Singer Oliver Anthony, who embodied the American zeitgeist with his viral song, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” found the use of his song during Wednesday’s Republican primary debate on Fox News amusing.
“I wrote that song about those people,” Anthony said in a candid 10-and-a-half-minute video that was shot from his truck and uploaded to his YouTube channel.
(Video: YouTube)
As BizPac Review previously reported, the singer has found his sudden success a bit bewildering and a little overwhelming, but through the dizzying reaction to his emblematic song, he has strived to keep things real with his fans.
Earlier this month, Anthony posted an “introduction” to the emotional realities of his life on Facebook — a move that only served to cement him deeper in the hearts of the Americans he touched.
“There’s nothing special about me,” he wrote. “I’m not a good musician, I’m not a very good person.”
Oliver Anthony reveals he’s turned down $8M offers, shares emotional truths about his life https://t.co/PdPQarUA8X via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) August 19, 2023
Anthony revealed that his “legal name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford,” and said his sudden notoriety has left him in a “weird place.”
The weirdness continued, when “Rich Men North of Richmond” was hijacked for the Republican debate.
“It seems like certain people want to just ride the attention of the song to maybe make their own selves relevant, and that’s aggravating as hell,” Anthony said in his YouTube video.
“It was funny seeing it at the presidential debate,” he said, “because it’s like, I wrote that song about those people, you know? So 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, like that song has nothing to do with Joe Biden, you know? It’s a lot bigger than Joe Biden,” he stated. “That song is written about the people on that stage and a lot more, too, not just them.”
But making him into some sort of political poster child clearly bothers the young man, who told his Facebook followers that he “wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression.”
“The one thing that has bothered me is seeing people wrap politics up into this,” he said. “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 we’re trying to present the same message.”
Anthony has found himself a the center of a cultural tug-of-war, and it’s not a position he appreciates.
“I do hate to see that song being weaponized,” he said. “I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own and I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation.”
“That s–t’s gotta stop,” he stated.
His song “references the inefficiencies of the government because of the politicians within it that are engulfed in bribes and extortion,” according to Anthony.
“If we can fuel a proxy war in a foreign land, but we can’t take care of our own, that’s all the song’s trying to say,” he explained.
But it’s the state of this country that continues to make Anthony truly emotional.
“I don’t know what this country is going to look like in 10 or 20 years if things don’t change,” he confessed. “I don’t know what this world is going to look like.”
“Something has to be done about it, you know?” Anthony said. “There’s been too many people die. There’s been too many people sacrifice everything they’ve had. People die before they’re even 18, you know?”
“For us to all sit here and just do the stupid s–t it is that we all do every day that keeps all beat down and divided, that’s what I want to see stop,” he stated. “I’m going to do everything I can to influence that, at all costs.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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