Editing My Back Pages (section)

==Writing, recording and performance==
Bob Dylan wrote "My Back Pages" in 1964 as one of the last songs—perhaps the last song—composed for his ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'' album.<ref name=heylin>{{cite book|title=Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan 1957–1973|author=Heylin, Clinton|pages=206–208|year=2009|publisher=Chicago Review Press|isbn=978-1-55652-843-9}}</ref> He recorded it on June 9, 1964, under the working title of "Ancient Memories", the last song committed to tape for the album.<ref name=heylin/> The song was partly based on the traditional folk song "[[The Trees They Grow So High|Young But Growing]]"<ref name=heylin/> and has a mournful melody similar to that of "[[The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll]]" from Dylan's previous album, ''[[The Times They Are a-Changin' (album)|The Times They Are a-Changin']]''.<ref name=shelton>{{cite book|title=No Direction Home|author=Shelton, Robert|page=221|year=1986|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=0-306-80782-3}}</ref> As with the other songs on ''Another Side'', Dylan is the sole musician on "My Back Pages" and plays in a style similar to his previous protest songs, with a sneering, rough-edged voice and a hard-strumming acoustic guitar accompaniment.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bob Dylan: The Recording Sessions 1960–1994|url=https://archive.org/details/bobdylanrecordin00heyl|url-access=registration|author=Heylin, Clinton|pages=28–32|year=1995|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=0-312-15067-9}}</ref><ref name=prophet>{{cite book|title=Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet|author=Rogovoy, S.|page=70|year=2009|publisher=Scribner|isbn=978-1-4165-5915-3}}</ref>

In the song's lyrics, Dylan criticizes himself for having been certain that he knew everything and apologizes for his previous political preaching, noting that he has become his own enemy "in the instant that I preach."<ref name=shelton/><ref name=keys/><ref name=rough/> Dylan questions whether one can really distinguish between right and wrong, and even questions the desirability of the principle of equality.<ref>{{cite book|chapter="Far Between Sundown's Finish and Midnight's Broken Toll": Enlightenment and Postmodernism in Dylan's Social Criticism|title=Bob Dylan and Philosophy|editor=Vernezze, P. |editor2=Porter, C.|author=Rocheleau, J.|pages=69–70|year=2006|publisher=Open Court|isbn=0-8126-9592-5}}</ref> The lyrics also signal Dylan's disillusionment with the 1960s protest movement and his intention to abandon protest songwriting.<ref name=keys/><ref name=rough>{{cite book|title=The Rough Guide to Bob Dylan|author=Williamson, Nigel|edition=2nd|pages=39, 171, 220|year=2006|publisher=Rough Guides, Ltd|isbn=1-84353-718-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Song & Dance Man III: The Art of Bob Dylan|author=Gray, Michael|pages=4, 119|year=2000|publisher=Continuum|isbn=0-8264-5150-0}}</ref> The song effectively analogizes the protest movement to the establishment it is trying to overturn,<ref name=prophet/> concluding with the refrain:

{{poem quote|Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now}}

Music critic [[Robert Shelton (critic)|Robert Shelton]] has interpreted this refrain as "an internal dialogue between what he [Dylan] once accepted and now doubts."<ref name=shelton/> Shelton also notes that the refrain maps a path from [[William Blake|Blakean]] experience to the innocence of [[William Wordsworth]].<ref name=shelton/> The refrain has also been interpreted as Dylan celebrating his "bright, new post-protest future."<ref name=rough/>

Dylan's disenchantment with the protest movement had previously surfaced in a speech he had given in December 1963 when accepting an award from the [[Emergency Civil Liberties Committee]] (ECLC) in New York.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bob Dylan and the NECLC|publisher=Corliss Lamont Website|url=http://www.corliss-lamont.org/dylan.htm|access-date=December 29, 2009|archive-date=September 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911091238/http://www.corliss-lamont.org/dylan.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Author [[Mike Marqusee]] has commented that "No song on ''Another Side'' distressed Dylan's friends in the movement more than 'My Back Pages' in which he transmutes the rude incoherence of his ECLC rant into the organized density of art. The lilting refrain ... must be one of the most lyrical expressions of political apostasy ever penned. It is a recantation, in every sense of the word."<ref>{{cite book|author=Marquesee, Mike|pages=105–106|year=2003|title=Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art|publisher=New Press|isbn=1-56584-825-X}}</ref>

In an interview with the ''Sheffield University Paper'' in May 1965, Dylan explained the change that had occurred in his songwriting over the previous twelve months, noting "The big difference is that the songs I was writing last year ... they were what I call one-dimensional songs, but my new songs I'm trying to make more three-dimensional, you know, there's more symbolism, they're written on more than one level."<ref>{{cite news|author=De Yong, Jenny|author2=Roche, Peter|title=Bob Dylan|newspaper=Sheffield University Paper|location=Sheffield|date=May 1965|url=http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/65-apr30.htm|access-date=December 29, 2009|archive-date=April 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416085646/http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/65-apr30.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In late 1965, Dylan commented on the writing of "My Back Pages" specifically during an interview with Margaret Steen for ''The Toronto Star'': "I was in my New York phase then, or at least, I was just coming out of it. I was still keeping the things that are really really real out of my songs, for fear they'd be misunderstood. Now I don't care if they are."<ref name=heylin/> As Dylan stated to [[Nat Hentoff]] at the time that "My Back Pages" and the other songs on ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'' were written, "There aren't any finger pointing songs [here] ... Now a lot of people are doing finger pointing songs.  You know, pointing to all the things that are wrong.  Me, I don't want to write for people anymore. You know, be a spokesman."<ref name=heylin/>

Dylan did not play "My Back Pages" in concert until June 11, 1988, during a performance at the [[Shoreline Amphitheatre]] in [[Mountain View, California]],<ref name=heylin/> the fourth concert of his ''[[Never Ending Tour]]'' which had started [[Never Ending Tour 1988|four days earlier]]. The arrangement he used eliminated some of the song's verses and included an electric guitar part performed by [[G. E. Smith]] as a member of his newly formed band.<ref name=heylin/> Since 1988, Dylan has played the song in concert many times in both electric and semi-acoustic versions, and sometimes as an acoustic [[Encore (concert)|encore]].<ref name=heylin/><ref name=keys>{{cite book|title=Keys to the Rain|author=Trager, Oliver|pages=444–445|year=2004|publisher=Billboard Books|isbn=0-8230-7974-0}}</ref>

At the 30th Anniversary Tribute Concert to Dylan at [[Madison Square Garden]] in 1992, "My Back Pages" was performed in the Byrds' arrangement, with [[Roger McGuinn]], [[Tom Petty]], [[Neil Young]], [[Eric Clapton]], Dylan himself,  and [[George Harrison]], each singing one verse in that order.<ref name=prophet/> This performance, which included guitar solos from Clapton and Young, also featured [[Jim Keltner]], G. E. Smith, and the three surviving members of [[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]] ([[Steve Cropper]], [[Booker T. Jones]], and [[Donald "Duck" Dunn]]) as sidemen.<ref name="30th">{{cite web|title=The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/r184195|publisher=[[Allmusic]]|access-date=March 14, 2010|archive-date=February 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218084111/http://www.allmusic.com/album/r184195|url-status=live}}</ref> It was released on ''[[The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration]]'' album in 1993.<ref name="30th"/>

In addition to its initial appearance on ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'', "My Back Pages" has appeared on a number of Dylan compilation albums.  In the United States and Europe, it appeared on the 1971 album ''[[Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II]]'' (a.k.a. ''More Bob Dylan Greatest Hits'') and on the 2007 album ''[[Dylan (2007 album)|Dylan]]''.<ref name=covers>{{cite web|title=My Back Pages cover versions |publisher=[[Allmusic]] |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=17:2952412~2~T000 |access-date=August 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907161742/http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg |archive-date=September 7, 2009 }}</ref> In Australia, the song was included on the 1994 compilation album ''Greatest Hits Vol. 3''.<ref name=covers/>