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'Rich Men North of Richmond' Singer Oliver Anthony Slams Use of Song at Republican Debate: 'I Wrote That Song About Those People'

https://themessenger.com/entertainment/oliver-anthony-rich-men-north-of-richmond-republican-debate

Oliver Anthony criticizes conservatives who try to align themselves with him in a new video statement posted to YouTube.

'Rich Men North of Richmond' Singer Oliver Anthony Slams Use of Song at Republican Debate: 'I Wrote That Song About Those People'

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renrenPDX

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Oddly I'm not bothered by that line so much. I'm more disappointed with the title and the chorus. Richmond, being the capital of Virginia was a border state of the Civil War. Yes technically Washington DC is very much north of Richmond, but I think the song resonates more with a certain crowd due to the former reason vs the latter.

The song could have been better IMO if it targeted LOCAL governments by state, instead of trying to blame Rich Men North of Richmond. As if Rich Men South of Richmond wasn't a thing...

FuglyDuck

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Also the line about “I wish they’d care more about miners than minors” is a right wing, qanon reference to Epstein’s victims. Basically saying that he wishes they’d protect coal country jobs over protecting kids from being sex trafficked.

on NPR

In other songs he’s basically flaking for the qanon nutters.

boredtortoise

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I heard that line as "hey rich people stop fucking kids" as Epstein & the other networks are constantly connected to right wingers

FuglyDuck

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“Minors on an island” is a qanon reference to Epstein and sex trafficking, as part of the satanic cabal that conspired to… whatever… trump.

In other songs, he’s referencing other things- all of them code phrases used by qanon to talk about their whackadoodle theories without tripping algos to squash the disinformation.

It’s entirely possible that he doesn’t understand that- but it’s also entirely possible I’m a sentient turnip speaking to you from the future.

Further the way the song went viral is… not an accident. Somebody… made it go viral, gaming algos in a way to land it on billboard’s top songs list. Something is not what it seems. It might be that he’s totally just freaking clueless- but I really really doubt it.

KIM_JONG_JUICEBOX

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This is quite a cynical take.

I assumed he was calling out pedophiles.

Also it seems like he came out against the Republican take on his line about welfare recipients. Which seems like it would go against the idea of him being some qanon deep cover plant.

His audience OTOH is maybe a different story.

FuglyDuck

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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…

I’m not being cynical at all. I’m just not twisting his words: that’s the exact quote of verse two’s start.

He’s not calling out pedos. He’s calling government out for “caring more” about epstein’s child sec trafficking than about coal miners. And let’s be honest- most of the economic woes of coal country are from clinging to an industry that’s been dying for the last 2 decades.

Further, the line “minors on an island” is a qanon reference. He makes other wanton references in other songs. Enough to the extent that it is difficult to not assume he’s qanon. Most people would have just directly called out Epstein, right?

boredtortoise

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Yes qanonists tried to spin the actual right winger Epstein's & the other group's sex trafficking, child sexual abuse etc to be a progressive conspiracy or something.

Until Ron Watkins became known

But yes it's hard to know which the singer meant

rev

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i’m not buying it. Sure he could be a confederate apologist but if you are writing a song about some rich old dudes in DC screwing the rest of us over its some hard rhymes. When I heard the song he pronounced the word “rich men” and “richmond” nearly identically. I was like what does “rich men north of rich men” mean, then later I heard “richmond north of richmond”

Looking at the lyrics he was complaining that we have people in the streets with no food to eat while there are obese people getting fat on welfare. Sounds like he thinks government is incompetent.

I saw a stat years ago that if we took all the money we spent each year on welfare and just gave the people those programs were trying to help straight cash we would have 5x the amount needed to push them all over the poverty line.

ShaggySnacks

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I saw a stat years ago that if we took all the money we spent each year on welfare and just gave the people those programs were trying to help straight cash we would have 5x the amount needed to push them all over the poverty line.

*Something, something can't give money to poor people. Something, something, give money to rich people. *

The bullshit argument that is all about hating and punishing poor people. With nice extra boot lick the rich.

rev

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Yeah I heard that argument from the “right” and “left” yeah people would gamble all their money away then what.

Its basic income, if you want more go produce something. But we should treat people like adults and stop treating them like children.

Franzia

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Sure but I doubt whoever wrote this aong actually intended for the listener to have a reasonable takeaway.

somethingsnappy

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I don't think Virginia was technically a border state in the civil war? MD. WV, and KY were southern states blanketing Virginia. When the government moved through Baltimore, didn't they have to point federal hill and Fort McHenry cannons at Baltimore to stop the city from rioting against the government army?

Someology

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WV and MD were both Northern states in the Civil War. Virginia borders them and was the northern border of The Confederacy.

Edit to add: National Geographic article with a map showing the border. https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/union-confederacy/