Commentary
My Back Pages is the central song on Another Side. Dylan’s thought processes seemed to have been going through a major transformation during this time. My Back Pages documents those changes.
Pre-Another Side finds Dylan a very self-assured young man, very opinionated about what is right and what is wrong (as demonstrated, for example, by The Times They Are A’Changin’ and Hattie Carroll). But by Another Side things are not so simple anymore. The world’s problems are no longer so black and white, the answers are not so easy to formulate. There are suddenly many shades of gray.
Dylan tells us in Pages that he finds this newfound maturity of thought makes him “younger”, not older. He finds freedom in this new world. The world is too complicated he tells us, there are no answers and there’s not a lot we can do. Maybe we should all have a little fun instead. I remember reading something, I forget where, about a doctor who said that he found great relief once he realized that he would never be more than a second-rate physician, and there wasn’t anything he was going to be able to do about it. Like Dylan, he too felt a profound sense of relief from this realization.
My Back Pages is a shockingly honest song. Dylan takes a clear-eyed look at his former self and skewers him unmercifully. He calls his former self prejudice, sentimentally romantic, full of himself, simple-minded, dogmatic. We’ve seen Dylan take his shots at others, but never had he taken such ruthless aim at himself.
One theme in Pages that Dylan returns to again and again is his rejection of the idea that he is responsible for any political movement, or that people should look to him for leadership. This idea was hinted at in the earlier songs such as Restless Farewell and returned forcefully to in Planet Waves‘ Wedding Song (“it’s never been my duty to remake the world at large”), and again many years later in Things Have Changed.
Dylan performs Pages often. Fans of the song should track down a readily available compilation bootleg Bathed in a Stream of Pure Heat, which includes a terrific 1997 version of the song. It’s also on the 30th Anniversary Concert.
It should be noted that Dylan frequently changes the order of the verses when he performs the song. He has done the same thing with many of his songs, including Blowin’ in the Wind and Tangled Up in Blue.
Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett did a pretty cool version.
The Byrds did a jangly cover version.
America, surprisingly, does a nice version.
Lyrics
Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin’ high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
“We’ll meet on edges, soon,” said I
Proud ‘neath heated brow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.
Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
“Rip down all hate,” I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.
Girls’ faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.
A self-ordained professor’s tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
“Equality,” I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.
In a soldier’s stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.
Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I’m younger than that now.
~These lyrics seem to me to be unnclear, and, at times, nearly incoherent.
~If it hadn’t been written by Bb Dylan, I doubt it would have gotten much attention.
~ But, since he’s Dylan, I am surmising that lyric interpreters have tended to bend over backwards to try extract deep meaning from it. Like, they’re givng it the benefit of the doubt, in spades.
~It would be great to do a blinded evaluation of these lyrics by group of credentialed lyric interpeters who had never heard of the entire Dylann legend/image/narrative.
~ TL;DR. My impression is that It is, overall,poorly written, but is invested with great deep, mysterious meaning by Dylan fans.
PS: All of that saidd , THE REFRAIN IS A FIRST RATE MELODY WITH FIRST RATE WORDS
Thanks for your comment! I would certainly agree that sometimes interpreters take things way too far, and find meaning that’s not remotely there. For example, everything Greil Marcus has ever wrote about Dylan (exaggeration for effect). I wouldn’t say that about what I’ve read about this song, however. I think the lyric is very clear, although to understand where he’s coming from, it helps to have a background to the social upheaval of the time and the expectations his fans and colleagues had of him after Times.
This is my favorite song especially the cover by the Byrds even though it’s shorter than the original. I have pondered often the meaning of this song and at 72 am still working on it.Thanks for the help.
wow, love to hear the rest of your interpretations
This is vs 1 before his reflective refrain.
“Crimson flames tied through my ears”
I’m thinking this has to do with how certain Dylan was that the ideas he had were true, big T true. His certainty motivated him to set up the following line as a battle strategy against those who thought differently.
“Rollin’ high and mighty traps”
Here’s the confidence of youth from that certainty setting up traps for those who didn’t know what he did.
“Pounced with fire on flaming roads”
Raw and fiery determination set his course. The strength of his youth dedicated to the journey.
“Using ideas as my maps”
He simply let his imagination and belief guide him.
“‘We’ll meet on edges, soon,’ said I”
Whether he’s speaking to the enemies of his truth or his fellow travelers doesn’t seem to matter here.
“Proud ’neath heated brow”
The heat in his head produced by the crimson flames, fire, and flaming roads.
The refrain to the verses is the reflection after some time on that road, recognizing that he really didn’t get it after all, or if he did get it, he is less certain that his truth was big T truth, or that he should have brandished his weapons against those who disagreed with him.
Wow! I love your interpretation. Could you please break down the other verses?