1965
MAGGIE'S FARM * SOLOMON BURKE * ATLANTIC 4030 * UK
Written and first recorded by Bob Dylan on his album Bringing It All Back Home. Recorded by Solomon Burke on 8th April 1965 and originally issued on Atlantic 2288 in the US, his was the first cover version and the first recording on 45, even before it was released by Dylan on a 45.
The songs meaning has caused much debate since he wrote it, the most popular theory is that 'Maggie's Farm' represents the Folk Scene at that time in America, on this I cannot comment. I always thought that Solomon Burke's version was about prison, some of the lines in the song lends itself to this supposition: "Her bedroom windows are all made out of bricks" and the equally claustrophobic "The sheriff and the National Guard stand around the door". Whatever the real meaning of the lyrics, the late great Solomon Burke invests the song with a raw and scathing emotional force as he sings about Maggie's Farm like it's Dante's Inferno.
See also:
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| I'm Hanging Up My Heart For You | Everybody Needs Somebody To Love | The Price |
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| Got To Get You Off My Mind | Won't You Give Him | Cry To Me | If You Need Me |