Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

Ant Man Bee

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Ant Man Bee Lyrics

White ants runnin'
Black ants crawlin'
Yella ants dreamin'
Brown ants longin'
All those people longin' to be free
Uhuru ant man bee uhuru ant man bee
All the ants in God's garden they can't get along
War still runnin' on
It's that one lump uh sugar
That they won't leave each other 'lone
Why do yuh have t' do this
You've got t' let us free
Why do yuh have t' do this
You've got t' set us free
Why do yuh have t' do this
You've got t' set us free
Why do yuh have t' do this
You've got t' set us free
Uhuru ant man bee uhuru ant man bee
Now the bee takes his honey then he sets the flower free
But in God's garden only
Man 'n the ants
They won't set each other be

Submitted by

distopiandreamguy On Nov 23, 2006

Big Eyed Beans from Venus

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distopiandreamguy

Submitter

2006-11-23 02:54:20

4 Meanings

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by futatorius

19y ago

We're the ants. Only we and the ants work, and only we and the ants fight each other. And we fight the ants.

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by StClarence

19y ago

but what about the bee? is the bee a revolutionary? a great innovator? Captain Beefheart himself even? perhaps anyone who seeks peace etc. is considered a bee? (60's remember!) I think this is implying that there are two kinds of people, I don't think it is Van Vliet himself, but rather that he is undecided, perhaps the bee is a hypothetical person

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by Israffel

16y ago

Maybe "bee" is just a corruption of "be"?

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by grazboss

16y ago

Isn't 'bee' just 'free'? So you have Ant - whose whole life is to work; Man - who enjoys more freedom; Bee - who (in Beefheart's mind) enjoys the most freedom.

My interpretation is that he sees ants squabbling and running over each other constantly (and black ants and red ants don't seem to mix), then he sees man engaged in regular wars, then bees who never seem to fight.

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