lifeblood: songs: lyrics: my back pages

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
ah 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 said 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 hands
at the mongrel dogs who teach
fearing not that i'd become my own 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
that i had something to protect
good and bad, i define the terms
quite clear, no doubt, somehow
ah, but i was so much older then
i'm younger than that now

words and music by bob dylan
as performed 2025-01-24: cain's ballroom - tulsa, oklahoma (shelter from the storm: a celebration of the 50th anniversary of "blood on the tracks" - bob dylan center) (amy ray)