In an ironic twist, Oliver Anthony, the rural Virginia musician who sang the viral "Rich Men North of Richmond" tune and who's been a darling to right wingers, released a video in which he slams Republicans for embracing the song, which has been played or referenced constantly on right-wing media. In part, he said about the Republican candidates at the first debate:
“That song is written about the people on that stage. And a lot more, too, not just them. But definitely them...For them to have to sit there and listen to that, that cracks me up. It was funny kind of seeing the response to it. That song has nothing to do with Joe Biden, you know? It’s a lot bigger than Joe Biden. [snip]
It’s aggravating seeing people on conservative news try to identify with me like I’m one of them. It’s aggravating seeing certain musicians and politicians act like we’re buddies and act like we’re fighting the same struggle here, like that we’re trying to present the same message.” (our emphasis)
While that's a welcome clarification of his beliefs, the song still contains traditional dog whistles on racial / cultural issues, specifically welfare recipients that right wingers have always associated with African Americans. Anthony may now be aware of that, saying:
“The music side is exciting, and all the Billboard, iTunes charts and all that crap ― that’s great. But the exciting part’s been the conversations I’ve had with people and the things I’ve learned just in a couple weeks about the human spirit, and about all sorts of other things.” (our emphasis)
In any event, for now he seems to have pulled the rug out from under right-wing politicians and propagandists who were exploiting his song to push a racist, anti-government, culture war message. We'd like to see him, as a thumb in the eye to those on the right, perform a duet with British artist Billy Bragg on his real blue collar anthem, "Rich Men Earning North of A Million," which we posted yesterday. Just leave Jason Aldean out of it.