In case you have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks, this song has gone viral. In two weeks, it went to #1 on the Billboard top 100 and Oliver Anthony has ten more songs on the top 100 at the time of writing. YouTube has 46 million views in the last two weeks. Read the comments, people from all over the world are resonating with the lyrics.

Politicians are trying to co-opt it into their own camps. The left is saying that this is the alt-right, hate speech while the right is trying to hitch their wagon to the popularity. What both groups are missing is that they are both the rich men, north of Richmond. They are the cause and the subject of the lyrics.

(lyrics)

I’ve been selling my soul, working all day. Overtime hours, bullshit pay so I can sit out here and waste my life away.

Drag back home and drown my troubles away, its a damn shame. What the worlds 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.

Living in a new world with an old soul. Rich men north or Richmond Lord knows they want to have total control. Want to know what you think, want to know what you do and they don’t think that you know and I know that you do. But your dollar ain’t shit and its taxed to no end cause the rich men north of Richmond.

Wish politicians look our for miners, not just minors on an island somewhere. Lord, we got folks in the street ain’t got nothing to eat and the obese bilking welfare. God if your 5’3″ and your 300lbs taxes ought not pay for your bags of fudge rounds. Young men are putting themselves six feet underground cause all this damn country does is keep kicking them down.

Lord its a damn shame what the world’s gotten to. People like me and people like you. Wish I could just wake up and it not be true but it is, oh it is.

Living in the new world, with an old soul. Rich men north or Richmond. Lord knows they want to have total control. Want to know what you think, want to know what you do and they don’t think that you know and I know that you do. But your dollar ain’t shit and its taxed to no end cause the rich men north of Richmond.

I’ve been selling my soul, working all day. Overtime hours, bullshit pay.

There are a lot of subtle gems in the lyrics but I think the two are not as straight forward. The first is working class wages and the inflation of the dollar. I don’t see a lot of pride in working hard because you made poorer life decisions and limited your options, but at least you are doing what needs to be done.

That being said, wealth is stolen not just with taxes but also devaluing the dollar with inflation. That tactic is the pyramid scheme to pay off old debt with less valuable new money. While that works for national debt, the real losers are the people earning $30K/year. This is being done by people who make money lending it and collecting it at the same time or the rich men north of Richmond.

The second subtle reference is caring about minors on an island somewhere. This is a nod to Epstein and a class generally above the law. I don’t think the song is saying that they are condoning the behavior but acknowledging that the class exists in the first place.

End Your Programming Routine: I am not going to say much more today. Watch the video and read the lyrics. Think about what is going on in life. Think about what is going on and you decide if this is hate speech or just the life-size mirror being held up on both sides of the dichotomy. The people are speaking, they just need the vehicle to get their voice heard. You go Oliver Anthony.