Tonight I listened to one of my favourite Bob Dylan records - Another Side of Bob Dylan. Released in 1964 it's his fourth album and the last of his acoustic records before he went electric. Apparently it was recorded in one night with just him on a stool in the studio with his guitar, cigarettes and a couple of bottles of red wine.
There's still a thread of the social consciousness of his earlier records present in Chimes of Freedom, but more dominant was the beginnings of his free association style of writing which really took hold in the records that followed like Blonde on Blonde. There's also a love song or two. While musically still 'folk' he seems to have decided to leave the protest songs behind. Woody Guthrie was no more. Needless to say this upset many of his fans at the time.
There are many outstanding songs on this record and one of my favourites is My Back Pages. The song is widely interpreted as his rejection of his political music with the line:
Ah, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now
No-one really knows what Dylan is on about most of the time and I for one am not about to start to try and work him out. I just dig the song and I hope you do too.
Until next time, peace and love.
