“Rich Men North of Richmond” – Not Good.

It’s 2023.  Everything is political.  It doesn’t need to be, but it is.  For someone with equal disgust for Democrats and Republicans, I have to tell y’all who are all political about everything… you make everything suck.  Seriously, you take all the fun out of life.  I pray for you to find happiness and turn off the TV or social media long enough to have some tacos and give your kids a hug and appreciate how good you have it. 

I recently wrote about protest songs and I said most of them are awful.  Left or Right, most of them are just not very good.  Now we have a song that’s, to borrow from Finn McKenty, just three minutes of complaining, not really left or right, and it is not good either.  He calls himself a centrist, and it is a very simplistic, centrist, populist lament.  Dude can sing, but his song is, I’m sorry, not good.

As a songwriter, I don’t say that lightly.  I don’t want anyone saying my songs are not good, but I also admit, not everything I write is great.  But as a songwriter, as someone who has studied songwriting since the early 90’s, I can tell you this is a poorly written song.  In six months, all of you championing this song will be saying, “What’s the name of that guy?  You know, the ginger with the beard, the song about politicians?” 

I have no issue with Oliver Anthony.  Seems like an alright guy.  It’s not his fault that all this is happening, he just performed his song and people ran with it.  I hope he gets a good payday out of it, but he’s not Jason Aldean, he won’t be number one on Apple Music again this time next year.  Again, I don’t blame him, I blame all of you for propping him up just to let him take the fall.  Will you be downloading his next song?  Will you buy a shirt?  Go to a show?  Or is he just the latest mascot?

You may say, “Okay, but we have to support people on our side.”  But is he on your side?  He’s just complaining about his job and the government.  I have no issue with that, but what makes his complaining different than the other three hundred million Americans doing the same thing?  His Dobro?  Okay, that’s pretty cool, but in 2023, we don’t get fifteen minutes of fame, we get fifteen seconds of fame, and his are about up. 

I somewhat understand supporting Jason Aldean on principle, he’s a part of the machine, he has a large amount of social capital to invest that the progressive industry can’t ignore.  But, what are the odds Oliver Anthony is a meme in six months?  Right next to the “hide yo kids, hide yo wife” guy?  I don’t want that for him. 

If you’re sick and tired of all of us being pitted against each other because of our differences, stop encouraging it.  I had this conversation Saturday night with a couple of friends in regard to working with people musically.  Travis being different from me was a part of why I wanted to work with him.  We’re similar enough that he can see where I’m coming from, but different enough that he can see (or hear, to be accurate) things that I can’t.  I don’t just want his point-of-view, I need it.  How do I grow artistically if I’m not challenged?  How does he better understand me if he’s not confronted with the things we disagree on? 

And in the process, you know what?  We’ve become friends.  Funny how that works, getting to know someone a little different than you and seeing the 10,000 things you have in common dwarfing the 5 things you disagree about.  Not so hard to relate to someone then.

Personally, much like Finn says at the end of that video (and I don’t always agree with him 100% either), I’m tired of this shit.  I have hills to die on, but it’s not every hill.  So, in your head, answer yourself – do you really like this song, or do you just feel small and like this song because you feel it speaks for you?  It’s okay if it’s the latter, but accept that for what it is and don’t make it into something it’s not.  There are people who worship the government, but the overwhelming majority of us, left, right or center, don’t and we all, to some degree, can relate to this song.  So, treat it for what it is and judge it solely on its merits. 

At the end of the day, we’re all a part of this culture.  You can get swept up by it and let the tide carry you along, or you can plant your feet in the sand and decide what part you want to play in it.  You choose, but we have to stop treating every single little thing like the society hinges on the outcome of this one little thing, whether it be an election or a song or whatever.  Time marches on for all of us and we’re not going to be judged on the actions of our culture, we’re going to be judged on how we acted in our culture. 

End of rant.