Talk:Maggie's Farm

The lyrics are based on a conversation between two farmers in Northwest Wisconsin that Dylan overheard when hitch-hiking with them from Camp Herzl to Minneapolis. "Maggie" is actually Aggie (Agnes) who was the matriarch of the family and oversaw the farm operations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.147.214.130 (talk) 16:53, 17 April 2023 (UTC)

Steve Bell (cartoonist)
Is Maggie's Farm related in any way to Steve Bell's cartoon strip Maggie's Farm? Obviously, Steve was referencing Margaret Thatcher in the cartoon strip, but was he also referencing the Dylan song? --A bit iffy 21:30, 2 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Apropos not much at all I am semi-reliably informed that it was the first song played on BBC Radio 2 following the announcement of the death of Denis Thatcher! Mr Larrington (talk) 12:44, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I took out the Trivia notecard. It's a popular song, the popular response and variations of it are obviously relevant. It's not random trivia. Whoever put that there is in error.

"Citation needed"
All of the quotes that someone has marked with this infernal tag are found in the book I put in the "reference" section (I was the one that made the article, and added all the quotes, and the reference). I don't know how to, or more accurately can't be bothered finding out how to, do the appropriate editing to make everything "properly" cited. So if someone else wants to take the time, go ahead. --Jamieli (talk) 02:18, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

um....it's not that hard. just add the page numbers into the refs. and add a references section on the articleDarrell Wheeler (talk) 13:31, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Looks to me there's NO WAY to cite page numbers when the link is to a web-page, as is each citation here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dadofsam (talk • contribs) 02:59, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Lyrics
I have to say I find this interpertation of the lyrics dubious. certainly one of the charecteristics of Dylan's works, even the "protest songs" is the fact they become universal in there subject matter. It may be a more straight forward interpertation to say that this song is another in a long succesion of songs (the times they are changin') about achieving freedom and independence from any established authority figures. it could be just as valid to say this song is about not working for "the man" as it is about not being a protest singer. How about some primary source citations to back up this narrow interpertation.Darrell Wheeler (talk) 13:31, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

The lyrical interpretation in this song is way off, except for the short blurb that reads, "The "farm" that Dylan sings of can in this case easily represent racism, state oppression and capitalist exploitation." Regardless, people's attempts at explaining the lyrics of poetically-layered songs (read "any Bob Dylan song") should not be written here. It just leads to misinformation and potential argument about who's right. --76.230.212.201 (talk) 08:23, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Intrpretations should be avoided unless they can be reliably sourced and attributed. Particular caution should be taken against weasel words (i.e. "some" or "many have interpreted it as....") as well.--JayJasper (talk) 15:39, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Seconded. The interpretation that this is a protest song about the folk protest movement itself, is utterly ridiculous, and I haven't seen a shred of evidence supporting this other than the "reference" to an "interpretation" by cotton-candy "best of" list from the web site for spinner magazine, which states ONE sentence about the message of the song, which was "It was the iconoclast's declaration of independence from the very folk movement that sired him.", which is just an unsubstantiated claim.


 * The lyrics are not so cryptic. The farm is clearly a reference to a plantation - slavery ('they sing while they slave'). The song begins with the lamentation that essentially means "I don't want to work on the farm - I hope it rains. I want to work on other things, but Maggie makes me". Then, it goes on to list Maggie's family - her brother, her Father, and her Mother. The last verse talks the other slaves working on the plantation.


 * This is a very clear message - a "family" that forces him to work on things he does not wish to do. The protest movement does not fit this, as it does not talk "to all the servants about man and God and law", does not "fine" people every time they "slam the door", and is not protected by bricks and the national guard.


 * "Maggie" is corporate plutocracy in America - those that have a disproportionate amount of influence over government, and Maggie's family represents the government, and can even be seen as making up the three branches:
 * 1) Maggie's Brother is the Judicial branch, who "nickel and dimes" us and "fines" us.
 * 2) Maggie's Pa, an untouchable, sadistic, power-mad jerk with near infinite amount of resources obviously represents the executive branch (The military, police, etc...).
 * 3) Maggie's mother, who spouts out a bunch of BS rhetoric about "man and God and law", convincing people that she's the "brains", but she is full of lies, obviously represents politicians, the Legislative branch.
 * 4) The last verse could be rephrased as "I really try to be myself and be honest, but every else on the "farm" is too ignorant to understand that they are really just slaves."

Here is a discussion about the meaning on songmeanings.com - http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/86878/#comment 71.168.102.38 (talk) 22:28, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

All of the above speculation about the meaning of the lyrics is wrong. 1965 is the year Dylan wrote the song and the year of the breakup of the relationship between Dylan and Joan Baez. Maggie was Baez. She must have been kind of a drag as a lover -- being a puritan earth mother type deep into the folkie scene with a stentorian operatic voice, which was becoming anathema to the free-wheeling visionary Dylan. Not working on Maggie's Farm meant he was done kowtowing to her. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.244.137.86 (talk) 19:21, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

She says she's 54...
The article quotes a line from the song "she's 68 but she says she's 54". According to the lyric sheet I could find on bob-dylan.com, it should be "she's 68 but she says she's 24" ). I fixed the article, but this edit was reverted. I don't want to get into an edit war here by mistake - can anyone offer any insight to the correct quote? OgmiosProject (talk) 08:41, 11 July 2008 (UTC)
 * The original song says 54, and you can hear it in the recordings. RATM says 24, which is based on a performance in which Dylan changed the lyrics to 24 instead of 54.

The printed lyrics both at bob-dylan.com and in the assorted song and lyric books do say 24; however if you listen to the song he clearly says "54". There are many examples of this discrepancy in BD's lyrics; "Open The Door Homer" is the most glaring where he actualy says "open The Door Richard" and Homer never gets a mention at all. all this discusion is even more complicated by the fact that in performance Dylan is likely to change the words at will. So it's just a matter of what source you'ld want to use. You should sign your posts. Darrell Wheeler (talk) 23:48, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Sorry about not-signing, still getting used to wiki's nettiquette. My bad. Thanks for the clarification - I was sure I just had a problem understanding Dylan's accent, and that it was just a really odd way of saying 24. OgmiosProject (talk) 08:42, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

RATM says "She's 68 but she says she's 24", well, i understand "She's 68 but she's sexy as 24". Makes sense too ;) 134.28.148.210 (talk) 12:32, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Other sources aside, the definitive "text" is the LP, and specifically the final version of the song as recorded and released. Absolutely unquestionable: Dylan sings "fifty-four." These explanations of why "twenty-four" is justified? Mental gymnastics: that is, if "contortionism" wouldn't be the more accurate descriptor.drone5 (talk) 08:04, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Origin of the name "Maggie's Farm"
I've always been under the impression that McGee's Farm, where Dylan performed at the 1963 Civil Rights rally, was the source of the song's name. Howard Sounes poses another possibility: "the name supposedly inspired by Maggiore's Farm, near Kingston, New York, which Bob passed each time he traveled to Woodstock" (Down the Highway, p. 167). Since even Sounes doesn't know for sure, most of what's said about the name's origin would have to be speculative, as would be an interpretation based solely on the name. Some work is called for. Any suggestions? Allreet (talk) 05:24, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

I read somewhere it was based on Penny's Farm, which make interesting reading! Cheers. --Richhoncho (talk) 15:25, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Original Research Tag
Hi, Kgorman-ucb! I saw you added the Original Research tag to "Maggie's Farm" and was wondering which sections bothered you the most in this regard. I'd like to re-work the article and would probably start with anything that might fall under this category. While editors' views have most likely crept in, sometimes its difficult to discern OR from synthesis and synthesis from merely a lack of citations. At any rate, I'd like to change the OR tag to a ref-improve tag, but only after cleaning up or excising the most troublesome spots, so a short list of issues in whatever form you want would be appreciated. Thanks. Allreet (talk) 15:14, 6 March 2012 (UTC)
 * You are right, it is difficult to tell OR/synth from a simple lack of citations. The lyrics section was the only section I really saw problems with - since no source is cited for any of the interpretation, it is hard to tell what is widely held opinion/what is the opinion of specific commentators/what is simply the opinion of whatever Wikipedian edited the section last. Although I'm sure much of the opinion in it could be cited, as it stands it kind of reads like a high school essay about the song or something. I'd be fine with you changing the OR tag to a refimprove tag, since in the difference isn't really that big. Kevin (kgorman-ucb) (talk) 20:24, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

In the book "Loose Change," about a group of women who grew up during the 60s there is a description of a real place called "Maggie's Farm," we are hippies were conned into working for Maggie her mother and her brother and that they that it gained a reputation for being a con, where Maggie merely wanted to exploit cheap labor. Kozarluha (talk) 15:41, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

I m missing the waterboys version
I m from germany and not so good in english, there is no german article until now

by searching for information about the song, I also found the waterboys version, witch is not mentioned in the article until now

http://www.metrolyrics.com/i-aint-gonna-work-on-maggies-farm-no-more-lyrics-waterboys.html

http://lyricskeeper.de/de/waterboys/i-ain-t-gonna-work-on-maggie-s-farm-no-more.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.204.153.68 (talk) 00:16, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

http://www.google.com/search?q=i+ain't+gonna+work+on+maggie's+farm+no+more+waterboys --Über-Blick (talk) 19:19, 8 April 2013 (UTC)

Lyrics
I think this describes the lyrics accurately; although there is nothing in the literature to support either this or what I deleted, at least this is free of the overtly political PoV of the deleted material Anarchangel (talk) 01:22, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
 * 1) As article text
 * 2) Economic exploitation
 * 3) Violence or force
 * 4) Coercion / propaganda
 * 5) As article text

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