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How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

nytimes.com

41–50 of 97 posts

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#44

Working-class hero anthems were once the mainstays of union supporters, free speech absolutists, and anti-war advocates. The Overton window has shifted hard .

Less the Overton window than the establishment priorities. There's a well discussed shift of the "left" from being the working class party, supporting unions etc to the party of the elite establishment. And the "right" occupying the working class champion spot. It was happening for years but really galvanized after occupy wall street when the establishment decided they'd have an easier time giving lip service to social justice political causes to get social license to trample actual working people, and they've been wildly successful.

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#45
post #4

it would completely ring true if it weren't for the racist bit. otherwise great song, tainted

What racist bit?

If there was anything racist in it, the NYT article would have been all over it...

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#46
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the fudge round lyric is one of those typical conservative talking point comments, but the rest of his message is about class struggle and I think many people can appreciate the frustration found in them. The guy seems like a good bean but with a conservative upbringing. Most people should be focused on how washington fails them. I'm partial to this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9n0XA8dks Full disclosu…

> fudge rounds It's a typical conservative talking point, because it's true. https://www.ebtcardbalance.com/georgia-ebt-food-list-ef9 > From the USDA guidelines above, you can purchase the following items using your EBT card. > Soft drinks > Candy > Cookies > Snack crackers > Ice cream > Seafood such as lobster and shellfish > Steaks > Bakery cakes I followed a woman in Publix the other day who used a SNAP card to pu…

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Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#47
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it really means that the US political compass is very right-wing. Also that there is a semantic difference between being left wing in the US and left wing in most of the world. Historically, those supporting the king were on his right, and those opposing him on his left. Really basically, during the restoration, the far-right was composed of anti-Republicans (old nobles mostly), the right wanted to increase the c…

> Historically, those supporting the king were on his right, and those opposing him on his left. Kings typically didn't allow their opposition a seat at the table. Where the right wing/left wing thing actually came from was a seating arrangement in the French Parliament during the French Revolution (in this case it was the King who didn't have a seat at the table). It only made sense for a short time even then. It wa…

Which libertarians, American or other? Very different.

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#48
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the fudge round lyric is one of those typical conservative talking point comments, but the rest of his message is about class struggle and I think many people can appreciate the frustration found in them. The guy seems like a good bean but with a conservative upbringing. Most people should be focused on how washington fails them. I'm partial to this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9n0XA8dks Full disclosu…

> fudge rounds It's a typical conservative talking point, because it's true. https://www.ebtcardbalance.com/georgia-ebt-food-list-ef9 > From the USDA guidelines above, you can purchase the following items using your EBT card. > Soft drinks > Candy > Cookies > Snack crackers > Ice cream > Seafood such as lobster and shellfish > Steaks > Bakery cakes I followed a woman in Publix the other day who used a SNAP card to pu…

So you are saying poor people should only eat bad, cheap food? What's your point exactly?

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#49
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The song was good, the vibe/message to me was somewhere between "working class hero" and that song from the Simpsons episode where homer is the manager for "lurlene" the country singer: "you work all day for some old man, sweat and break your back..." not to be taken too seriously but still representative of real feelings. The insane response in particular by rolling stone about "Reagan era tropes" and other fearmong…

Well, it is dangerous. In classic right wing fashion, it starts off talking about economic elites, but pretty quickly starts running off into welfare abusers and people who don't know how to properly feed themselves using benefits, as if this is any significant fraction of the ills plaguing our society. Half the song is about resentment towards other poor/working class people.

You nailed it - singing about low pay, hard conditions, and evil bosses is a folk music tradition. But bitching about the obese on welfare eating fudge are decidedly NOT common themes in this style of music.

Here is another version of the music video that illustrates the message (substitute "fudge" for "cookies")..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlL2sKWHaQ0

Re: How ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ Reached the Top of the Charts

#50

I would wager it struck a chord with more than "conservative pundits". Not only judging by its popularity, but messaging. It's a song about class struggle, not party politics. There are lots of people on both sides who've been hit hard economically. And even those that are doing fine can relate to not feeling represented by politicians in DC. Oh, and the guy's voice is awesome.

Yeah, the fed money printer made a lot of really wealthy people even more wealthy, while the ruling class mocked the idea of it being inflationary (bald faced lying). And yet here we are with food and housing out of control, and the only people suffering are the poor and middle class. That song speaks to a lot of people.

Except most of that money went into their pockets and not buying food. So how could it affect food prices? The issue is that companies got greedy and decided to charge more because they thought they could get away with it.

The money printer went mostly to the top who bought real-estate and other property. Some of it went to regular people and a lot of that went to pay down debt.

Money printing doesn't equal inflation. Inflation happens when producers decide to raise prices. That could be for many reasons. Record profits suggests it wasn't the cost of their inputs.

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