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Anthony has already achieved a first for any musician working in any genre: he made the top of the charts out of nowhere. He’s never had a song on any chart, and “Rich Men North of Richmond” was released just over two weeks ago.
“Rich Men North of Richmond” seems to fit into a deep vein of protest music, decrying the fat cats who would take advantage of the working man. At its surface, Anthony’s song echoes generations of singer-songwriterly tradition. Lyrics celebrating the working man and woman have a long history in American music, from artists including Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Bill Withers and Bruce Springsteen.
Scratch the surface, however, and you also find extremist and conspiratorial narratives.
The reason country works so well for this is,” she observes, “is because people assume that country music is ‘real,’ that it’s ‘authentic.’ This is a straight, white, cis-gendered man in a forest with a guitar singing. And that will always code as true to people, even to people who don’t like country music and who don’t know anything about it. It’s so deeply ingrained in the recesses of our collective pop culture.
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Yes, There Are Rich Men North of Richmond
Bloomberg, T. C. |. (2023, September 2). Yes, there are rich men north of Richmond. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/02/oliver-anthony-s-rich-men-north-of-richmond-misses-the-mark/d906ad4e-498b-11ee-b76b-0b6e5e92090d_story.html
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As a general rule, music and the arts excel at pointing attention toward the seen — that is, identifiable victims or beneficiaries. In contrast, many of the most important insights of economics concern the unseen — that is, people who benefit in non-obvious ways, and sometimes many of them actually are unidentifiable. Automation, for instance, will throw some people out of work, but economics teaches us that in the longer run it usually benefits society, through both lower consumer prices and the creation of jobs in other, less visible sectors of the economy. You don’t hear many songs about that.
The song starts with a variety of complaints about low wages and the labor market. It is not mentioned that labor markets have been relatively tight as of late, and job creation has been strong. There are also complaints about taxes, but it doesn’t point out that low-wage Americans typically do not pay much federal income tax.
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Context – Rich Men North of Richmond by Oliver Anthony Music gained massive attention as it skipped the line to the top of the music billboard charts in August this year.
Lyrics –
“I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
Overtime hours for bullsh– 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 sh– 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 sh– 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 bullsh– pay”
Analysis – “The articles I have read on this song have really rubbed me the wrong way, after all, it was difficult to even find one article that was not negatively charged. The song is written by and for someone who feels they are disenfranchised and financially undermined. 2023 is a hot year and lately, controversy is abundant.
The arts are a place where people can express discontent, and politely protest. Popularity with an art is a collection of empathy and agreement. It is no secret that for the majority, money is tight and expenses are rising. While there is not much this content explicitly says about banking, it points out the obvious, that many people feel financially insufficient right now.
Of course, I have my own biases and assumptions about the world. Call me a conspiracy theorist, I don’t care. But more interestingly it is amazing to read what NPR and the Washington Post reveal about their own bias. Two specific occasions are when NPR discredits country music as being inauthentic by attacking Anthony’s sexuality, race, and gender all in one sentence. Total rubbish. One other point of bias is when the Washington Post talks about the song’s illegitimate view towards taxes.
“There are also complaints about taxes, but it doesn’t point out that low-wage Americans typically do not pay much federal income tax. For instance, Americans with annual incomes below $30,000 filed 65.6 million tax returns in 2020, and they received a net of $78.6 billion from the IRS, once refundable credits are counted.”
This section is so foolish and misleading. This is why journalism sucks right now.
“We do not pay much federal income tax” – Yeah federal income taxes are not that much, what about state income taxes, and not to mention the other 50 types of taxes we pay?
“People with incomes of below $30,000 received $78.6 billion from the IRS” – So what they are saying is that there are ALOT of people that make $30,000 a year, so many that the their tax returns equated to $78.6 billion, and if they were refunded $78b then how much did they end up paying the IRS? and what about the other people in the other lower half of the tax brackets? How do they feel?” – Easton Nguyen
