Bob Dylan “My Back Pages” (2024)

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  • Bob Dylan “My Back Pages”
  • Classic Rock, Featured, Lyrics, Singer/Songwriter

Bob Dylan “My Back Pages”

  • April 15, 2020
  • 7

Bob Dylan “My Back Pages” (1)

To me it’s got to be the single greatest collection of superstar artists ever gathered together on one stage, giving one of the most memorable performances of a song to boot. It was October 16, 1992 at The World’s Most Famous Arena (otherwise known as Madison Square Garden) on the occasion of the 30th anniversary tribute concert to Bob Dylan. As they set forth into Dylan’s 1964 classic ‘My Back Pages,’ the procession of participants taking a turn went as follows (in order): Roger McGuinn, Tom Petty, Neil Young,Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison. Talk about a murderers’ row! And interspersed, of course, were ripping guitar solos, first from Clapton then closing with Young. With each contributor stepping forward to the mic the crowd seems to pause a beat or two before the realization hits of just who it is that’s begun has fully sunk in, and a growing roar bursts out. The sequence, too, seems significant: even the guest of honor himself saved George for the last lead vocal: the quiet Beatle receives the loudest reaction.

Now I know what you’re thinking, the greatest collection ever…what about the various (blank) Aid events and the like, or even just the obvious Traveling Wilburys? Well, I’d say Live Aid or Farm Aid or whatever other huge benefit concert can’t count in the same category – such a mixed bag of artists, let’s face it – not always all A-listers, and maybe only performing together as a group in a clumsily-arranged hodgepodge finale. Nah. As for the Wilburys, a very interesting comparison in that three star-studded members (Dylan, Harrison and Petty) overlap. But for starters, the Traveling Wilburys never performed live. Period. So, so much for that. And even so, if I had to break things down beyond the three names in common, I’d be compelled to give the tandem of Eric Clapton and Neil Young the nod over remaining Wilburys, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne (no disrespect whatsoever to those two magnificent greats), and that’s before you even count in the bonus appearance of Byrds founder Roger McGuinn here. Maybe if the Wilburys could’ve thrown in a Stephen Stills or a Ray Davies, or even an early round draft pick, we could at least talk.

Amidst its outpouring of engrossing and ruminative lyrics, ‘My Back Pages’ is held together, as so many Dylan songs were, by a repeated line to close out each verse; this one, in my estimation, a particularly resonant couplet:

“Ah, But I was so much older then / I’m younger than that now”

In that one incredible, insightful line, it has been said, Dylan lays bare his disillusionment, disenchantment, and, above all, his doubts, with the counter-culture and the ‘60’s protest movement he had helped to champion. Amazing. For me, though, I have no such doubts about the event and the moment exquisitely captured that night at The Garden. All icons, singing a masterpiece, a legendary live lineup with no equal in rock music history.

Anyone disagree?

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PREVTom’s Record Of The Day / Erma Franklin “Piece Of My Heart” (1967)

NEXTRichie Havens “Freedom” (1969)

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Article Comments

  1. Ron Brawer

    January 22, 2022 1:47 pmReply

    Who’s the blond guy, very British haircut, guitarist, keeps trying to move to the front line but they don’t let him in until finally he breaks through for a few seconds?

  • So Much Great Music

    January 22, 2022 10:29 pmReply

    That’s the very American G.E. Smith, longtime guitarist for Hall & Oates and bandleader on Saturday Night Live, who served as music director for the whole event.

  • Paul

    January 31, 2022 11:40 amReply

    Yes..!!! As far as eyes concerned (as a 65 year old guitarist in the HazzBinzzzz )…what a masterpiece…it literally sent chills thru-out my body and soul…so…I’ve been playing it all day thru out the entire house…..
    .
    There’s nothing…nothing else on earth that I know of (other than standing before a sentencing judge) ….that can steal my soul…twist it, turn it, melt and freeze it…other than music….done the right way…..and….this one did!.
    Has that ever happened to you….?find a song…,someusic.that absolutely blew you away?
    You know…for some reason unbeknownst to me…(I just started off just watching/listening to the concert – like a normal person…) I began focusing on the communication between the musicians…you know – facial expressions, lips, hands etc…What….body langwidge….?…..I guess….there’s a whole lot of it going on….it was just mind blowing!

    There’s a whole lotta love on that stage baby!,,

  • Gary

    May 12, 2022 3:46 pmReply

    Obviously a tremendous group of talented performers.
    But what about:
    Bob Dylan
    Eric Clapton
    Neil Young
    Muddy Waters
    Ringo Starr
    Van Morrison
    Joni Mitchell
    Neil Diamond
    Emmylou Harris
    Paul Butterfield
    And The Band. “The Last Waltz” ranks up there as one of the greatest assemblies of talent ever put together.

    • So Much Great Music

      May 13, 2022 2:44 pmReply

      An astonishing cast, no question. They played together only for the finale, “I Shall Be Released” – plus Ron Wood, Dr. John, and Ronnie Hawkins, and minus Paul Butterfield and Emmylou Harris – but that moment alone rightly qualifies as one of the greatest assemblages ever (in a live concert film I still consider to be the greatest ever made).

  • Shane

    February 20, 2024 2:36 amReply

    PLEASE fill me on the cameos at the end . . . I see Willie Nelson and Stevie Wonder . . but the rest . . on My Back Pages?

    • So Much Great Music

      February 22, 2024 11:34 amReply

      They are, in order: John Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder, Chrissie Hynde, Eric Clapton, Ron Wood, Shawn Colvin/Mary Chapin Carpenter/Rosanne Cash, Tracy Chapman, Lou Reed, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Richie Havens, Eddie Vedder/Mike McCready, and George Harrison/G.E. Smith/Steve Cropper. All also performed in the Dylan tribute concert.

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