Maggie's Farm
Maggie's Farm is a folk rock song by Bob Dylan that first appeared on his fifth studio album, Bringing It All Back Home , in 1965 .
construction
Musically speaking, Maggie's Farm is an electrically amplified blues song . As usual for blues pieces, the singer repeats the verse with which the new verse begins and takes up the motif again at the end. These repeated lines are the assurances of the lyrical self that they will no longer work on the eponymous farm (I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more, or later changed to I ain't gonna work for Maggie's brother no more) .
history
Was taken Maggie's Farm by Dylan and his band on January 15, 1965. On March 22 of that year, the piece appeared with ten other of his compositions on the album Bringing It All Back Home . The song was later released as a single with the B-side On the Road Again . With the album, Dylan especially distanced himself from the protest song movement of the 1960s, which he had previously supported with songs like Blowin 'in the Wind or The Times They Are A-Changin' . In fact, he saw himself artistically and personally set and had already sought distance from the movement with the folk album Another Side of Bob Dylan . The English phrase Bringing It All Back Home means something like "to make it very clear". The song was a radical U-turn: Dylan played for the first time with an electric band in the background and turned to rock 'n' roll , which he changed with his folk music influences.
As usual with Dylan, the lyrics are complex and can be interpreted in different ways. The autobiographical interpretation stipulates that Dylan sought liberation from the folk protest movement and declared with the song that he no longer worked for them. Maggie's Farm is therefore a bitingly sarcastic reckoning with old companions who are only the constant repetition of the old protest, which Dylan artistically bores (They sing while you slave and I just get bored) . Other interpretations also take up the issue of racism in the USA and slavery . The protagonist is therefore an African American who no longer wants to work for the white population on the farm. Dylan himself never commented on the interpretation of the text.
In 1965 he caused an uproar at the Newport Folk Festival when he first appeared with a band and electrically amplified. Many fans demanded acoustic folk songs from him. The controversies were often discussed and portrayed, for example in Martin Scorsese's film No Direction Home .
reception
The Blues Band covered the song in 1980, the EP single, on which the cover version is included, was able to place in the UK charts.
Heinz Rudolf Kunze wrote a song called Ponderosa, which he understands as a "replica" on Maggie's farm .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Heinz Rudolf Kunze. Heinz Rudolf Kunze: “I have no Internet” article from February 26, 2015 on the website of the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung , accessed on March 2, 2015.