've paid my dues getting through, tangled up in blue.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Bob Dylan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-through-tangled-up-in-blue/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Blue" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-through-tangled-up-in-blue/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/bob-dylan-168_blue_lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-thr_2665887.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/bob-dylan-168_blue_lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-thr_2665887.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b1/bob-dylan-168_blue_lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-thr_2665887.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Lord knows I've paid my dues getting through, tangled up in blue.” — Bob Dylan", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Bob Dylan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-dylan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Lord knows I've paid my dues...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-through-tangled-up-in-blue/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-dylan/lord-knows-i-ve-paid-my-dues-getting-through-tangled-up-in-blue/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```