Synopsis

The video opens with streams of commuters moving through city streets, their routine motions echoing the song's image of ants marching in formation. The Dave Matthews Band performs in a stark warehouse while images of pedestrians, traffic, and urban movement cut across the performance footage. The contrast between the musicians and the anonymous crowd reinforces the song's portrait of modern life as repetitive, orderly, and emotionally disconnected, while the band's energetic playing provides a lively counterpoint to the commuters' mechanical routines.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in 1995, following the song's appearance on the band's 1994 debut studio album, "Under the Table and Dreaming."

• "Ants Marching" was issued as the album's second single and became one of Dave Matthews Band's early signature songs.

• The album title "Under the Table and Dreaming" is taken from a line in the song.

• A different, longer recording had already appeared on the band's 1993 independent release, "Remember Two Things." The album version is considerably shorter.

• The song was written before the band's first performance in 1991, making it part of the group's early Charlottesville-era repertoire.

• The video was later included on the band's 2001 home-video compilation, "The Videos 1994-2001."