Northmen of North Richmond

American music from the Revolution to Oliver Anthony

I want someone to rework the lyrics of Oliver Anthony’s viral hit “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Instead of whining about how bad everything is, the song should be about a Viking warrior and his warrior band sacking Washington DC and pillaging Congress of its corrupt gains from insider trading.

The song could be called “Northmen of North Richmond.” Rammstein should do a cover. Talk about a hit. Music to drain the swamp to!

Vibe shift!

For my part, I dislike “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Leaving the (Boomer) opinions of the songwriter, stage name Oliver Anthony (real name Christopher Anthony Lunsford), aside for a moment, the song is both despairing and unsatisfying.

“Rich Men North of Richmond” is peasant music.

I have no doubt that if we could go back 1000 years and find Anthony’s illiterate feudal daylaborer forbearers we would find them singing the same sad song about the local Baron that Anthony today croons about the “rich men north of richmond.”

Don’t get me wrong, I share Anthony’s sense that something is profoundly wrong with the country. It is, indeed “a damn shame” that we are ruled by politicians that want “total control.” I too hate working “overtime hours” for “bullshit pay.”

What I don’t share is Anthony’s lethargic attitude toward what can be done. Anthony pines that he wishes “I could just wake up and it not be true / But it is, oh, it is.” This is the rhetorical equivalent of a despairing shoulder shrug. “Shit sucks man but whatcha gonna do?”

A lot actually.

Though the fact that the song has resonated with so many millions of Americans is a sad commentary on the state of the populace. They’ve been treated as serfs for so long that they’ve internalized the attitudes of the peasant. Instead of the crisis of our time provoking spirited resistance we find widespread malaise.

There is reason for this. The J6 prosecutions, Trump’s looming arrest, the stolen election, the LGBTQ cultural offensive, mass surveillance, social media censorship, crushing inflation, and deepening debt pervade the fabric of our political life. For the White middle and lower class, life is not good and it looks to get worse. In fact, I am nearly certain that things will get worse. But what one does with this tough reality depends on your nature, on your spirit.

The peasant is an apolitical being. He is neither sovereign nor free. He depends economically on a master or lord. Virtually every thought he thinks has been given to him by an external unquestioned Authority. The peasant’s life centers around work for his employer and the desires of his stomach and genitals. He owns nothing. He is immersed in debt and obligations. As a cope he gravitates towards distractions and frivolities.

A peasant isn’t just a class defined by wealth. I know spiritual peasants with college degrees and McMansions. Rather, being a peasant is a condition of the soul. The peasant is a human type. You can spot them everywhere in our time. The man that “lives for the weekend,” who “just wants to crack open a beer and watch the game,” and “hates politics” doxxes himself. He reveals his soul. This type bemoans the lack of a “real news source that reports only facts instead of partisan opinions.” He decries how “divided we’ve become.” If only everyone would stop giving a shit about everything then we could have peace.

What he really hates is that there isn’t a clear Authority he can bow down to unthinkingly. He doesn’t like the idea that he might have enemies and that they might need to be destroyed. He doesn’t want to act. Rather, the peasant wishes only to be acted upon—by his passions, by his rulers, and by his circumstances.

Most people throughout history have been peasants. Their lives centered around work, sex, food, sleep, and—in better times—religion. For thousands of years, peasants have been born, lived, and died making little to no mark on history, culture, politics, art, science, or literature. And, to be honest, they never really wanted to.

America, however, was different—at least in the Founding. The core human type in the Founders’ America was not the peasant but the freeman. The freeman, by contrast, is independent, political, and tough. He is spirited and manly. He owns weapons, not merely as toys but as the instruments for the attainment and preservation of his liberty. He owns land and real property. He is not politically correct. He is not a mental slave.

He has the don’t tread on me spirit. To put it more bluntly, it is clear from the freeman’s speech, habits, and attitude that if you attack his dignity, rights, and property he will tell you to “fuck off” and then ensure that you do.

The freeman doesn’t just whine about the “bullshit” he does something about it. You can clearly see the difference between the freeman and the peasant when comparing the songs of the American Revolution to “Rich Men North of Richmond.”

Here are the lyrics to the song “Chester” written by William Billings in 1778:

Let tyrants shake their iron rod,
And Slav’ry clank her galling chains,
We fear them not, we trust in God,
New England’s God forever reigns.
Howe and Burgoyne and Clinton too,
With Prescot and Cornwallis join’d,
Together plot our Overthrow,
In one Infernal league combin’d.
When God inspir’d us for the fight,
Their ranks were broke, their lines were forc’d,
Their ships were Shatter’d in our sight,
Or swiftly driven from our Coast.
The Foe comes on with haughty Stride;
Our troops advance with martial noise,
Their Vet’rans flee before our Youth,
And Gen’rals yield to beardless Boys.
What grateful Off’ring shall we bring?
What shall we render to the Lord?
Loud Halleluiahs let us Sing,
And praise his name on ev’ry Chord.

The patriots of New England make very clear—their rulers, the British, are “tyrants” who want to put the Americans in “galling chains” and “slavery.” But God is on the side of the patriots. He “inspired us for the fight” and allowed the Americans to break the ranks of the enemy and “shatter” their ships.

The youthful and spirited Americans drive before them even hardened “veterans.” Therefore, Americans thank the Lord for blessing them with victory.

Whiny this music is not.

Or take the “Liberty Song” by Founding Father John Dickinson. The song is a gem and you can find the full thing here. Here are some choice lyrics:

All ages shall speak with amaze and applause,
Of the courage we'll show in support of our Laws;
To die we can bear, but to serve we disdain.
For shame is to Freedom more dreadful than pain.

The Americans sing happily about dying rather than submitting to tyranny. BASED.

Americans had, as a whole the spirit of noblemen and warriors not peasants. They weren’t bitching about fat women eating fudge rounds and twinkies. Instead of just sitting around “wishing it weren’t so" the Americans were husbanding the tree of liberty for the future. They had hope and good cheer:

The tree their own hands had to Liberty rear'd;
They lived to behold growing strong and revered;
With transport they cried, "Now our wishes we gain,
For our children shall gather the fruits of our pain."

Nor were the Americans content to let others do the fighting for them. The manly republican spirit called for individual commitment and action in defense of freedom. Political sovereignty isn’t something that is just handed out. You have to fight for it!

Swarms of placemen and pensioners soon will appear
Like locusts deforming the charms of the year;
Suns vainly will rise, showers vainly descend,
If we are to drudge for what others shall defend.

In the song “Free America” composed in 1774 by Joseph Warren makes clear that the Americans belong to an age of heroes. The lyrics begin with an ode to Rome and Athens and a warning that their collapse will be America’s fate if the people do not preserve their liberty.

That seat of science Athens,
And earth’s proud mistress, Rome,
Where now are all their glories
We scarce can find a tomb.
Then guard your rights, Americans,
Nor stoop to lawless sway,
Oppose, oppose, oppose, oppose
For North America.

The freeman, unlike the peasant, lives a historical existence. He is part of that history and shapes it. He understands that history. It means something to him.

The peasant, by contrast, lives in an eternal present made up of cycles of drudgery, rest, copulation, frivolity and the occasional personal misfortune that ends only in death. His children then carry on that cycle for generation after generation. He neither really knows nor understands what came before, nor does he really care what comes after. It is all be the same to the peasant.

The American freeman instead envisions a “new dominion” that will inaugurate a new way of life in favor of freedom that will endure. God has blessed this project and rewards the “host of heroes” who “scorn to wear a chain” and blast the “venal sycophants” who get in the way.

The Americans loved liberty so much they crossed a frozen river on Christmas to slit the throats of their oppressors. Based.

The call of the freeman to his neighbors is to “assert yourselves.” The attitude of the freeman isn’t resentment at the pedos in Washington but disdain. The American doesn’t cower before tyrants, he shouts “Huzza” and meets them with force of arms:

Torn from a world of tyrants
Beneath this western sky
We formed a new dominion,
A land of liberty;
The world shall own we’re freemen here,
And such will ever be,
Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza
For love and liberty.

God bless this maiden climate,
And through her vast domain
May hosts of heroes cluster
That scorn to wear a chain.
And blast the venal sycophants
Who dare our rights betray;
Assert yourselves, yourselves, yourselves
For brave America,

Lift up your hearts, my heroes,
And swear with proud disdain,
The wretch that would ensnare you
Shall spread his net in vain;
Should Europe empty all her force,
We’d meet them in array,
And shout huzza, huzza, huzza
For brave America.

I am certain a more thorough examination of American popular music, poetry, and literature form the Revolutionary period would find countless further examples of this attitude.

Our forefathers were better men than us. Instead of moping, they took action. Oliver Anthony talks about how he has “struggled with mental health” and depression. He admits he struggles with alcohol abuse. I can believe it. A lot of Americans are in the same boat. Instead of struggling with tyrants, they struggle with themselves. They see themselves as victims of circumstances out of their control and perhaps they are right. Perhaps there is nothing for these types to do except wish they could one day wake up to a new world.

If that is true, then they deserve real sympathy and charity. Those of us, however, who are freemen in our hearts (or who aspire to be) must take a different path. We must embrace the spirit of our forefathers and their heroic spirit. Even if there is no hope, it would be better for us to emulate their greatness than to submit meekly to the repulsive shackles of liberal tyranny.

If it must come to it, then let us meet our end blasting these venal sycophants in proud array all the while shouting “huzza, huzza, huzza for brave America!”