TOP 100 SONGS OF 1967 ― NUMBER 46

50 years ago this year these songs were released. I took the top 100 from Rolling Stone for 1967 and put them in the order in which I think they should have listed, since this was the decade of the music I grew up on. Enough of the formalities, here we go. Enjoy.

MY BACK PAGES ― THE BYRDS

GENRE ― Folk Roc



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"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 1960's 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 1978.

"My Back Pages" has been covered by artists as diverse as Keith Jarrett, the Byrds, the Ramones, the Nice, Steve Earle, 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.

The American rock band The Byrds released a recording of "My Back Pages" on February 6, 1967, as part of their fourth album, Younger Than Yesterday. The title of Younger Than Yesterday was itself directly inspired by the song's refrain of "Ah, but I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now." "My Back Pages" was subsequently issued as a single by The Byrds on March 13, 1967, with the version included on the single being a radio edit that omitted the song's second verse, in order to reduce the playing time from 3:08 to 2:31. The single reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 but failed to chart in the United Kingdom. "My Back Pages" was the last single by The Byrds to reach the Top 40 of the U.S. charts.

The song was initially suggested as a suitable vehicle for the band by their manager Jim Dickson. Lead guitarist Jim McGuinn felt that it would make an effective cover version, but David Crosby, the band's rhythm guitarist, felt that covering another Dylan song was formulaic. The Byrds had already released a total of six Dylan covers on their first two albums, Mr. Tambourine Man and Turn! Turn! Turn!, enjoying particular success with their recordings of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "All I Really Want to Do". In spite of Crosby's objections, the band recorded "My Back Pages" between December 5 and December 8, 1966, during the recording sessions for their fourth album. Upon its release, this cover was received well by the critics and is today regarded as one of The Byrds' strongest Dylan interpretations. Following its release on Younger Than Yesterday, the song would go on to become a staple of The Byrds' live concert repertoire, until their final disbandment in 1973. On December 4, 1968, a later line-up of The Byrds re-recorded an excerpt of "My Back Pages" as part of a medley that was included on their 1969 album, Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde. The song was also performed live by a reformed line-up of The Byrds featuring Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Chris Hillman in January 1989.

In addition to its appearance on the Younger Than Yesterday album, The Byrds' original version of "My Back Pages" appears on several of the band's compilations, including The Byrds' Greatest Hits, History of The Byrds, The Byrds Play Dylan, The Original Singles: 1967–1969, Volume 2, The Byrds, The Very Best of The Byrds, The Essential Byrds, and There Is a Season. In 1996, a previously unreleased alternate version of "My Back Pages" (which had been considered for release as a single in 1967) was included as a bonus track on the Columbia/Legacy reissue of Younger Than Yesterday.

From Wikipedia and Google (image)