Maggie’s Farm

Bringing It All Back Home

(1965)
 Background
• Like other Dylan songs from the 1965-1966 period it is based in electric blues.
• Maggie's Farm is best read as Dylan's declaration of independence from the
protest folk movement.
• The song, essentially a protest song against protest folk, represents Dylan's
transition from a folk singer who sought authenticity in traditional song-forms
and activist politics to an innovative stylist whose self-exploration made him a
cultural muse for a generation.
• While some may see "Maggie's Farm" as a repudiation of the protest-song
tradition associated with folk music, it can also (ironically) be seen as itself a
deeply political protest song. We are told, for example, that the "National
Guard" stands around the farm door, and that Maggie's mother talks of "Man
and God and Law." The "farm" that Dylan sings of can in this case easily
represent racism, state oppression and capitalist exploitation.
• “Counterculture's war cry,"
 Lyrics
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
Well, I wake in the morning
Fold my hands and pray for rain
I got a head full of ideas
That are drivin’ me insane
It’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no
more
Well, he hands you a nickel
He hands you a dime
He asks you with a grin
If you’re havin’ a good time
Then he fines you every time you slam the door
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother no more
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more
Well, he puts his cigar
Out in your face just for kicks
His bedroom window
It is made out of bricks
The National Guard stands around his door
Ah, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa no more
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
No, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
Well, she talks to all the servants
About man and God and law
Everybody says
She’s the brains behind pa
She’s sixty-eight, but she says she’s twenty-four
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma no more
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
Well, I try my best
To be just like I am
But everybody wants you
To be just like them
They sing while you slave and I just get bored
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more
 Interpretation
• The lyrics of the song follow a straightforward blues structure, with the
opening line of each verse ("I ain't gonna work...") sung twice, then
reiterated at the end of the verse. The third to fifth lines of each verse
elaborate on and explain the sentiment expressed in the verse's
opening/closing lines.
• The middle stanzas ridicule various types in the folk scene, the promoter
who tries to control your art (fining you when you slam the door), the
paranoid militant (whose window is bricked over), and the condescending
activist who is more uptight than she claims ("She's 68 but she says she's
54"). The first and last stanzas detail how Dylan feels strait-jacketed by the
expectations of the folk scene ("It's a shame the way she makes me scrub
the floor" and "they say sing while you slave"), needing room to express
his "head full of ideas," and complains that, even though he tries his best
to be just like he is, "everybody wants you to be just like them".
 Vocabulary
• Electric Blues- a type of blues music distinguished by
the amplification of the guitar, bass guitar, drums,
and often the harmonica.
• Farm- an area of land, including various structures,
devoted primarily to the practice of producing and
managing food
• Folk Music- is a song genre which is associated with a
movement for social change and hence part of the
broader category of topical songs (or songs
connected to current events).