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.
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.