• Liz@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        It’s not exactly a lyrical masterpiece.

        Rich Men North of Richmond Lyrics

        [Verse 1]
        I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day
        Overtime hours for bullshit 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 shit 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 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

        [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 shit 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 bullshit pay

        • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          These lyrics reflect completely legitimate working class anxieties but supports the system that perpetuates them. “Taxed to no end,” the corporate tax rate has been brought down by lobbying for decades. The obese focus is on one hand legit since eating like shit is cheap, but it has blinders on about why that is, since it’s not convenient to their point.

          These parts are all completely legit, although the lyrics are pretty bad. The same things have been said by much better voices in much better ways.

          I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day

          Overtime hours for bullshit pay

          So I can sit out here and waste my life away

          Drag back home and drown my troubles away

          Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground

          ‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down

          Overall it’s a great example of politics in America right now and how the working class is exploited by the right wing, as well as how liberal media, in the mainstream “dialogue,” fails to address the working class anxieties and instead focuses on the “controversy” of the song. The coverage isn’t really about the lyrics, it’s about the way people are interpreting them politically, and it all favors and perpetuates the exact same system.

          • Liz@midwest.social
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, I totally agree with everything you said. The anxieties felt by people on the far right are real, they’ve just got a skewed perception of the cause of their problems.

          • cantstopthesignal@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            So persecuted that a bunch of rich guys put their thumbs on the scale and ascended his music to the charts because they agreed with the message. The Rich Men North of Richmond want total control, no not the ones I agree with, the other ones.