Oliver Anthony - Rich Men North Of Richmond

[Pokebball]

5 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Let's get away from the name calling. What could we, as a country, have done to help Oliver Anthony succeed in life?

 

- Education. He dropped out of school at 17. Why? Were the schools bad? Was he unmotivated? Not terribly bright? All of the above?

- Job Training. He says he wanted to be a cattle rancher. That's like me wanting to be a MLB player when I was a kid. I don't know of any job training we could have for that. He could've moved to a ranch out west and started to learn the trade from the bottom up. He didn't.  He stayed in Virginia and NC working at a dead-end factory job.

- That factory job: I don't disagree with him here. This is the source of a lot of frustration in the country. My old Buffalo relatives had factory jobs. They were hard. They sometimes got injured. But they bought homes with money from those jobs and entered the solid middle class. That doesn't seem possible today. I see the lefty songwriter Billy Bragg says the best thing to do is organize a union. And yes, that was a difference between then and now. My old relatives were unionized. But there also wasn't the constant threat of moving the factory overseas. Protectionism + unions? Do we want to go back to that? I don't since it seems kind of stopgap/temporary. And I doubt young Oliver would've been happy even if he'd been making a living wage in a soul destroying job.

 

The one thing I know: welfare payments to someone else weren't the cause of his plight. That's envy, not a cause. Maybe he wanted welfare payments too. Why should anyone get them if they're able bodied and can work for a living? I understand the frustration, but frustration at someone else who's better at gaming the system isn't a cure for your pain.

 

So ... what would all the Oliver Anthony's do if they replaced those Rich Men North of Richmond?

I think he's answered that, hasn't he. He wants the liberty and the freedom to live his life as he wants, without the govt and govt elites making it harder. Shoot, what was he offered to sign with a label? $8 million? 

 

That's the message I'm hearing

Edited August 21, 2023 by Pokebball

[BillStime]

4 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

without the govt and govt elites making it harder.

 

Meanwhile, your right-wing government takes reproductive rights away from women; passes laws against LGTBQ, and tries to erase the uncomfortable parts of history.

 

But Oliver Anthony wants HIS life to be free of government and government elites making it harder.

 

Of course, these nutters won't acknowledge the hypocrisy.

 

 

 

 

[Pokebball]

2 minutes ago, BillStime said:

 

Meanwhile, your right-wing government takes reproductive rights away from women; passes laws against LGTBQ, and tries to erase the uncomfortable parts of history.

 

But Oliver Anthony wants HIS life to be free of government and government elites making it harder.

 

Of course, these nutters won't acknowledge the hypocrisy.

 

 

 

 

You think our govt is right wing?

[BillStime]

Just now, Pokebball said:

You think our govt is right wing?

 

[The Frankish Reich]

15 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

He wants the liberty and the freedom to live his life as he wants, without the govt and govt elites making it harder.

What has the government "made harder?" How has it impacted his freedom to "live his life as he want?"

He doesn't mention working a non-music job since that factory one. If you don't make money you don't pay taxes. And he didn't earn enough at that factory job to owe much in the way of income taxes.

So: "I'm just not satisfied, it must be the fault of the rich men holding me back." 

I'm not criticizing here. He's expressing a very real and prevalent sentiment. My question is: why is it prevalent? He didn't get a good education, he didn't learn a marketable skill (don't we have a successful plumber posting here?), he started drinking too much ... what the hell does any of that have to do with The Man (i.e., the Rich Man North of Richmond?)?

The message of the song resonates (hah! pun, given the guitar) with the anti-elite Trumpy crowd. But it's the opposite of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps and stop blaming someone else" sentiment. It's actually the "I demand you make my life better and provide insurance for my bad choices" sentiment. I thought that was a liberal sentiment ...

Edited August 21, 2023 by The Frankish Reich

[Joe Ferguson forever]

8 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

What has the government "made harder?" How has it impacted his freedom to "live his life as he want?"

He doesn't mention working a non-music job since that factory one. If you don't make money you don't pay taxes. And he didn't earn enough at that factory job to owe much in the way of income taxes.

So: "I'm just not satisfied, it must be the fault of the rich men holding me back." 

I'm not criticizing here. He's expressing a very real and prevalent sentiment. My question is: why is it prevalent? He didn't get a good education, he didn't learn a marketable skill (don't we have a successful plumber posting here?), he started drinking too much ... what the hell does any of that have to do with The Man (i.e., the Rich Man North of Richmond?)?

I think he might mean that white privilege is mostly a thing of the past.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Joe Ferguson forever

[The Frankish Reich]

7 minutes ago, Joe Ferguson forever said:

I think he might mean that white privilege is mostly a thing of the past.

Ouch. 

You kind of have a point.

If this was a song by a black man blaming the legacy of slavery for holding him back, I think the same people would hate the song.

[BillsFanNC]

28 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

I think he's answered that, hasn't he. He wants the liberty and the freedom to live his life as he wants, without the govt and govt elites making it harder. Shoot, what was he offered to sign with a label? $8 million? 

 

That's the message I'm hearing

 

Yup....and upon getting the $8 million offer, his question to the label exec was...

 

In exchange for what?

 

And of course 'ol Qnaon Frank is completely out of touch....

 

The welfare component from his song wasn't about envy you friggin tool.

 

He says it right in the song...it's about using tax revenue, from a dollar that aint ***** anymore, and throwing it right down the toilet.

25 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

You think our govt is right wing?

 

Just when you think this moron cant get anymore moronic...he outdoes himself.

 

So congrats Billstool...your stupidity is limitless.

[BillStime]

4 minutes ago, BillsFanNC said:

Just when you think this moron cant get anymore moronic...he outdoes himself.

 

So congrats Billstool...your stupidity is limitless.

 

Awe, Karen Psyop is upset - poor thing.  Running into brick walls is clearly not so fun for her...

 

[The Frankish Reich]

Hmm. Oliver thinks the government should subsidize him, or that the meritocracy is failing people like him, or that for the capitalists who live north of him succeed in large part on the backbreaking efforts of people like him.

That's what Woody Guthrie thought.

At least he admitted that he was a Communist.

[TSOL]

10 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Hmm. Oliver thinks the government should subsidize him, or that the meritocracy is failing people like him, or that for the capitalists who live north of him succeed in large part on the backbreaking efforts of people like him.

That's what Woody Guthrie thought.

At least he admitted that he was a Communist.

 

You know it's called folk music for a reason, right

[The Frankish Reich]

1 minute ago, TSOL said:

 

You know it's called folk music for a reason, right

Yes.

The difference is Woody and Dylan and all the great folk singers never punched down, making other downtrodden people the object of their scorn.

[TSOL]

Well, let's hold off on comparing him to Dylan and Woody Guthrie. It's just that this type of song is just, it's for the regular folks. You can enjoy the stories in woody Guthrie's music without being a communist, and you can listen to someone's story through song without having to apply it you your life. 

 

The song has a message people can relate with like all good music throughout history, it doesn't need to be turned into a battle cry 

[The Frankish Reich]

2 minutes ago, TSOL said:

Well, let's hold off on comparing him to Dylan and Woody Guthrie. It's just that this type of song is just, it's for the regular folks. You can enjoy the stories in woody Guthrie's music without being a communist, and you can listen to someone's story through song without having to apply it you your life. 

 

The song has a message people can relate with like all good music throughout history, it doesn't need to be turned into a battle cry 

Oh, I agree.

Look, I'm over analyzing this and I know it. Mostly because this kid would be smarter just to say, "I'm writing in the character of a rural common man frustrated by a distant government that doesn't seem to know I exist." Or even "the song speaks for itself." He's new to the business, so by oversharing his life story he makes it easy for me to nitpick.

But he brings it on himself with that line about fat welfare queens ...

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

27 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Hmm. Oliver thinks the government should subsidize him, or that the meritocracy is failing people like him, or that for the capitalists who live north of him succeed in large part on the backbreaking efforts of people like him.

That's what Woody Guthrie thought.

At least he admitted that he was a Communist.

You knew Woody Guthrie? 

[TSOL]

5 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Oh, I agree.

Look, I'm over analyzing this and I know it. Mostly because this kid would be smarter just to say, "I'm writing in the character of a rural common man frustrated by a distant government that doesn't seem to know I exist." Or even "the song speaks for itself." He's new to the business, so by oversharing his life story he makes it easy for me to nitpick.

But he brings it on himself with that line about fat welfare queens ...

 

 

Hey man, this land is your land this land is my land! 

[The Frankish Reich]

5 minutes ago, leh-nerd skin-erd said:

You knew Woody Guthrie? 

From the Library of Congress:

In February 1940, Guthrie wrote "This Land is Your Land" in reaction to Irving Berlin's song "God Bless America." Guthrie heard Berlin's song repeatedly while he traveled cross-country and became increasingly annoyed that it glossed over the lop-sided distribution of land and wealth that he was observing and had experienced as a child. Although Guthrie was no statistician his observations accurately reflected the fact that, even in the depths of the Depression, nearly 20 percent of the nation's wealth rested with one percent of its population.

Edited August 21, 2023 by The Frankish Reich

[dickleyjones]

10 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Oh, I agree.

Look, I'm over analyzing this and I know it. Mostly because this kid would be smarter just to say, "I'm writing in the character of a rural common man frustrated by a distant government that doesn't seem to know I exist." Or even "the song speaks for itself." He's new to the business, so by oversharing his life story he makes it easy for me to nitpick.

But he brings it on himself with that line about fat welfare queens ...

he may have overshared but you still really don't know much about him. not enough to draw much of a conclusion about how his life brought him to write this song.  it seems to me he is genuine at least.

 

the sentiment resonates. plenty of people feel the same way about welfare - that there are cheaters. it's actually a rather basic, obvious view. there isn't much to dissect.

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

4 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

From the Library of Congress:

In February 1940, Guthrie wrote "This Land is Your Land" in reaction to Irving Berlin's song "God Bless America." Guthrie heard Berlin's song repeatedly while he traveled cross-country and became increasingly annoyed that it glossed over the lop-sided distribution of land and wealth that he was observing and had experienced as a child. Although Guthrie was no statistician his observations accurately reflected the fact that, even in the depths of the Depression, nearly 20 percent of the nation's wealth rested with one percent of its population.

Thanks for clarifying.  I wasn't sure how old you were!

 

BTW-Woody G was a national treasure, warts and all.  Maybe Ollie is on to something. 

[The Frankish Reich]

2 minutes ago, leh-nerd skin-erd said:

BTW-Woody G was a national treasure, warts and all.

I will file this away in my folder "Uncomfortable Areas of Agreement."