Become You

"I heard you sing a rebel song Sung it loud and all alone We can't afford the things you say We can't afford the warranty

Well I see you walking in the glare Down the county road we share Our southern blood my heresy Damn that old confederacy"

// This part of the song seems to take place in the present day, with the singer speaking to someone whom she has encountered promoting the Civil War. (It suggests that the person was singing "a rebel song" but this understanding could obviously be expanded to include the display of the Confederate flag or any numer of other gestures of sympathy. The singer upbraids the person for celebrating a shameful past which she herself shares ("our heresy"). She feels that society can't afford to have the divisions that making such distinctions would cause. //

"It took a Long time to Become the thing I am to you And you won't Tear it apart Without a fight Without a heart"

// This almost sounds as if it is the voice of the nation speaking both in the present and the past to those who feel similarly to the person described above. Essentially, the argument is that the nation has taken pains to get to where it is today and it won't allow itself to be torn apart -- either in the past, by Civil War or in the present by racial conflicts -- because that would defeat everything that history has been leading to. //

"I'm sorry for what you've learned When you feel the tables turned To run so hard in your race Now you found who set the pace

The landed aristocracy Exploiting all your enmity All your Daddies fought in vain Leave you with the mark of Cain"

// This is a reference to the Civil War itself and the nature of how it was fought. The singer argues the view that it was the wealthy plantation owners who got the poor citizens to fight their war for them, and that it was these poor soldiers who both bore the brunt of the violence and also took the shame of the affair once it was over ("the mark of Cain"). She acknowledges that they did desire to fight the war, but that this desire was cultivated by those in power ("exploiting all your enmity"). //

"[chorus]

It took a Long time to Become you Become you"

// This slight change in the ending of the chorus signals that, although they have been separated out for the purposes of the song, everyone who is a part of the American nation also makes up that nation. The singer acknowledges that it has taken a long time for the nation to become what it is -- to, in a sense, become the person being described. //

"The center holds so they say It never held too well for me I won't stop short of common ground That vilifies the trodden down I won't stop.

The center held the bonded slave For the sake of industry The center held the bloody hand Of the execution man."

// The singer implicates not only those who physically fought in the Civil War, but also the nation's insatiable desire for labor which brought slavery to its peak and caused "the execution man" to bring war to the United States.

Essentially this is a song of contrition for the Civil War, and the continued passion which many Southerners feel for it, despite the often necessarily racist overtones of such situations. However, it also seeks to find a broader base for why slavery arose at all and spreads the blame not to a geographically unique group of people, or even the descendents of those who fought on the "wrong" side of the Civil War, but instead on those who place the desire for profit above the value of human life and dignity. //

amy ray quote from 06/23/2002: activism is no act for indigo girls, the dayton daily news:

the song that gives the album its name reflects the georgia-born ray's struggle to come to terms with her southern heritage and its racist identity. "i tried to personalize these ideas, to portray differences with my neighbors in my own rural area," she said when the album first came out. "a one-to-one relationship is a microcosm of these bigger social relations. to me, it's all about how you come to understand another person, how you can respect their humanity even when you think their position is deplorable."

I love the Indigo Girls but I hate this song. Why does she have to cling to the idea that Southern people have to constantly flagellate ourselves for our heritage. I am a modern gay redneck who displays both a Rainbow flag and a Southern Cross and if Amy Ray don't like it she can kiss my country ass.

I really like this song- love the Indigo Girls and their works. I really like the idea the song gives off, about separating yourself from your upbringing and that you aren't how you're raised, like Ray and the American South. Very powerful idea.