RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: 'Rich Men North of Richmond' by Oliver Anthony went viral last week after resonating with a lot of regular Americans. The song was widely shared on social media. Anthony performed for a large crowd in North Carolina over the weekend, on Sunday, August 13, 2023.
The internet sensation opened his show by reading verse Psalm 37 from his Bible. As per Daily Mail, Anthony has shot to the top of the iTunes country list only a few days after his heartfelt blue-collar anthem went viral.
What is 'Rich Men North of Richmond' about?
'Rich Men North Of Richmond' was written by Farmville, Virginia, resident Oliver Anthony, also known as Oliver Anthony Music on streaming services. The singer dreams of being a farmer.
The YouTube video of Anthon singing the song received thousands of comments, with many discussing the reasons why 'Rich Men North of Richmond' struck a deep chord with them.
A self-described ode to "the working class and your average hard-working young man who may have lost hope in the grind of trying to get by," 'Rich Men North Of Richmond' is the raspy-voiced musician's first legitimate hit.
Anthony uses several "vague" words to describe a song whose lyrics do all the talking for him, much like Jason Aldean did before him.
"Maybe that is the problem today, is we just don’t talk enough common sense anymore, you know? We kind of went a little off the deep end," Anthony said in his introduction video.
The first couplet, while admittedly puzzling in and of itself, is made even more perplexing when we consider that Anthony claims the song is him "[drawing] the line on being quiet when I started to see [human trafficking] becoming normalized."
He called it "one of the worst things that a human being can do." However, it sounds like this song is saying the complete opposite of that.
Also, the song's title is quite ambiguous. On one hand, Washington, DC is located just north of Richmond, suggesting that the song is merely a complaint against wealthy politicians stealing from the working man, keeping with Anthony's self-declared centrism.
But as several have noted elsewhere, including on the lyric website Genius, Richmond was also the Confederacy's capitol and northernmost city. Thus, everyone in the North would be wealthy north of Richmond, which clearly portrays a much bleaker image.
Who is Oliver Anthony?
Oliver Anthony, a country musician, joined Twitter in August 2023 and immediately racked up more than 300K followers.
Anthony, a factory worker from Virginia, has become an Internet sensation because of his stirring performance of the song 'Rich Men North of Richmond.'
The song has received nearly 5 million views on YouTube in three days and praise from Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. "This is the anthem of the forgotten Americans who truly support this nation," Greene wrote in a tweet.
His spectacular rise could be linked to the song's promotion on major platforms like Joe Rogan's podcast and the anti-trans political commentator Matt Walsh's.
Who is Oliver Anthony's wife?
While details concerning Anthony's family remain unknown, his music explores a world of relatable emotions and common experiences that resonate throughout the web of interpersonal ties. There is no such information about Anthony's personal life, including his wife or girlfriend.
What is Oliver Anthony's job?
Anthony is a Virginia factory worker who rose to fame overnight after a video of him singing his blue-collar anthem went viral.
Following the online sharing of his song 'Rich Men North of Richmond,' Farmville resident Anthony is proving to be popular with fans.
Anthony uploaded a rendition of Tyler Childers' 'Lady May' in August 2020, making it the first song on his YouTube page. There have been almost 4,000 modest views so far.
According to online rumors, Oliver is a plant used by the industry that profits from astroturfing.
According to the Journal of Business Ethics, astroturfing is the "use of fake grassroots efforts that primarily focus on influencing public opinion and typically are funded by corporations and political entities to form opinions."
What are the lyrics of 'Rich Men North of Richmond'?
The song 'Rich Men North Of Richmond' by Anthony is full of stirring lyrics about the working class. The lyrics read:
"I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day
Overtime hours for bulls**t 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 s**t 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
Well, 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 s**t 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 bulls**t pay."
