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Zero, you had it right the first time. He was talking about his past when he would point fingers at leaders/politicians/teachers out of anger for them having preached their ideas to the public, but he didn't realize that he was no better by doing the same thing.

Anyway, you guys pretty much hit the nail on the head in my opinion. He's taking a step back from the "savior of a generation" status everyone bestowed on him and basically saying, "You know, I was growing up and expressing my ideas through my work, thats all. I didn't necessarily have all the right answers for you all...I know more now than I did then."

"Using ideas as my maps...."

I have that line tattooed. There's no way anyone can dispute the beauty of these lyrics. It's poetry by a genius poet.

I would really like to know one thing. How could someone in their teens come up with this: "Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats Too noble to neglect Deceived me into thinking I had something to protect" I was 50 before I saw the truth of this kind of serenity. I mean the ego taking over and a fighting attitude towards perceived threats that have nothing to do with what we really are in essence. Read The Power of Now if you interested in what i am getting at.

"Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now" Man, no words for that!

For what it's worth, my interpretation is it's similar to what Michael Stipe wrote in 'What's the Frequency Kenneth' in the line 'irony was the shackles of youth'. The irony being that when you're young you're so certain you know everything as if you're old & wise and when you're older you are less certain as if you're actually young and don't know much, more circumspect and aware things can be shades of grey. So it's the irony in 'I was so much older then I'm younger than that now', that's it's all ass(arse) about face. Older wiser is being freed from the shackles

Great to hear from other passionate Dylan fans out there.

How could you forget the other one? He's the best of the lot - Roger McGuinn from the Byrds, the band that best interpreted Dylan and made his music accessible to the masses.

The bset rendition of this song is on the 30th anniversary concert done in about 1993. A classic, as is Mr Tambourine Man.

Song's meaning? About being indoctrinated at a young age and thinking that you knew it all and that there was nothing left to learn. Later you realise that you have a lot more to learn ie. "But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now"

Dylan accepted an award presented by a New York liberal institution called the Emergency Civil Rights Committee on the evening of December 13, 1963. Dylan said "It's taken me a long to time to get young, and now I consider myself young." Perhaps this is where the refrain from this song came from, and his rejection of well-meaning left rhetoric.

"another side of bob dylan" was released in 1964, a year before he went electric at newport.

the reaction of the crowd to his electric sound has nothing to do with song.

To quote another 20th century genius,Bucky Fuller-"We're all born a genius, but life has a way of de-geniusing you". I believe that this lyric indicates that open mindedness gets crushed early in life due to indoctrinations of many kinds .We can only become young and open minded again when we are mature enough to realize this and learn to see and observe with the honesty of a true Artist.

dylan is lamenting having been too idealistic for compromise, finding himself the mirror image of those he defined as 'the enemy' and realizing the world is more grey than black/white. he's describing being more aware of the world the way it is rather than how he felt it could be. it's a bit of a reconciliation between an older man (who feels younger, having been freed from his idealism and hard-charging, never-ending, and exhausting soldier for righteousness character) and settled to being more realistic about his surroundings and where he and society are going. or something.