Notes

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Live performances from 1965-2008 (covering the 29 individual years that the song has been performed live)


Vol. 1 ------------79m.40s (16)

101 - 1965-07-25 - Newport Festival, Freebody Park, Newport RI - Bob Dylan (vocal, harmonica & electric guitar) with The Butterfield Blues Band - Michael Bloomfield (electric guitar), Barry Goldberg (organ), Al Kooper (organ), Jerome Arnold (bass), Sam Lay (drums) - First “electric” Dylan concert ever & first live performance of Maggies Farm. ("..72 but she says she's 24")

102 - 1969-08-31 - Isle of Wight Festival, Woodside Bay, Isle of Wight, England - with The Band

103 - 1974-02-11 - Oakland CA - with The Band

104 - 1976-05-16 - Fort Worth TX - with The Rolling Thunder Revue

105 - 1978-12-10 - Charlotte NC - with The Queens of Rhythm (Helena Springs, Jo Ann Harris, Carolyn Dennis (vocals))
"All right thank you, thank you. I was invited to play at the Newport Folk Festival sometime back then. Anyway, I went to play this here song and they booted me out of town for doing it. They got all upset. It's hard to believe that such a song could cause such a disturbance, but it did".

106 - 1981-11-10 - New Orleans LA - with The Queens of Rhythm (Clydie King, Regina Havis, Madelyn Quebec (vocals) & Al Kooper (keyboards)

107 - 1984-07-08 - Slane Castle, Slane, Ireland - Mick Taylor (guitar)

108 - 1985-09-22 - Farm Aid, Champaign IL - with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Willie Nelson (guitar) & The Queens of Rhythm (Madelyn Quebec, Carolyn Dennis, Queen Esther Marrow, Elisecia Wright (vocals))

109 - 1987-07-19 - Eugene OR - with The Grateful Dead

110 - 1987-10-05 - Locarno, Switzerland - with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and The Queens of Rhythm (Carolyn Dennis, Queen Esther Marrow, Madelyn Quebec (backing vocals)).

111 - 1988-06-11 - Mountain View CA - with Neil Young (guitar)

112 - 1989-06-13 - Frejus, France (with "To Ramona" ending by G E Smith !)

113 - 1990-01-12 - Toad's Place, New Haven CT

114 - 1991-06-08 - Milano, Italy

115 - 1992-05-05 - San Francisco CA

116 - 1993-10-05 - San Bernardino CA (with band intros at end)

Vol. 2 ------------79m 39s (14)

201 - 1994-10-08 - Boston MA (with band intros at end)

202 - 1995-03-26 - Brighton, England

203 - 1996-06-26 - Liverpool, England - Al Kooper (keyboards) John Jackson (guitar & backing vocals)

204 - 1997-12-08 - Irving Plaza, New York City

205 - 1998-05-22 - Los Angeles CA

206 - 1999-02-22 - Troy NY

207 - 2000-09-13 - Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland

208 - 2001-07-13 - Stirling Castle, Scotland (Bob Dylan - harmonica solo at end)

209 - 2002-05-09 - Manchester, England (First and perhaps only known acoustic version - Bob Dylan (acoustic guitar) Larry Campbell (mandolin) Tony Garnier (acoustic bass) Charlie Sexton (guitar), Jim Keltner (drums)

210 - 2003-11-15 - Wembley, London, England - Bob Dylan (piano) Freddy Koella & Larry Campbell (guitars)

211 - 2004-03-21 - Toronto ON, Canada - Bob Dylan (piano) Freddy Koella & Larry Campbell (guitars)

212 - 2005-03-19 - Las Vegas NV - Elana James Fremerman (violin) Bob Dylan (piano)

213 - 2006-04-03 - Stockton CA - Bob Dylan (Organ)

214 - 2008-07-01 - Cuenca, Spain - Bob Dylan (Organ)


The song -

Original recording at New York sessions for ''Bringing It All Back Home''- 14–15 Jan 1965;
Album released - 22 March 1965 (Columbia)
15 January 1965 - Bob Dylan (guitar, harmonica, vocal), Al Gorgoni (guitar), Kenneth Rankin (guitar), Bruce Langhorne (guitar), Joseph Macho Jr. (bass), William E. Lee (bass), Bobby Gregg (drums), Frank Owens (piano).
Performed live in 29 different years by Dylan.

First live performance - 1965-07-25 - Newport Festival, Freebody Park, Newport, Rhode Island. This was also the first “electric” Dylan concert. Uniquely (?) here he sang "..she's 72 but she says she's 24" instead of the usual "68/24"
Newport - Bob Dylan (vocal & electric guitar), Michael Bloomfield (electric guitar), Barry Goldberg (organ), Al Kooper (organ), Jerome Arnold (bass), Sam Lay (drums)

"There are reports of me being anti-him going electric at the '65 Newport Folk festival, but that's wrong. I was the MC that night. He was singing 'Maggie's Farm' and you couldn't understand a word because the mic was distorting his voice. I ran to the mixing desk and said, 'Fix the sound, it's terrible!' The guy said 'No, this is what the young people want.' And I did say that if I had an axe I'd cut the cable! But I wanted to hear the words. I didn't mind him going electric." Pete Seeger 2005

"The reason they booed is because he only played for 15 minutes and everybody else played for 45 minutes to an hour, and he was the headliner of the festival. [...] The fact that he was playing electric...I don't know. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (who had played earlier) had played electric and the crowd didn't seem too incensed. In 'Maggie's Farm,' the beat got turned around, so instead of playing and two and four, (drummer) Sam Lay was playing on one and three. That's an accident that can happen, and it did, so it was sort of a disaster." Al Kooper

The lyrics of the song follow a straightforward blues structure, based on an earlier song by The Bentley Brothers "Penny's Farm," a 1920's musical complaint about a rural landlord.

Maggie's Farm is best read as Dylan's declaration of independence from the protest folk movement[1]. Punning on Silas McGee's Farm, where he had performed "Only a Pawn in Their Game" at a civil rights protest in 1963 (featured in the film Don't Look Back), Maggie's Farm recasts Dylan as the pawn and the folk music scene as the oppressor. 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 straight-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 to be "just like I am" rather than "just like them."
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. - wikipedia

In the 1980s, "Maggie's Farm" was widely adopted as an anthem by opponents to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Barack Obama, the 2008 Democratic candidate for US President, has said that "Maggie's Farm" is "one of my favorites during the political season....It speaks to me as I listen to some of the political rhetoric." Rolling Stone, July 2008

Just like his dad, Bob, Jakob Dylan wore a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses and a stubble beard. His band could have easily been employed by Bob, too. “In case you were wondering, my guitar is acoustic, but plugged in,” said Jakob during the set - Newport Festival review, August 2008


The musicians -
1965 - Newport - Bob Dylan (vocal & electric guitar), Michael Bloomfield (electric guitar), Barry Goldberg (organ), Al Kooper (organ), Jerome Arnold (bass), Sam Lay (drums)
1969 & 1974 - Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal), Robbie Robertson (guitar), Richard Manuel (piano), Garth Hudson (organ), Rick Danko (bass), Levon Helm (drums).
1976 - Bob Dylan (guitar & vocal).3-16 Scarlet Rivera (violin), T-bone J. Henry Burnette (guitar & piano), Steven Soles (guitar), Mick Ronson (guitar), Bobby Neuwirth (guitar & vocal), Roger McGuinn (guitar & vocal), David Mansfield (steel guitar, mandolin, violin & dobro), Rob Stoner (bass), Howie Wyeth (drums), Gary Burke (congas).
1978 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Billy Cross (lead guitar), Alan Pasqua (keyboards), Steven Soles (rhythm guitar, backup vocals), David Mansfield (violin & mandolin), Steve Douglas (horns), Jerry Scheff (bass), Bobbye Hall (percussion), Ian Wallace (drums), Helena Springs, Jo Ann Harris, Carolyn Dennis (background vocals).
1981 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Fred Tackett (guitar), Steve Ripley (guitar), Al Kooper (keyboards), Tim Drummond (bass), Jim Keltner (drums), Arthur Rosato (drums), Clydie King, Regina Havis, Madelyn Quebec (background vocals).
1984 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Mick Taylor (guitar), Ian MacLagan (keyboards), Greg Sutton (bass), Colin Allen (drums).
1985 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Willie Nelson (acoustic guitar).Tom Petty (guitar), Mike Campbell (guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Howie Epstein (bass), Stan Lynch (drums), Debra Byrd, Queen Esther Marrow, Madelyn Quebec, Elisecia Wright (backing vocals).
1987 - Eugene - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar) with the Grateful Dead - Jerry Garcia (guitar), Bob Weir (guitar), Phil Lesh (bass), Brent Mydland (keyboards), Bill Kreutzmann & Mickey Hart (drums).
1987 - Locarno - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar) with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.- Tom Petty (guitar), Mike Campbell (guitar), Benmont Tench (keyboards), Howie Epstein (bass), Stan Lynch (drums) and The Queens Of Rhythm: - Carolyn Dennis, Queen Esther Marrow, Madelyn Quebec (backing vocals).
1988 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Neil Young (guitar), G. E. Smith (guitar), Kenny Aaronson (bass), Christopher Parker (drums)
1989 & 1990 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), G. E. Smith (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), Christopher Parker (drums).
1991 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), John Jackson (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), Ian Wallace (drums).
1992 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar) Bucky Baxter (electric slide guitar) John Jackson (guitar) Tony Garnier (bass) Ian Wallace (drums) Charlie Quintana (drums & percussion)
1993 - 1996 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar) John Jackson (guitar & vocal) Bucky Baxter (slide guitar & vocal) Tony Garnier (bass) Winston Watson (drums)
1996 - with Al Kooper (organ)
1997-1999 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar) Bucky Baxter (slide guitar), Larry Campbell (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), David Kemper (drums)
2000 - Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar), Larry Campbell (guitar), Charlie Sexton (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), David Kemper (drums)
2001 - Bob Dylan (vocal, harmonica & guitar), Larry Campbell (guitar), Charlie Sexton (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), David Kemper (drums)
2002 - Bob Dylan - (vocal & guitar), Larry Campbell (mandolin), Charlie Sexton (guitar), Tony Garnier (acoustic bass), Jim Keltner (drums)
2003 & 2004 - Bob Dylan (vocal & piano), Freddie Koella (guitar), Larry Campbell (guitar) Tony Garnier (bass), George Receli (drums).
2004 - George Receli & Richie Hayward (drums & percussion).
2005 - Bob Dylan (vocal & piano), Stu Kimball (guitar), Denny Freeman (guitar), Donnie Herron (steel guitar), Elana James Fremerman (violin), Tony Garnier (bass), George Receli (drums).
2006 & 2008 -Bob Dylan (vocal & organ), Denny Freeman (guitar), Donnie Herron (steel guitar), Stu Kimball (guitar), Tony Garnier (bass), George Receli (drums).

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.