This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Oh dirty Maggie Mae they have taken her away
And she never walk down Lime Street any more
Oh the judge he guilty found her
For robbing a homeward bounder
That dirty no good robbin' Maggie Mae
To the port of Liverpool
They returned me to
Two pounds ten a week, that was my pay
And she never walk down Lime Street any more
Oh the judge he guilty found her
For robbing a homeward bounder
That dirty no good robbin' Maggie Mae
To the port of Liverpool
They returned me to
Two pounds ten a week, that was my pay
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This is actually just a cover of a trad liverpool song, of which many references were made during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. You can hear John frequently quoting trad song lines at the end and beginning of takes (Oh danny boy... etc) on both the live rooftop set and in the session tapes.
I really like this song, even though it is only about a minute long. Also, does anyone else think its about a prostitute that got arrested?
@reubenator To me it's more about a dirty rough living gal named Maggie Mae. She may have sold some now & then but I think she was more about getting over and snagging a freebie as ofter as & when ever she could.... Full time Hooker...I don't see it here...
@reubenator To me it's more about a dirty rough living gal named Maggie Mae. She may have sold some now & then but I think she was more about getting over and snagging a freebie as ofter as & when ever she could.... Full time Hooker...I don't see it here...
I really liek this song, too. And, reubenator, I also think it is a prostitute who got arrested. I mean, she'll never walk down limestreet anymore? I think that is pretty much talking about a prostitute.
i like its simplicity. im glad its on the let it be album because it gives a bit of comic releif to the albums line up. some things have to be fun.
@apple scruff I like how they laugh a little bit while doing the tune...makes me think of a few naughty boys doing something they know might be wrong....but gives it a shot anyway....
I enjoy the song as well. If anyone has seen the movie that was on NBC (I think that's the right network!) in 2000 for the 20th anniversary of John's passing, they use this song in it. The movie portrays John and the Beatles' lives from when John meets up with Paul at the Garden Fete through when they find out about being on the Ed Sullivan show in America. Obviously they leave out gaps of stuff because that's a long time frame, but he learns guitar from his mother to this song... I found that interesting.
@EyeMtheWalrus Know where can I find a copy of the broadcast? I have never heard that John learned this tune from his Mom...but I thought his Aunt raised him? Who knows, maybe his mom dropped in now & again? Absolutely Love the tune "Dirty Maggie Mae!"
This was an original Liverpool folk song, the original words can be found here myweb.tiscali.co.uk/gerry.jones/lpllyrics1.html
folk songs are interesting. I have always kinda like this song, it's strange in a way.
So I think we're to gather that Maggie Mae is a prostitute that took a guy's money without providing any services, and the reveal at the end is that the singer was the john.