Washington deserves the scorn it gets in 'Rich Men North of Richmond'

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The song of the summer isn't a hip-hop song or a pop rock hit, it's an authentic, country, folksy ballad, "Rich Men North of Richmond," by singer-songwriter Oliver Anthony.

Sure, Anthony's got a smooth-as-butter voice with just the right twang of country, but that's not why this song is so popular. The lyrics are a devastating takedown of politicians' greed and the way their policies affect the everyman.

The first verse goes:

I've been sellin' my soul, workin' all day / Overtime hours for bull [expletive] pay / So I can sit out here and waste my life away / Drag back home and drown my troubles away.

The chorus follows:

The "rich men north of Richmond" are, of course, politicians in Washington. Anthony describes a world in which he's working as hard as he can to provide for himself but it doesn't feel like it's enough because money doesn't go as far as it used to, partially because of high taxes. He expresses frustration that the folks who run Washington do so thinking they're better and smarter than everyone else and that most people are in the dark about the policies they create. Anthony argues people are not.

In the second verse, Anthony is even more specific:

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.

Some of these accusations are true. Inflation is still higher than it was when Donald Trump was president. Grocery prices rose almost 5% compared to last year. One in five Americans have no emergency savings, and Americans are taking on more credit card debt than ever, presumably to make ends meet or to continue a lifestyle that's no longer feasible in this economy.

Some center-left writers are so stunned by the viral success of the song, the humble nature of its presentation — Anthony's wearing a T-shirt, with a bushy beard, just strumming on a guitar outside, three dogs sitting at his feet — that they can't believe it's the words of his song that are resonating with people. Especially since so many right-wing pundits are singing it's praises.

At the New Yorker, Jay Caspian Kang wrote, "There's something else going on here that can't be explained through some silly game in which you match the desires of a population with the words that appear in a song and then declare that a people — in this case the white working class — has found their anthem."

In the Guardian, Matthew Cantor writes: "Rich Men North of Richmond" punches down. No surprise the right wing loves it." Ouch.

The song isn't as complicated as they wish. Kang ends up crediting the song's success not to the lyrics that so many relate to but just to the fact that people love the "nostalgia the music evokes, and, in Anthony's case, the image of the authentic singer-songwriter." While this may also be true, it's clear the words hit home hard.

Nor is the song nearly as nasty as Cantor surmises. Other than his comment about the obese taking advantage of welfare, which data likely supports, Anthony's slamming wealthy politicians, many who earn six figures a year while passing policies that hurt average folks. And they're so consumed with themselves, they don't really know what's going on in Middle America. If one was going to sum up an average politician, what would he say differently?

How convenient. Both for her and the average person with similar debt. Except she earns an annual salary of about $174,000, unlike the average American with loan debt.

I'm afraid that "Rich Men North of Richmond" hasn't gone viral because it's so folksy, simple and pure — although that surely doesn't hurt, and Anthony's clearly talented — but because the song's lyrics are the kind of thing families lament while poring over stacks of bills or wondering why there isn't more in their back account to spend on their kids.

People can't blame all their problems on the government of course, but it's clear average Americans are struggling to make ends meet due to a combination of a tough economy, poor policies that drive inflation and, yes, some choices of their own. Anthony's song is an anthem for the people who deserve a say in how the country is run.

Washington deserves the scorn it gets in Anthony's song, and not just because it conjures up nostalgia — but because he's right.