The link posted above leads to a site which allows you to listen to "The Southern Thing" by Drive-By Truckers. I came across it while listening to the radio. At first, the mellow opening drew me in and I decided to give it a shot (usually, whether I like a new song or not is determined within the first 6 seconds of hearing it). However, it was the first line that kept me listening, and as I listened, I started wondering what the heck this song was about. Apparently not pistols, or boots, or guitars. Then what?
At first I thought it was about slavery and emancipation, simply because that is the image I have of the South. South = Slavery. That plain equation has been beaten into me by my northern education. The agriculture, the Civil War, the ideal of the Southern Belle, even the accent, come second to slavery. However, I soon realized that the song was about something deeper; it was about the pride of the South.
"The Southern Thing" is simply all of the accomplishments of the South. MLK, Robert E Lee, the sense of the majority of the population ("Did NOT believe in slavery"). Every one of those makes one feel proud to be a Southerner. The Southern Identity is a proud one. While he may have made mistakes, the Southerner has learned from those mistakes and helped shape his home into one of which is he is proud of.
Akshaya Srivastava
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