My Back Pages

"My Back Pages" is a song written by Bob Dylan and included on his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan. It is stylistically similar to his earlier folk protest songs and features Dylan's voice with an acoustic guitar accompaniment. However, its lyrics—in particular the refrain "Ah, but I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now"—have been interpreted as a rejection of Dylan's earlier personal and political idealism, illustrating his growing disillusionment with the 1960's folk protest movement with which he was associated, and his desire to move in a new direction. Despite having been written in 1964, the song was not performed live by Dylan until 1988.

"My Back Pages" has been covered by artists as diverse as The Byrds, the Ramones, The Nice, Steve Earle, and The Hollies. The Byrds' version, which was initially released on their 1967 album Younger Than Yesterday, was also issued as a single in 1967, and proved to be the band's last Top 40 hit in the U.S.

Read more about My Back Pages:  Writing, Recording and Performance

Famous quotes containing the word pages:

    Burst into my narrow stall;
    Swing the picture on the wall;
    Run the rattling pages o’er;
    Scatter poems on the floor;
    Turn the poet out of door.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)