Jeez, you guys, I don't know what's wrong with you. of COURSE, Dylan's SONG is not anti-labor, but the "Maggie's Farm" he describes is a HOTBED of wage slavery (and thanks to Thad for quoting the lyrics, just to make it clear). Jerry titled his message (in the subject line), "Back on Maggie's Farm," so, since Maggie's Farm is a den of iniquitous exploitation, I wanted to make sure (it was a JOKE, right?!) nobody would "confuse" our beloved agitator and theoretician with the infamous exploiter Maggie of Dylan's song. OKAY?! GUYS?! Jeez.... [simulated sigh of light exasperation] Blair ;-) At 4:58 PM 2/18/96, Thad Williamson wrote: >Dylan's Maggie's Farm is absolutely not an anti-labor song. Lyrics follow: > >I aint' gonna work on maggie's farm no more (first line always repeats) >I wake up in the morning fold my hands and prary for rain >I got a head full of ideas that are driving me insane >it's a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor >I aint' gonna work on maggie's farm no more > >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 are you having a good time >Then he fines you every time you slam the door >I ain't gonn work for maggie's brother no more > >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 all around his door >I aint' gonna work for Maggie's pa no more > >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 68, but she says she's 54 >I aint' gonna work for maggie's ma no more > >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 say "sing, while you slave" >and I just get bored >I ain't gonna work on Maggie's Farm > >Now this seems to me very clearly a (slightly whimsical) critique >of exploitative workplace conditions and also in the last paragraph >the commodification of human labor in general. > >Thad > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Feb 18 16:01:22 1996 > > Date: Sun, 18 Feb 1996 15:58:29 -0800 > > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subject: [PEN-L:3055] Re: Maggie Coleman > > X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas > > X-Comment: Progressive Economics > > > > Blair Sandler wrote: > > > > > And Maggie, I'm sure Jerry didn't mean to imply that your farm is anything > > > like that anti-labor "Maggie's Farm" that Dylan (whoever he was) wrote > > > about a few years back. > > > > I wasn't referring to a farm that Maggie OWNS or where she LIVES. > > > > However, a possible interpretation is the railroad farm where Maggie is > > treated by management as if she is a wage slave. It seems, from talking > > to Maggie, that there was a slave revolt at the farm that Maggie was > > instrumental in inciting. But, I'll let her tell that story. > > > > In PEN-L Solidarity, > > > > Jerry >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
