Technically, today’s entry for National Poetry Month is a
song. You know—poetry plus music. But Bob Dylan has to be one of the most powerful
poets of the second half of the 20th Century. He certainly
influenced most of popular songwriters—indeed, considerable parts of pop
culture in general—since the 1960s.
Besides—I’m the boss of this blog; I get to choose what I
include by way of poetry.
And “My Back Pages” is pretty much my personal anthem. It’s
on my gym playlist, and I’ve been known to frighten other treadmillers by
singing along when it comes around.
When I first heard The Byrds sing it I doubt I’d have
understood what the refrain could possibly signify; it was just deep, you know? It was Dylan. But now it’s etched in my cortex.
Here’s the full version:
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
And
here’s a great performance of it by Dylan, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Roger
McGuinn and Tom Petty, from the 1992 Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary
concert. This is the one I listen to at the gym, and I love it, even though
Clapton muffs the refrain in the verse he sings.
No comments:
Post a Comment