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- cross-posted to:
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Lyrics:
https://genius.com/Oliver-anthony-rich-men-north-of-richmond-lyrics
[Verse 1] I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day Overtime hours for bulls*** pay So I can sit out here and waste my life away Drag back home and drown my troubles away
[Pre-Chorus] 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
[Chorus] 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*** and it’s taxed to no end 'Cause of rich men north of Richmond
[Verse 2] 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
[Verse 3] Well, God, if you’re five-foot-three and you’re three-hundred 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
[Pre-Chorus] 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
[Chorus] 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*** and it’s taxed to no end 'Cause of rich men north of Richmond
[Outro] I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day Overtime hours for bulls*** pay
Is he wrong though? People do abuse welfare and food stamps. I and everyone else I grew up around were on them and I saw it every day.
That’s a symptom, not the cause. The anger is misdirected.
What is the cause?
The corporations. The ones that bribe the rich men north of Richmond to not enact laws so they can keep making a dishonest dollar on the suffering of these 5’3" 300 lb sugar addicted people without money.
I don’t get how this part of this song exists within the rest of the song. It’s entirely antithetical.
I agree with you there. I’m all for banning harmful food additives and warnings for excess calories and sugar like many other countries have done. I think large corporations like McDonald’s, Coke, Nestle, are largely responsible for the obesity epidemic by designing foods to be addictive without any regards to the persons consuming them health.
So you should control what poor people eat?
Isn’t that the complete opposite of the rest of the songs message?
I’m all for banning harmful food additives and warnings for excess calories and sugar like many other countries have done.
The song’s message is about rich people passing laws that benefit other rich people at the cost of the poor. Not the government having laws altogether.
The songs message is a class struggle.
Except instead of us vs the rich people, he did us vs the rich people and us vs the poors. Which makes no sense.
I took it as: us vs people abusing the system (both rich and poor that are riding off the backs of working people)
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