• 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.