Application of Marxism and Feminism to Lyrics

Moonshiner :: Bob Dylan Version (Live at Gaslight 1962) :: Marxism

“I've been a moonshiner

For seventeen long years

I spent all my money on whiskey and beer.

I go to some hollow

And set up my still.

If whiskey don't kill me,

Then I don't know what will.

I go to some bar room

And drink with my friends.

The women came to follow

And see what I spend.

God bless them pretty women;

I wish they was mine.

They're breath is as sweet as

The dew on vine.

Let me eat when I'm hungry,

Let me drink when I'm dry.

A dollar when I am hard up

Religion when I die.

The whole world is a bottle

And life is but a dram.

When the bottle gets empty,

It sure ain't worth a damn."

This song shows the hardships one in the lower class without money. The song is in first person, and in the first verse, we are given the understanding that the character has spent all of his pension on two things that remove his feelings of hardships: whiskey and beer. The person is in the bourgeois class and seems distressed by being in the drone world of little money. When talking about going to the bar, the singer says “The women came to follow and see what I spend,” which is intended to be a small amount since the women do not hang around him. In the next verse, the singer states, “God bless them pretty women; I wish they were mine.” They did not stay with him for his lack of money, further making the singer depressed and fulfilling the hegemony, in which women will go where the money is. In the fifth verse, the singer states what he needs in life: “a dollar when I am hard up” being one of them. These hardships of life are one of the lower social class.

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"Maid Needs a Maid":: Emily Haines:: Feminism

"Bros before hoes disagree on the sidelines.

Fight for a fee, the man needs a maid.

The maid needs a maid.

Bros before hoes is a rule,

read the guidelines.

You trouble me;

your breasts heave when you sing.

your mouth should be working for me for free.

Sewing up the fold ‘cause I’ve been laid up,

will you put on the fire for me,

draw the bath and remind me to eat?

You won’t need a real job,

you won’t need a real job

because I would love to pay for you,

you could be a good wife to me.

I would love to pay for you,

you are the maid for me."

In this song, the woman is objectified into a career role which forces her into submission by the male dominated world. The song begins with the common saying “bros before hoes,” which not only puts men as the first priority in society, but also demeans women by usage of a negative connotation such as “ho.” In the same verse, the man is mentioned as “needing a maid” and for “a fee,” thus continuing the notion of the female being a “ho” and a prostitute. In the second stanza, the woman continues to be objectified by the male by the statement he makes “your breasts heave when you sing, your mouth should be working for me for free.” This continues the degradation of her character without her having a voice. The man then lists his needs from the woman: “put on the fire for me, draw the bath and remind me to eat?” He then continues to have the power by telling the woman what she does not need to do: “a real job” and instead he “would love to pay for you” while she “is a good wife to me.” The listing of his determination to pay for her comes first, thus providing another example of him having the power while her duties come second, which is being his servant/wife. At the end, the man has chosen her as his wife, and she will continue her role of being a maid/prostitute by providing the needs he demands..