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.
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.