Written by Bob Dylan
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Crimson flames tied through my ears
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Rollin' high and mighty traps
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Pounced with fire on flaming roads
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Using ideas as my maps
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"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I
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Proud 'neath heated brow.
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Ah, but I was so much older then,
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'm younger than that now.
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Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
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"Rip down all hate," I screamed
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Lies that life is black and white
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Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
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Romantic facts of musketeers
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Foundationed deep, somehow.
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Ah, but I was so much older then,
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I'm younger than that now.
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Girls' faces formed the forward path
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From phony jealousy
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To memorizing politics
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Of ancient history
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Flung down by corpse evangelists
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Unthought of, though, somehow.
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Ah, but I was so much older then,
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I'm younger than that now.
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A self-ordained professor's tongue
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Too serious to fool
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Spouted out that liberty
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Is just equality in school
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"Equality," I spoke the word
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As if a wedding vow.
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Ah, but I was so much older then,
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I'm younger than that now.
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In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
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At the mongrel dogs who teach
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Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
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In the instant that I preach
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My pathway led by confusion boats
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Mutiny from stern to bow.
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Ah, but I was so much older then,
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I'm younger than that now.
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Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
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Too noble to neglect
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Deceived me into thinking
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I had something to protect
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Good and bad, I define these terms
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Quite clear, no doubt, somehow.
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Ah, but I was so much older then,
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I'm younger than that now.
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My Back Pages
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| Joan Osborne |
