Maggie’s Farm – Dylan’s Middle Finger to the Folk Scene
Written January 5th, 2025
Fresh from just seeing the excellent new movie about Bob Dylan, “A Complete Unknown”, I suddenly find the man squarely back on my mind. Particularly the theme it’s centered around, which is the ugly divorce that he initiated from the folk music scene. Times and tastes change with each generation, of course, and we’re accustomed to watching it all unfold naturally, but at that particular time in the early 60’s, battle lines were drawn, and relationships ended over Dylan’s desire to simply stretch out as an artist. The Beatles had made their splash and Dylan clearly felt that gravitational pull.
My own introduction to Dylan is an easy one to recall. It occurred, naturally enough, at a record shop at a local Mall, somewhere around 1981 or so, when I walked by a bin of “bargain” cassettes…..music the store was trying to off-load quickly. And there I noticed Dylan’s “The Time They Are-a-Changin”. Now I had never paid any attention to him before and had never bought or listened to any of his records, but I knew that he had a huge influence on John Lennon, my obsession at the time, and inspired him to drop the adolescent love-song format of “Beatlemania” in order to express himself artistically, which itself moved the needle of the coming decade significantly. So, the decision was quickly made to throw a few dollars to the wind and see what all the fuss was about.
And what I discovered literally blew my mind. The was early Dylan, released in 1964, just three months after Kennedy’s assassination. The album was pure folk music, consisting of just his voice, an acoustic guitar and harmonica. Compared to what I was listening to at the time, this sounded absolutely foreign. The music was intimate and stripped of all artifice, exposing flesh and blood of the singer/songwriter, without a hint of studio gimmickry to hide behind. If the words couldn’t stand on their own, it would be revealed for all to see. Yet, what I heard contained such lyrical clarity that I was stunned to silence. I had never heard lyrics anything like it before. The album was filled with well phrased, piffy lines that demonstrated an incredible talent for wordplay, but far more than that was the degree of wisdom he expounded……and he was only twenty-two.
Now, in order to lay down the proper context for my somewhat controversial title, I’ll need to step back to explain a few things. First and foremost is that folk music is highly traditional, musically conservative, with “standards” being passed along from generation to generation. As in other genres, singer/songwriters were few and far between, so all the major record labels employed a staff of professional songwriters who penned songs to be recorded by their matinée artists. Folk music was different in that it had the benefit of a deep collection of traditional songs that could be updated and recorded by any new artist. Folk legends like Woody Guthry and Pete Seiger had written a few popular songs in the 40’s and 50’s, but the talent pool in Folk was threadbare. Then out of the blue Dylan walked through the door and turned everything upside down.
The nineteen-year-old Dylan hitchhiked his way to New York in 1961 and quickly impressed the movers and shakers of the folk scene enough that he was signed within the year by the legendary talent scout, John Hammond, and released his first album (1962). But as mentioned, folk music was heavily traditional, so the album was recorded with 11 of the 13 songs being folk standards, with only two originals by Dylan. It would be his next album, “The Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan”, that his songwriting talent rose to the surface as it contained 11 originals, including several songs that would become regarded as among his best, and became classics of the 60’s folk scene, such as “Blowin In The Wind” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”
For a quick glimpse into the lyrical bomb that Dylan dropped into the public sphere, take a listen to “Maters of War”, which he wrote in response to the Cuban missile crisis. Trust me, no one had ever heard an artist write with this kind of power before.
A significant subplot at this point is that folk music had always been aligned with the struggles of the poor and oppressed and often aligned itself with political causes, so when the Civil Rights movement gathered steam in the early 60’s, folk music was there to lyrically frame the struggle and amplify its message. The famous protest singer, Pete Seeger, was an early fan of Dylan, and quickly became his biggest champion, likely because he could see that Dylan’s talent would help realize his dream of folk music exploding into the main stream, which it did.
With that growing momentum, together with the political climate heating up across the country, Dylan released his third album, the afore mentioned classic, “The Times They Are a-Changin”, with the perfectly timed title track that spoke directly to a divided nation leading the way. It has been speculated by some that Dylan tailored his political lyrics on this record to seized the moment with commercial motivations in mind, and that may have been a back-of-the-shelf consideration, artists need to eat, after all, but I believe it reflected the influence of his hero, Woody Guthrie, far more, along with his girlfriend at the time, Suzy Rotolo, who had been raised by two politically active, liberal parents. She also had a record collection to matched it. Dylan admitted years later that she was a big influence on him at the time.
We all know the history of it now, but in all that excitement Dylan was thrust into a role that he did not intend to audition for……. the role of “voice of a generation.” With songs that cried out for social justice like, “The Ballad of Horis Brown”, “Only a Pawn in Their Game”, and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carol”, he was giving voice to the voiceless and did so with potent words. Before Dylan, the popular music industry kept strictly to the safe themes of love and heartbreak, not songs calling for social change. But for those who cared deeply for poetic, meaningful lyrics, it must have felt they were witnessing the arrival of a musical “Shakespeare” and that had to be incredibly intoxicating for those who recognized his talent. But I also believe it was at this point that Dylan began looking for an exit, not only from politically motivated themes, but also from the musical straitjacket of folk music itself.
Now fast forward to early 1965, just a single year after “The Times…”, when he released “Bring It All Back Home”, which left no doubt about his flirtations with electric music. “Subterranean Homesick Blue”, one of my all-time favorites and the first track on the album, was clearly positioned to shock folk purists. I implore you, whoever you may be, to listen to “The Times They Are a-Changin”, then to “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” Then come to grips with those two songs being only a single year apart. Dylan the songwriter was changing fast, but……. there were those with vested interests who did not welcome the change.
At this point we will necessarily bump into the summer of 1965 and the “New Port Folk Festival”, with Dylan clearly penciled in as the main attraction and closing act. It should be noted here that purest exist in many different genres, but folk music in particular, with its long history of musical simplicity and authenticity, clearly was not advertising for change. This presented quite a dilemma for Dylan, because he had just released “Bring It All Back Home” a few months earlier, a sacrilege to folk purest. For the organizers of the festival, the obvious fear would be that he plan to play his newfangled rock and roll at their folk festival, that he would not “honor” their appeals to simply play his hits.
This is where I give lavish props to Dylan, for unlike a “band”, say like the Beatles, he was by himself and was forced to weather all the bitter crosswinds alone. His decisions and their consequences were his to bear and no other. So, would he bow to everyone’s expectations or bite the hand that fed him? There were countless voices in his ear, friends, management, industry bigwigs, all requesting, some demanding, that he do what “they” wanted.
Of course, he did what any legitimate artist would do and stuck to his guns by playing a loud set of rock and roll. In other words, he decided the time had come to rip the bandage off, regardless of the initial pain. And as expected, that pain came in the form of complete mayhem at the festival, with a significant portion of the crowd booing and organizers scrambling to end Dylan’s performance by attempting to cut power to the stage. They failed. But that isn’t the focus of my note here. What I am far more interested in is the very first song he chose to play, “Maggie’s Farm.”
Now if you do an internet search of the song and it’s lyrics, you’ll find many different opinions flying around, with one interpretation after another, but none strike me as satisfying. Of course, lyrics are metaphorical and open to interpretation, granted, but within the context that I just laid out, with Dylan absorbing new influences and the desire to shed his folk clothing, so to speak, the aim of the song seems clear. So, whether I’m on target or delusional, allow me to throw my own thoughts to the wind.
******
Simply put, Maggie’s Farm is Dylan’s breakup song with the folk scene, and all the various parties that extended from it, and I believe that is precisely why he chose to open his New Port set with it…..he meant it as a middle-finger at anyone wanting to pin him down.
In all my years of studying him, I don’t believe Dylan feared much of anything, in all honesty, but I do believe he had a mounting concern of becoming domesticated, of allowing himself to a pawn in a game being played both others. And I feel that is the calculous many staunch folk fans failed to consider at the time. They mistook the notion of authenticity as meaning an artist being “true” to the genre, instead of the authenticity an artist feels to be true to themselves. Fans were screaming that he was a “Judas”, a sell-out for going electric, but they miss the more pertinent point that he would have been a true sell-out if he hadn’t.
So, after four albums of folk orthodoxy, together with the Beatles and Rolling Stones heating the airwaves to a boil, Dylan clearly felt the desire to jump ship. He knew his future existed beyond folk and wanted to breathe some of that fresh air for himself.
And he suggested as much in the very first verse, which I believe is aimed at the purest in the folk scene, those insisting that keep writing and performing for “their” pleasure.
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 up 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, nah
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s Farm, no more
Then the 2nd verse appears to take aim at the music business, of moneymen, tour promoters who wanted him to keep the money train rolling.
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother, no more
Nah, I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother, no more
Well, he hands you a nickel, and he hands you a dime
And 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, nah
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s brother, no more
The 3rd verse appears aimed at those at the top, the decision makers who can make or break an artist at will, who are so far removed from the street they can’t see the musical trends happening right outside their windows.
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
I ain’t gonna work for, nah
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s pa, no more
The next verse seems to take aim at the leaders of the folk movement, such as Pete Siegler and Alan Lomax, attempting to preach to him and others to remain in the folk music fold and become flag bearers for the folk movement. I particular like the reference to “Ma’s” age, which I believe clearly refers to those claiming that folk was young and relevant, when in fact the genre sounded already exhausted.
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
And everybody says, she’s the brains behind pa
She’s 68, but she says she’s 24
I ain’t gonna work for, nah
I ain’t gonna work for Maggie’s ma, no more
In the last verse, I believe he takes aim at the whole lot of them. In the last line, simply replace “they” with “I” and you will see that it completes his thoughts from the previous two lines. He is definitely referring to himself there.
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 they slave and they just get bored
I ain’t gonna work on, nah
I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm, no more
Here is the studio version.