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English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg has released a new song, inspired by Oliver Anthony’s viral single ‘Rich Men North Of Richmond’. Check out ‘Rich Men Earning North Of A Million’ below.
The track by Bragg comes in response to the recent viral hit by US country singer and former factory worker and farmer Oliver Anthony. Titled ‘Rich Men North Of Richmond’, the song could be interpreted as a working-class anthem, as Anthony sings of “sellin’ my soul” for “bullshit pay” and criticises politicians and the “rich men north of Richmond” who “just wanna have total control”.
The song, which raises societal problems like homelessness and the country’s mental health crisis, has amassed nearly 30million views since its release earlier this month. However, it has also sparked controversy, with some criticising it as a “right-wing anthem” which is both “offensive” and “fatphobic”.
Now, Bragg has released a track of his own, inspired by the online sensation.
Introducing his track ‘Rich Men Earning North Of A Million’, Bragg explained that the idea to write the song was inspired after he “saw that clip of Oliver Anthony singing his song” and felt “the ghost of [late US folk artist] Woody Guthrie whispering in my ear”.
“‘Help that guy out’ Woody keeps telling me. ‘Let him know there’s a way to deal with those problems he’s singing about,’” he said (via Consequence). “So today I sat down and wrote this response to Mr Anthony’s song, for people like him and people like you.”
The finished product is a track that aims to speak to all types of “working folk”, and support the idea of unionisation.
“If you’re selling your soul, working all day/ Overtime hours for bullshit pay/ Nothing is gonna change if all you do is wish you could wake up and it not be true/ Join a union. Fight for better pay/ You better join a union, brother. Organise today,” he sings.
Elsewhere in his lyrics, he also speaks out about public healthcare, singing: “Wouldn’t it be better for folks like you and me if medicine was subsidised and medicine was free?”, as well as criticising the “libertarian billionaires [who] avoid paying tax”.
“No matter if you live in the city or some little country town, rich man earning north of a million want to keep the working folk down,” he concludes. Check out the track above.
In other Bragg news, earlier this month the musician led support online for Billy Nomates after the musician received a host of online abuse following her set at Glastonbury.
After the artist – whose real name is Tor Maries – asked BBC6 Music to take down footage of her online after receiving what she described as an “insane” amount of “personal abuse”, Bragg was one of the first musicians who shared his support for her after the set.
“Solidarity from everyone at Left Field with Billy No Mates who was so badly abused online after her @Glastonbury set was posted on @BBC6Music that she asked them to take [the] clip down,” he wrote on Twitter (now known as X). “She played a set for us last year and was brilliant. You’ll always have [a] place here Tor.”
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