Southern Anthem

The music video can and should be watched here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdebhHO_sSw

This is very clearly about the history of the South... but also about its future. The first verse deals with the Civil War and Reconstruction: "freedom a fever you suffered through" is the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. "And the dog drank from your cup" speaks to the deep feelings of powerlessness and resentment felt by the postbellum whites, especially the white gentry-they felt that everyone was walking over them: the blacks, the carpetbaggers. So the river of time they were baptized in (aka born into; most Christian denominations baptize infants) was frozen at the moment of the Civil War. The reference to Jesus and the mother's Bible are saying that Jesus allowed the mother's Bible to burn. It must be remembered that Southerners often advanced arguments from the Bible to justify slavery; this is merely saying that Jesus didn't support that interpretation and allowed their whole theological and political system (represented by the mother's Bible) burn to the ground.

The second stanza is about the civil rights movement and the future. "Just like the way that you lost your guns/when they cut the clotheslines loose" refers to the feds under Kennedy and LBJ instituting civil rights measures. The South "lost its guns" by, once again, being forced against its will to recognize black rights. In case anyone hadn't noticed, gun rights are important in the red states, especially given that gun rights advocates worry that one day, the feds will grab everyone's guns. The song uses that concept and that mental image to convey the idea of something hideous and unpopular being foisted upon the white Southerners against their will. The "clotheslines", as mentioned above, are a reference to the lynchings. The whole verse can be interpreted to mean that the white Southerners once again felt powerless and resentful when the feds intervened to uphold black civil rights in their region.

Also, as mentioned above, "Jesus, a friend of the weaker ones/said "I'm all they stole from you"" is basically just saying that the Southern whites denied their religious beliefs in trying to keep the blacks down. Jobs, women, whatever-they lost their Christian values. It says in the Bible "What good does it do a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his very soul?"

"Freedom, a thistle that withered dry" was of course black civil rights. It had withered dry because it had actually once existed, during Reconstruction. The 13th and 14th Amendments gave blacks freedom for a time, until the Compromise of 1877 had the GOP abandon the blacks to Jim Crow in exchange for Southern Democrats allowing Rutherford B. Hayes to become President. Thistles, also, are annoying things-they prick you when you aren't expecting it. So was civil rights annoying to the white Southerners.

"Frozen, the ground refused to die" is referring to several things. The ground is where the thistle was planted. The ground is also the South-the real South, the ideal South, the South of everyone that lives there, not just the whites.

"And the guitar rose again" plays on the whole "the South will rise again" phrase but instead of a rebellion it refers to several things. The most obvious is the hippie counterculture and rock & roll, which accompanied and supported the civil rights movement. Less obvious, but still alluded to (and still yet to happen, but coming soon) it's the promise of the South rising up, not against the North, but against its own past. Guitars, the chosen musical instrument of youth, means that a new generation (with any luck, this one) will finally put an end to the division. Whites will accept blacks as fellow Southerners, blacks will accept the equality and the hatreds and fears of the past will wither away in a display of love and beauty, demonstrated in the video by the black woman and the white man making out in the grass.

The Southern anthem in the chorus could be anything. It could be Dixie, it could be Sweet Home Alabama, it could be this song, for all that it matters. But the point of it isn't so much what the song is, but that it's Southern, and that it's an anthem. Regions don't have anthems, nations do. The South isn't quite a nation but it's more than just a region. The concept of Southern identity has traditionally been the domain of the white supremacist right, or at least perceived to be such by outsiders. A lot of the trappings of Southern identity have been considered racist: the Confederate flag controversy comes immediately to mind. The chorus is presenting hope for the future, by welcoming the blacks into a new, shared concept of Southern identity, one without hatred, segregation, guilt or fear.

My husband is a southern boy, and I always notice something in his eyes when this song plays. It seems to have that effect on most southern people (particularly if they now live elsewhere), and I think that's precisely the point of it.

Here's my idea: I think this song is Sam Beams' love song to the South. He acknowledges that it has it's sins, struggles and tensions (like anywhere), but also recognizes it's tenacity, pride, and feels the people are all good in their hearts. He has faith that the southern people have the power to heal those old wounds and come together, when and if the "southern anthem rings." Because of my husband, I've spent the past three summers in rural North Carolina, and there is certainly a camaraderie between the people there. I never feel they hate me for being a "damned yankee" (they're actually very warm and asccepting), just that they know I'm different somehow. And I am- growing up down south, according to my husband, is very, very different experience from growing up in the north.

"Just like the way that you ran to wine When they made the new milk turn Jesus, a friend in the better times, Let your mother's bible burn. Freedom, a fever you suffered through And the dog drank from your cup Frozen, the river that baptized you And the horse died standing up" - The constant conflicts and changes over the decades in the south (concerning religion, industry, race, way of life), have disillusioned many of it's people and created a lot of un-dealt with tension. That tension has been handed down to each generation. Some of them leave, some of them become bitter, some turn from religion or their roots, etc.

"But when a southern anthem rings She will buckle to that sound When that southern anthem rings It will lay her burdens down." - The "southern anthem," the pride of the south, always speaks to it's people, and all of it's burdens will be laid down when they all can finally let those old tensions go.

"Just like the way you lost your guns When they cut the clothesline loose." - this may be a comment on the scar of racial violence in the south, since clotheslines were often used as makeshift nooses.

"Jesus, a friend of the weaker ones Said, "I'm all they stole from you" - I also see this as a comment on racial tension, since racist whites claimed (and still do) that blacks stole their jobs, money, women, etc. Jesus, a friend of the weaker ones, tells them that the only thing blacks ever stole from them was Jesus' favor, when the racist whites held them down and weakened them.

"Freedom, a thistle that withered dry, Still a baby in your hands." -the Civil Rights Act has only been in effect since 1964, not even 50 years ago. It's still very new.

"Frozen, the ground refused to die And the guitar rose again." Going back again to the tenacity, how after all of the anger, death and war the south has seen, the crops still grow and the music still plays.

As others mentioned, the video fro this is very telling. A white man and a black women (the old tensions) wrestle each other to the ground in front of their children (the new generations), but end up lying on the ground (lay that burden down) embracing and kissing. Beautiful.

I love this song so much.

good one

me too! its really all flowing together. sometimes hard to hear the lyrics.

This song is really beautiful, but I have no idea what it means. I can't tell if he's criticizing the south's "bible belt" theology or what. And then he throws in "freedom" every now and then...hmmmm. I wonder what it means?

It's still a beautiful song though.

Just a thought- might this be of war (possibly the civil) and of a man who left his home and lady to fight? "Freedom, a fever you suffered through" IE fighting for the south's independance. And when he returns home (or dies and sees his home from death) he finds it was destroyed during the war. He talks of the shift in his own faith, using the transfer of the Jesus line; talks of the eventual loss of the war with the freedom line. I love how it transfers the usual "The south will rise again" to a peaceful and more potent resulotion when he says "and the guitar rose again." Absolutey spectacular song- just as every other one by Iron and Wine.

the above post is amazing. good work. i love your interpretation of "the guitar rose again" ... the was my first favorite song of sam's ... after hearing the creek drank the cradle once, i liked this one the best.

i used to live down in key west, florida ... so driving through the town it was always relaxing playing this song.

the above post is amazing. good work. i love your interpretation of "the guitar rose again" ... the was my first favorite song of sam's ... after hearing the creek drank the cradle once, i liked this one the best.

i used to live down in key west, florida ... so driving through the town it was always relaxing playing this song.

This song reminds me of my Grandma and Virginia in the morning.