| "My Back Pages" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Bob Dylan | |
| from the album Another Side of Bob Dylan | |
| Released | August 8, 1964 |
| Recorded | June 9, 1964 |
| Genre | Folk |
| Length | 4:22 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Bob Dylan |
| Producer(s) | Tom Wilson |
| Audio sample | |
"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 1960s folk protest movement with which he was associated, and his desire to move in a new direction. Although Dylan wrote the song in 1964, he did not perform it live until 1988. However, during his 1978 tour, his band played a brief instrumental version of it as Dylan took the stage.
"My Back Pages" has been covered by artists as diverse as Keith Jarrett, the Byrds, the Ramones, the Nice, Steve Earle, Eric Johnson, and the Hollies. The Byrds' version, 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.