No one in my neighborhood, no one at work and no one I keep in regular touch with via the internet is talking about the surprise No. 1 song in the nation, Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond."
But I broke down a few days ago and listened to it on YouTube, watching the tall man with a bushy red beard in a woodsy setting strumming his Gretsch resonator guitar and singing passionately in a Southern drawl about "working all day for bull – – – – pay," being strapped by inflation, sky-high taxes and blaming it on elites north of the Virginia capital.
The song, apparently striking a chord and considered by some as an authentic appraisal of working-class struggle in 2023, racked up nearly 20 million streams and 150,000 downloads once posted online, jetting to the top of Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. So much for Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Morgan Wallen, who are suddenly the also-rans for the first couple of weeks since the song's release. By one account, it is the first time a musician debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 with no previous chart history.
In the song Anthony wishes that nothing that troubles him was true "but it is," "the dollar ain't s – – -,' "folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat," and "I've been selling' my soul, workin' all day," and feeling forgotten by politicians in Washington, D.C., "the rich men north of Richmond," and all other elites in general.
But Anthony, a high school dropout whose real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford, also may have expressed some anti-welfare sentiments: "If you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 pounds/Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of Fudge Rounds." He also links perceived pedophile politicians to "minors on an island somewhere."
Anthony's song comes at a time when aspects of our politics and culture are polarized in ways that recall the days before and after the Civil War.
Given the song's sentiments, it was no surprise that "Rich Men" caught the attention of conservative commentators on radio and TV, including Laura Ingraham of Fox News. Even conservative firebrand U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., called Anthony's song, "the anthem of the forgotten Americans."
That's a smart move in advance of the 2024 elections and also, in some ways, bolsters the ideology of conservative parents groups who are promoting like-minded candidates for school boards across the nation, sometimes calling for taxpayer-funded special elections to steer school districts toward their agendas. They believe they, like Anthony laments, are not being heard and are being taken advantage of.
Anthony reportedly has shied away from media interviews, describing himself as "just some idiot and his guitar," a man, a former paper mill worker earning $14.50 an hour, who, admittedly, has struggled with depression and alcohol abuse.
As I listened to his singing and watched the way he played his guitar, he conveyed a welter of emotions: Pain, anguish and passion. And whether I believed in his lyrics, his outlook and beliefs — he reportedly once said America is the greatest country on Earth but "quickly fading away" — he is clearly speaking his truth, walking his talk and singing what he knows.
Likewise, many of us — and especially political progressives — should not discount what Anthony is drawing attention to, a blue-collar point of view. After all, Fox News moderators asked GOP presidential candidates at the first debate to discuss it, when, in reality, Republicans have long supported corporations and the rich with tax breaks.
The rich men Anthony assails are, of course, not just north of Richmond but also east, south and west of it — and across the globe. And some of them were on the GOP debate stage. His point is, working-class Americans have lost out and fallen into the lower ranks of our increasing economic divide. Consider that the other day Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, noted that blue-collar wages, adjusted for inflation, were actually higher in 1969 than they were this year. At the same time, compensation for supervisors and CEOs has zoomed.
So it was easy, in my mind, to connect the current economic situation in America to the widespread reports that Americans are losing hope and resorting, as Anthony did, to booze and drugs and dying so-called "deaths of despair," which has been a topic from time to time in this column space.
While some conservatives seeking the Oval Office stress traditional Republican values of curbing the national debt (though it's increased under their presidential watches), the need to revamp Social Security and Medicare, the hazards of price controls on prescription drugs and projecting military prowess across the world, Anthony is waving a sign for the Democrats to respect blue-collar workers and the less educated among us.
Looking down on folks like Christopher Anthony Lunsford may prompt them to cast a favorable eye on conservative politicians who historically have never really done them any favors. That would imperil the Democrats' agenda.
Anthony's plaintive song can serve as a reminder for progressives to, once again, make a big deal of showing respect for the working class rather than deriding its members for being hillbillies or dismissing them as bigots.
Richard Bammer is a Reporter staff writer.
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