About half a month ago I stumbled on Oliver Anthony's song "Rich men north of Richmond". Today I found your song "It's not the poor folk", good sir. Cannot hold hold myself back and not through in a penny. Hope I will not sound naive or detachted: Due to the sins of a rich man World apart is torn. Those who could stand together Are at each others throats. Gays fight for right to marry Workmen - for right to eat None of it really matters In the rich man's spit Sitting on bag of dollars Sucking on fat cigar Beef among folks is a bonus For rich men to stay where they are. People could be united, But bitterness narrows sight: When every day is a nightmare, With woe eyes may come blind. But stay true to your ideals, In those you love seek worth: Don't trust lies of puppeteers The self-proclaimed kings round the world.

These lyrics are take my breath away. I swear this epitomizes 2023.

"To make mutual benefit our sole occupation." Words to live by. As someone pointed out, "Rich Men North of Richmond" delves into the pain of our circumstances. But it does not delve into any solutions. Your piece does. Keep writing and singing.

Great song! While Oliver's lyrics mean different things to different folks, I didn't feel he blamed welfare. Instead, I see the "Rich Men" song addressing the dichotomy of a failed welfare system, and also the powerful and tyrannical political and corporate entities that play a significant role in shaping that system. It portrays a system in crisis; a system that is edging towards a 2 tier economy. It would be great if more songwriters followed your lead of responding with their art, as I believe it would create a cultural shift in music emotionally, and with a message for the new century.

Wonderful, Fabulous, Lovely, and Inspiring ...lifts my mind and my soul. Thank You dear Seth ... Thank You.

'Freedom is not your traditional values [...] Freedom is freedom to move and disobey To rely on one another to keep Would be kings at bay' SO GOOD :)

And thus the discussion is held in song. I love it. Edit: Great, now I have another song to go on repeat for who knows how many times.

"not just the politicians, but those bourgeois devils" second favorite line. "Rise Proletariat and make them cower!" Favorite line

Great job! You embody the true spirit of Irish folk as it echoes through the whole world.

Great song, as someone with cerebral palsy thanks for looking out for the vulnerable.

Pete Seeger would be proud! ❤

Comrade Seth Staton Watkins?

Thank you. It's scary, how everyone latched onto the pain in that song & never stopped to question the decision to kick down.

I like how the end doesn't get way too aspirated and overdone but also it doesn't sound flat.

The more I liszen to this, the more I love it ❤ Really a great song with a great message.

Whole heartily agree here, both songs are amazing but I agree with the message that you put forth more.

Hallelujah! What a song. And I hope you have more original songs in you, because you'll have a big impact with your marvelous voice and great musicianship. 🤩🤩

"We were born of the night. We live in it. We will die in it. But tomorrow the light will be for the most, for all those who mourn the night today, for whom the day is denied, for whom death is a gift, for whom life is prohibited. For all the light. For everyone everything. For us the pain and anguish, for us the joyful rebellion, for us the denied future, for us the insurrectionary dignity. Nothing for us."-Fragment of the 4th declaration of the lacandona Jungle

Rise proletariat and make them cower!

Excellent. Its full circle that the country's people sing about the corporatism being lived. Moving on to justice, freedom & love like the Hammer song is easier now. 🎉

No hate to Anthony. He is an amazing artist and I sympathize with his song but I personally felt he missed the mark on this one.

"Rise Proletariat and make them cower!" Grandpa Marx would be proud.

Keep up the good work, comrade. You speak for more of us than you know

Your song hits it perfectly. Our corporate overlords, which really have wound up not much different than fuedal lords when the people have no choice but to fall in line or wind up homeless and dying, have done such a good job of directiong the peoples anger towards the wrong groups. Yeah, the vast majority of politicians have done a terrible job of passing laws and funding programs that help and support us, the people. Theyve gutted social safetey nets and programs to help the poor, the sick and infirm. But the CEOs, the Board of Directors and the rich men who own these companies claiming record profits year after year are the real enemies. They are the ones forcing people into long hours for terrible pay. They dont provide a living wage while they pocket millions hand over fist. They tell you to blame inflation, blame the politicians, to blame the poor. But they are the problem. Not your fellow man. Your corporate masters run the show. Blame them. Cause its their fault.

Thank you for this Seth! Pointing out it’s the corporate greed that is keeping us down and not the poor. Stand together is the only way we can make change!

Holy shit that's an awesome song dude!❤❤❤

RAISE THE SCARLET STANDARD! SOLIDARITY! ✊✊✊

It's so awesome to hear an original Seth! This song is beautiful! Well done mate! ❤🎉 ✊️✊️✊️

What key is this in? I need to learn to play it!

My sister is on welfare. She has a rare form of epilepsy that is resistaint to therapy and surgery. She has 1 or 2 seiziures a week. She cant hold down an entry job when she cant realible work a full day (not her fault). She looks like a healty young women. But she gets disapproving looks from strangers when they see her EBT card. The vast majority of wellfare recipients are not cheating.

Perfection

I need the chords please 🙏 been playing guitar for 20 years but still cant play by ear 😢

Hell yeah. This is what I am talking about

Well said!

Keep it up!! Culture is such a huge part of any revolutionary movement. Love this so much.

underrated

Brilliant.

Hear! Hear! My fellow workers!

Keep it up Irishman

乐声中充满难以掩饰的悲怆，夹杂着对未竟的事业的遗憾，还有一丝飘渺的希望。

would it be possible to find the chords for this somewhere

is there piano sheet music for this?

FYI, this is what the UK Guardian newspaper had to say about "Rich Men North of Richmond" on Wednesday of this week. Unfortunately most non-KZfaq weblinks vanish into black holes, so here's the text: In Rich Men North of Richmond, Oliver Anthony, a bushy-bearded former North Carolina factory worker, sings passionately about working hard for “bullshit pay”. Armed with just a guitar and his powerful voice, he identifies the source of the problem: “rich men north of Richmond” - federal politicians - who “want to have total control”. The song laments homelessness - “folks in the street ain’t got nothin’ to eat” - and a national suicide crisis: “Young men are putting themselves six feet in the ground / ’Cause all this damn country does is keep on kicking them down.” So far, so resonant: the song has collected more than 12m views on KZfaq alone, and on Tuesday afternoon, it sat at No 3 on Spotify’s Top 50 - USA list. But things start to feel a little less empathetic when Anthony starts complaining about “the obese milking welfare”, reasoning that “if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds”. We can all agree that politicians have caused many of America’s problems; it’s harder to argue that our country is being destroyed by short, overweight chocolate enthusiasts. He also rails against taxation, which he says means “your dollar ain’t shit”. The supposed welfare abuse sounds like a rightwing talking point, and Anthony doesn’t appear to have considered that the nefarious fudge rounds might be feeding the very people he mentioned with nothing to eat. But Anthony claims to “sit pretty dead center” when it comes to politics, according to a video filmed in his car the day before the video was released. “I remember as a kid the conservatives wanting war, and me not understanding that. And I remember a lot of the controversies when the left took office, and it seems like, you know, both sides serve the same master.” Still, a reference to politicians “looking out for minors on an island somewhere” - apparently a reference to Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to elite figures - has also prompted speculation that Anthony could be nodding to QAnon, the far-right conspiracy theory positing that Democrats and Hollywood stars are drinking the blood of children. In the car video, Anthony claims child trafficking has become “normalized”, though what he’s referring to isn’t clear. Jason Aldean’s Try That in a Small Town sums up the delusions of the right wing . It’s no surprise, then, that the song has been an enormous hit among the loudest rightwingers: Kari Lake, former candidate for Arizona governor, calls it “the anthem of this moment in American history”. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene calls it “the anthem of the forgotten Americans who truly support this nation and unfortunately the world”. The far-right activist Jack Posobiec can’t “even remember the last time a new song hit me like this”. The rightwing commentator Matt Walsh, meanwhile, claims the “song is raw and authentic … Everything around us is fake. A guy in the woods pouring his heart over his guitar is real.” Wait till Walsh hears about Bon Iver in 2007, or Ed Sheeran busking in a train station, or pretty much anyone at a New York open mic on a Wednesday night. Still, these politicians and provocateurs have helped Anthony rise from obscure singer-songwriter to darling of the right in record time - sparking questions over how authentically viral his rise has been. On Twitter, Jason Howerton, who advertises himself on LinkedIn as having “helped grow media companies and political influencers grow their social media footprint exponentially”, has been a major proponent of Anthony’s work, sharing the musician’s life story in a thread, offering to finance an album - which the rightwing country singer John Rich apparently agreed to produce - and announcing the musician had just joined Twitter. It does feel remarkable that Anthony decided to share his life story on KZfaq a day before releasing a video that went viral. But Howerton denies any claims of astroturfing - in which powerful figures orchestrate supposed grassroots campaigns - and, as Chris Willman writes in Variety, there’s no clear evidence of it. And whether or not it was promoted by outside forces, the song has clearly struck a genuine chord with listeners. There are many unknown performers who can work wonders with just a guitar, and who are equally deserving of a platform, but there is no denying Anthony’s voice packs a punch. Compared with the likes of Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and the rightwingers sharing his song, he also seems to have a modicum of empathy. Granted, the standards are incredibly low. But it’s difficult to imagine any of those figures offering listeners a sign-off like Anthony’s: “I hope wherever you are in the world listening to this, and whatever it is that you’re trying to do with your life, I hope that you succeed.” It would be nice if he’d apply that apparently heartfelt philosophy to his own lyrics. Winston Marshall, formerly of Mumford and Sons, compared Anthony to Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie - but if either of them ever recorded a song mocking the poorest of the poor, it’s been lost to history. If Anthony wants to keep moving upward, he should aim his punches in the same direction. Postscript: Somewhat ironically, at a time when poverty is increasing here at the fastest rate for decades, we have a Prime Minister who lives, well, east of Richmond, Yorkshire, and is the richest PM this country has ever had, being (in US$ terms) a billionaire.

Well, this isn't exactly a response because it is directed at a completely different audience. If you think Oliver and the millions of people who this song speaks to lean communist or socialist or gravitate to terms like "proletariat" and "bourgeoisie", you are very much mistaken. That's a completely different crowd. To me it's like saying, "I'd like to respond to the song 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' with the song 'Casey Jones' ". They share some similarities but are utterly different. Oliver objects to the abuse of power, not to the wealth. He wants to be taxed less so people like him can keep more of the money they earn. His dollar isn't shit because the politicians along with the Fed have deflated the currency and cause massive inflation by spending trillions on programs that amount to a bunch of nothing. He's tired of subsidizing the shitty dietary choices of people who could be working but instead sit around and milk the system, knowing that the resulting diabetes they'll incur means he'll also get to pay for their complicated heath care needs to boot. He's tired of seeing the opioid crisis claiming young men because government is running interference for Big Pharma and DC refuses to close the border thus allowing tons of fentanyl easy entry into the US. I'm sure he's got nothing against the millions "rich men" all around this country that start businesses, pay a ton in taxes, employ people, or otherwise manage to accumulate 2.2 million dollars (the current definition of rich) in assets over time - cause he's soon going to be one of those people. Obviously, the song is titled this way because it sounds more musical than the "Politicians, lobbyists, autocrats, and deep staters in DC". Anyway, love your music.

Thank you soooo much!!! I recently retired out a few yeas early due to an on the job injury, I've always been left leaning, but as I found out several years ago after my injury, and time on my hands, that an American moderate of left leaner was sitting on the sidelines, happy with the status quo, and right of center in any other country on the planet. Fast forward 5-6yrs, I've claimed land and firmly planted my flag in southwest region of the left, by most international standards. Living in a Midwest flyover red state, and a town located between the suburbs and "when the hell is there going to be an exit so I can pee!", hasn't been the best, but I've learned there are more lefties in rural and semi rural areas than I ever thought, but boy oh boy is everyone in love with Oliver's song, and I'm the only one in my town calling BS on it's intentions, and the dog whistles. Started to feel like maybe I had a bad take on this one, with all the flack I was getting, but seeing a couple articles today, and now this song, this beautifully written and performed song, I feel a great weight off my shoulders, glad I could rely on you, you can rely on me anytime!!

This is brilliant. x

Perfect

I am reading all of your responses, Seth-I hear you; and I’m listening… 💚💚💚

It's true Seth . Small business is beautiful . The small little shops and such things . Our food and our clothing should not be a right for power for politicians . BE A REBEL . Dont look left or right . But look to those who need . The family struggling to feed themselves , the veteran sleeping out on the street . The disabled person , told that they are useless and a waste of space , time and money . We tried Left it didnt work . We tried Right, same thing . But we havent tried Compassion yet . Compassion is not for whimps it is strength. The strongest thing . Slainte my Irish American cousin. This a great song with truth going all the way through it.

awesome song and a great way to make your point. I thin k you have a talent for writing songs and should do more of your own songs. Thank you for introducing me to the music of Oliver I have just listened to his song and my take on it is a common complaint about welfare louts and governments not doing enough for the worker. I have also enjoyed your comments in response to the comments section most entertaining and insightful.

My two cents (for what it's worth as a faceless voice on the internet): I don't believe Anthony's lyric, "Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat And the obese milkin' welfare," is about blaming social welfare for the country's problems. It's about how welfare was been misappropriated and abused. As a right-leaning centrist, I agree with points from both songs, and I think this song is very well-written. Well done, Seth.

The song “Rich men north of Richmond “ is about the corrupt politicians in DC that are destroying the US. If you listen/read the lyrics it says “ ‘Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end ‘cause the rich men north of Richmond “ those lyrics are in regards to the increasing inflation that we are currently experiencing and taxes and the reference to them wanting total control and knowing what you think and what you do. The song is not blaming poor people. The reference to obese people milking the welfare system comes after stating that there are folks in the street with nothing eat. It shows the ridiculous policies that these politicians make and how they foolishly spend tax revenue.

My coworkers can't even work more than 64 hours without them taking out so much in taxes that the check is worth less than what it was with less hours. Sorry but I think a lot of it is the government that's keeping us down. That's not to say that there's not corporate laundering as well in fact that's another big part of what's corrupting our government

Common Seth W

well yes....but how do a lot of those politicians come to power...corporate backings....

So many haters here😞😞😞 sigh…

I know most of your listeners are socialist, but to me as MAGA, 95% of your song is gold. It is time to end worker exploitation, let regular people own houses, and provide for the homeless. Just remember that most of the exploitation is done by those against whom we have no redress. I worked hard to improve, then quit my factory job and am better off now going to drive truck. I will never be able to beat the tax machine like that. Please think on this: Very few corporations could give workers a universal fifty percent wage increase just by cutting out the grease at the top. The government complex could give workers a universal fifty percent wage increase by cutting out income tax. Politicians need the money even less than CEOs. If they had really wanted to fix homelessness and poverty, they could have done it with the budget they have. But they never will, so its up to us, the workers, to do it ourselves. And until our taxes lower, the politicians make it too difficult to feed ourselves, let alone our neighbors.

I always took Anthony as talking about the people who abuse the system both corporate and welfare. I worked in welfare for a while- it's a sad truth that it is a system that is very abused and unfortunately it hurts the folks who need welfare the most. One thing you learn on the job is you can't take it personal because it will kill you. But seeing many fall through the cracks and other's fly by on welfare out of laziness, resulting in good kids turning to drugs and crime to get by, then I hear folks say "it's the hood kids were born bad and some bull'"...oh I get Anthony's cynical thoughts on it.

Well said

Absolutely ✊🏴🇨🇮🇵🇸🇨🇺🇻🇪🇻🇳❤️

So what are you trying to say in the verse about “I say all are your brothers and none are your enemies so as long as the rich men they suffer no penalties”? Are you saying that the “corporate Kings” or “rich men north of Richmond” (aka politicians which is what I think he was referring to) should suffer no penalties because in both songs you’re blaming a higher power which should be more to the point than anything else in either song

this is a good song, tho i disagree with your interpretation of some of Olivers lyrics, though i will not sit here and say that my way of interpretation the lyrics are the right one either, but im thinking these are the lyrics you are talking about in your song (Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat And the obese milkin' welfare Well, God, if you're five-foot-three and you're three-hundred 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) the way i see these lyrics, are that some off the biggest problems in america today, is obesity, homelessness and folks never being able to afford a place to live on their own No matter how hard they work, and when he says "Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down" i think he means both the hard working folks and the obese, and homeless people, the reason i think that is because it has become a business for Corporations and dirty politicians to keep obese and homeless people, homeless and obese, there are an insane amount of money involved and so they keep the people homeless and obese by "kicking them down" instead of taking care of the problem also he doesn't mention anything about disabled people either like you do in your response, another thing is that Corporation greed and the rich getting richer is exactly the thing he is singing about both in this song and in alot of his other songs hence the name "rich men north of richmond", he is singing about how corporations own everything in america and they do, they own the wealth the resources the land and yes even the "welfare" it is a place of pure corruption and everybody knows it but nobody can or will do anything. anyway that's my rant.

I'm guessing you didn't know about corporate welfare... Billons of dollars to corporations from the government. Same root problem that social welfare has. The government is keeping us all down.

Heck yeah!

Great song! I just think you kind of missed the point of Anthoney's song The song talks about government overreach and addreses the corruption of the current system, making politicians and their corporate friends richer at the cost of the working class being oppressed. The only refrence he makes to wellfare is his disaproval of people who are obese and able to work but have through their lifestyle become a burden on society. He never says anything against anyone who needs wellfare due to actual medical conditions or circumstances they have no control over. Just thought I would add my 2 cents I love your music Seth. Keep en coming😂

Speak truth to power comrade!

While I liked rich men and it was refreshing to see a political country song not just shit on the left, the welfare and 300 lb verses really sat poorly with me. Thanks for making this. Some of these responses in the comments are a big oof though, if not unexpected.

First Yet Again! ❤🎉

Down with Coporate Kings!🔥 Beautiful song! A big fan as always!

Seth. The problem is the common man no longer has the means of production. The real economy is distributivist, not capitalist=socialist. Read Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum and Pope Pius XII Quadragessimo Anno.

As someone who lives in the Appalachians, someone who was born in Welch West Virginia and the granddaughter of a coal miner this song tells the truth where Anthony mussed the problem with his. And this song musically is better

Best since the great Luke Kelly

Absolutely based 10/10 song

Seth, thank you so much for writing and singing this. It's really distressing to see a song being lauded by the far right being loved by some people with 'left' leaning tendencies too. How quick people will want to blame the poor and the sick for their problems. I saw this last night on Spotify and I couldn't believe it, I was really happy!

Any song that inspires the people moves my heart keep up the good work

I'm pretty sure that's he's calling out both corporate and government bullshittery

You didn't really listen to the message if you think it's social welfare that he was singing about. The song is more than the fact you have people leeching off the tax payer. It's about the policies that the Rich Men North of Richmond have been putting out and the real harm it's doing to the everyday man. It's about being fed up with the bullshit no matter what it is, be it corporate or otherwise.

Brilliant

Uhm Seth, who took the money from the rich to be corrupted in the first place? Politicians. He is singing about the oligarchs and ruling class as a whole.

Wait, you're American? I thought you were Irish

No gods no kings

It is still very funny how easily you put on an irish accent when *singing but your speaking accent is so thickly american. Speaking and singing are different skills I suppose.

Beautiful song!!!!

Are you American ? Im so sorry for not pickingupyouraccent earlierif so (and if so wow you kinda screwed me wit ya irish rebel music lol still love your voice no matter what race you may be)

The poor are not 300 pounds eating fudge rounds. They can't afford them. Like many other people of a certain ilk, it flew over your head. People on welfare are kept from being poor, to play the part of being "the poor" so people can feel good about themselves, and profit immensely, while not actually helping the poor. "I support this party, policy, celebrity, politician, influencer, musician, song... so I'm helping the poor." Sure there are poor on welfare systems. Some come and go as intended due to domestic violence, separations, death, etc... but for most they grew up there, and they have zero intent on leaving, or real reason to. I grew up in that lifestyle. I had a cell phone, xbox, and spent most of my time playing MMOs on a high end PC, among other hobbies. Hated the end of the month when we survived on the foodshelf and macaroni etc... but loved the first week of the month where we got new toys and ate like kings. Just like the homeless issue. It is too profitable for them to exist, for those kings and queens you sing about, to actually help them. The only difference is, those kings and queens have a legit reason, that is how they make money, as disgusting as it is, but you have no excuse in supporting such a evil and disgusting system... well I guess that depends on how good your song does. It may very well be profitable.

Like literally this song is everything important that will ever matter in politics ❤❤❤❤ fucking preach dawg !

If that's what you got from his song, then you weren't listening very well. Europeans love their welfare state, but actual working Americans hate every part of it. The rich men in DC, and the degenerates on the dole are equally loathed. Non Americans don't understand that, but that's your problem, not ours.

Love this song 100% right

Finally someone who fuggin gets what those lyrics meant.

this is a great response to that song amazing work

I love this version❤❤❤

Glad to see someone pushing the correct narrative. Fudge rounds and taxes aren't the problem when the CEO pay rates are out of control.

I’ve listened to both songs, I think there might’ve been a disconnect somewhere, of course this is always possible as music is subjective But to me both of your songs meant the same things, I enjoy them both. Continue making awesome music, it sounds amazing and is a delight to listen too.

Nah it's both

This is a good song but you're purity spiraling a bit. Your only disagreement seems like that one line about welfare, which isnt even the main focus of the song

Personally i took the fudge rounds line more as a way to point out that people on a check either waste their money or sit there not trying to do better because the government is taking care of them which is true in a lot but not all cases.

This is for those of us who work hard. No where we are from, our skin tone or religion etc

RMNoR is a decent enough song that flirts with class consciousness until it turns it's back on solidarity for aesthetics. I enjoyed this a lot more though. You get it.

Don't throw out the baby with the Bath water. It was one line in 1 song. He may have been complaining about the welfare state, Where people are discouraged from getting off the dole. My wife worked for a social service agency. They were paid by the number of people that were on their list. So they were encouraged to keep people on the program rather than helping them get off.

Brother I'm gonna disagree and agree with you, it's both that steal from the hard working men! If we get our govt that is suppose to be for the people instead of beholden to corporate interest our society would make a big leap forward. If a politician is caught taking money from corporate interest and pushing laws to help that corporate interest, jail time no excuses! While I don't mind our tax dollars helping someone that is down on thier luck but it shouldn't support them for a lifetime unless they are physically unable to do so for themselves. If you are able body get your ass to work like the rest of us.