Antebellum

[roofboy179]

Does anyone know what key this is in?

I think it's in E major...

Yes, it's in E. 4 sharps, F#, C#, G#, and D#.

[Digital]

After reading the posts here, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that seems to have Antebellum floating through my brain over and over. I've heard the song both with Alex's drums and with Vienna's solo performance, and I love them both.

Funny thing is, I'm not a much of a lyric, as they are often one of the last things I really pay attention to. I still don't know what it's completely about, but I just know I like it a lot. I certainly have my own impressions from the snippets running through my head, the title, etc., but one of these days I'll have to really listen and see what's going on. I still remember the time I loved an Emm Gryner song and happily sung along thinking happy thoughts, until I realized it wasn't exactly a happy song.

[murlough23]

Beautiful song. Might be my favorite on the album. I think it's about a couple who is divorced/estranged/whatever and who is trying to keep the peace for the sake of the kids. But there's something about the "war" that they miss. Declaring a truce basically meant giving up on working out their differences and fixing the relationship. Maybe it's better this way because nobody gets hurt again, but they can't help but wonder "what if".

[judytuna]

Here's the story I got out of Antebellum: in the fall, budding attraction between neighbors with maybe families of their own ("talk about the little ones"). Pre-war. In the spring, they get more bold... perhaps get involved... find themselves in over their heads and maybe not serious enough about each other to actually leave their families for each other, or maybe they never really meant to anyway; with the involvement comes the vanishing of their "innocent" flirtation. So there's war. And armistice day comes perhaps when they agree to stop seeing each other. "...our antebellum innocence was never meant to see the light of our armistice day" I take to mean... it wasn't supposed to happen; the involvement, the subsequent war, the dissolving of the relationship.

"You go home, I'll stay here, with only strangers watching" is what makes me think it's an affair they wish to keep secret; it recalls the first verse with a line about the neighbors' lights turning on, heralding the vanishing of whatever fleeting moments they'd started to have in the fall.

Yay for this forum ... I like reading about other interpretations of the lyrics. It hadn't even occurred to me that perhaps it was a divorced/estranged couple giving it another go and finding war, or recollecting their war and armistice and remembering the moment when it was realized that "i couldn't be what you'd need." But this story, too, fits. (Man, do I just have a taste for the lurid or something? I got "TORRID AFFAIR" while others got "STAY TOGETHER FOR THE LITTLE ONES!" haha.) What I love about Vienna Teng is her sheer ability to express emotion. You get hit in the face full-force with the emotions of these characters, though the story is never explicit--almost background to the expression of what they are feeling--so the listener is drawn into a creative exercise of sorts herself, to craft a story that goes along with these emotions.

I think in this song she nails the sweet bitterness of wondering "what if," and then regretting (kind of) finding out "what if," all rolled together. Like the line "...but oh how I could make you bleed" is sung going up so sweetly, it gives me chills from the sheer horror of it or something. Haha.

[Norm]

Beautiful song. Might be my favorite on the album.

Beautiful song alright. Will have to study the lyrics. I had to play it several times today while unloading the car after a camping trip [and will have to play it again!]. I like the counterpoint of the male voice.

[I'm an early VT adopter, but a little late to IT]

[murlough23]

I had to play it several times today while unloading the car after a camping trip [and will have to play it again!].

Wow! You must have a lot of arms.

Oh, you meant play the recording. Silly me.

[roofboy179]

I have no life.

So I put the chords here. Hopefully Vienna doesn't mind

[Lira]

am I the only one who got shivers from the direct "antebellum" reference in the lyrics (as in, the symbolism of the period leading up to the Civil War, in line with many of the American history/American multicultural references in Inland Territory)? It's as if you've got lovers on either side of the conflict, growing further and further apart as the conflict grows and grows but not acknowledging it, clinging to their semblance of normalcy...

...and of course, the wholly figurative, simpler interpretation of a present-day fracturing relationship/separation/etc is also beautiful.

[jamatthews]

How am I suppose to listen to the rest of the album when I just want to listen to this song on repeat for 12 hours.

[tanthalas]

am I the only one who got shivers from the direct "antebellum" reference in the lyrics (as in, the symbolism of the period leading up to the Civil War, in line with many of the American history/American multicultural references in Inland Territory)? It's as if you've got lovers on either side of the conflict, growing further and further apart as the conflict grows and grows but not acknowledging it, clinging to their semblance of normalcy...

...and of course, the wholly figurative, simpler interpretation of a present-day fracturing relationship/separation/etc is also beautiful.

hehe, i didn't pay too much attention to the historical references, but the war symbolism was something i was aware of from the start. still, the more personal aspect of the song steals more of my focus than anything else though.

[Ang Mo]

Antebellum is my favorite song. I was shortly sidetracked today when I read Vienna's new scrapbook post and she pointed the way towards a wonderful sandwich called the Chairman Bao. At first I was going to file suit for copyright infringement, but then got suddenly too hungry to care.

CHAIRMAN BAO - $4.00 per bao
Braised slow and low using Niman Ranch Pork Belly.
Served with: Crushed peanut, cilantro, Haus Relish, and Taiwanese red sugar

Antebellum is the best song on the new album and now I am very hungry and there are no Chairman Bao's in this community to purchase. Drats!

[stellamoor]

After reading these interpretations of the song, I feel so unoriginal and literal minded taking the song as about the American Civil War, lol.

[Fred]

After reading these interpretations of the song, I feel so unoriginal and literal minded taking the song as about the American Civil War, lol.

Hi, Stellamoor! Nice to hear from another new forum member! In keeping with many past discussions of Vienna's lyrics, you were not wrong. Her lyrics are often meant to be taken at different levels at the same time; she says so herself. This is a great strength of her songwriting, imho.