Ants Marching (4:29)

“Ants Marching” is a song by the Dave Matthews Band, released as the second successful single from their 1994 album Under the Table and Dreaming. It reached #18 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart and received some album-oriented rock play as well. It was originally on their album Remember Two Things. A version of this song live 3/26/05 is also featured on the Dave Matthews Band compilation album The Best of What’s Around Vol. 1.

The song is centered on the idea that people get caught up in the monotony of their everyday lives and forget to focus on what is truly important. The metaphor used is that people are like marching ants in the line, “All the little ants are marching, red and black antennae waving, they all do it the same, they all do it the same way.” The title of one of the albums that it appears on is mentioned in the verse “Goes to visit his mommy, she feeds him well, his concerns he forgets them, and remembers being small, playing under the table and dreaming.”