#Rich Men North of Richmond

[wherelibertydwells]

This is amazing.

link

[prole-log]

[psychiccat]

I listened to that rich men from richmond song and at the start I was very confused why some people were angry at it and then the welfare stuff started and yikes.

Imagine making an anti government song that explicitly attacks millionaires and then derailing into hating poor people in the middle of it.

[dark-rx]

Rich Men North of Richmond by Oliver Anthony

Rich Men North of Richmond Oliver Anthony Single, 2023

I'll never understand how modern conservatives have co-opted a song about class warfare into a rallying cry for conservative policies which have always supported the exact same class structure.

In 100 years, we went from the working poor heroically winning the literal and cultural Battle of Blair Mountain to the working poor voting for politicians who are trying to abolish OSHA so the top 1% can get a tax break... MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!

I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day Overtime hours for bullshit pay So I can sit out here and waste my life away Drag back home and drown my troubles away

It's a damn shame what the world's gotten to For people like me and people like you Wish I could just wake up and it not be true But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world With an old soul These rich men north of Richmond Lord knows they all just wanna have total control Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do And they don't think you know, but I know that you do 'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end 'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I wish politicians would look out for miners And not just minors on an island somewhere Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat And the obese milkin' welfare

God, if you're 5 foot 3 and you're 300 pounds Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground 'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down

Lord, it's a damn shame what the world's gotten to For people like me and people like you Wish I could just wake up and it not be true But it is, oh, it is

Livin' in the new world With an old soul These rich men north of Richmond Lord knows they all just wanna have total control Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do And they don't think you know, but I know that you do 'Cause your dollar ain't shit and it's taxed to no end 'Cause of rich men north of Richmond

I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day Overtime hours for bullshit pay

[arthropooda]

X

[probablyasocialecologist]

At first glimpse, the video clip looked like my kind of music: a young bearded guy up in the woods of Appalachia, playing a resonator guitar. As soon as he started singing, I was on board. “I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day, overtime hours for bullshit pay.” Preach, brother! When Anthony sang of “rich men north of Richmond, they want to have total control” I had in my mind corporate America, the tech bro billionaires whose companies monitor their workers all the way to the bathroom and back. I was still with him when he highlighted “folks on the street with nothing to eat” but was brought up sharp when he followed it with “and the obese milkin’ welfare”. Whoa! What is he saying here? Homeless hungry people need help, but not if they’re overweight? When the next line attacked short, fat people who receive welfare only to spend it on chocolate biscuits, I figured the song was a parody. Why didn’t he rhyme “tax” with “snacks”, the songwriter in me thought. But it isn’t a parody. Anthony really does punch down on the poor. The lives of ordinary working people are being torn apart by the rich, he laments, but we can fix it if we cut welfare – and taxes too. Listening to the lyrics in that context, I came to understand why the song had gone viral among rightwing figures in the US. It’s a classic example of the divisive narrative that bosses have used to pit worker against worker since the days of Joe Hill. If the poor are fighting one another over racial hierarchy or cultural grievance, their anger will be directed away from the people responsible for their plight – the rich who exploit those in work and abandon those in need.

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Remy: Rich Men North of Richmond (Federal Employee Version)

[southdigitalcreation]

[sandybrett]

I was initially excited to learn that an acoustic song by an independent country singer was projected to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, but...

Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat And the obese milkin' welfare Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds

And this is supposed to be an anthem for the working class??

I am, admittedly, a rich (by global standards) person who lives north of Richmond, Virginia. But I know for a fact that there are plenty of poor southerners whose reaction to these lyrics, just like mine, was "Fuck off."

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

[djpain619]

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Reactions to the Anon singing his song: "Rich Man North of Richmond"

[greatprinceeagle]

Hit me up for real fun 😊🥰

[recycledmillennial]

I wanted to share this design with you all. I'm honestly really proud of it. Now, I just need to watch Yellowstone. If you want to help support my work you can purchase this design without the text here.