When Oliver Anthony dropped "Rich Men North of Richmond" on the public out of nowhere, it went viral to a point where it broke free of any political boundaries and hit the hearts of Americans of every variety. Despite the left's best efforts, Anthony's song spoke to everyone.
(Watch: Oliver Anthony's 'Rich Men North of Richmond' Causes Deep Emotional Impact in All Types of People)
Following up on a massive success is no easy task and despite releasing new songs, Anthony still could have been considered a one-hit wonder as his other songs never matched the quality and pull of "Rich Men North of Richmond."
We can now safely put that idea to bed. Oliver Anthony is the real deal.
On Tuesday evening, another song popped up on Anthony's YouTube channel called "I Want To Go Home," and it's nothing short of incredible.
The song takes the same soulfully mournful look at our society but makes it a bit more personal for Anthony and how what he sees affects him personally. Despite writing from his heart's perspective, his voice and style resonate with something in your own soul and you can't help but feel his singing your own thoughts back to you.
Like "Rich Men," Anthony returns with his guitar and microphone. Standing somewhere on his property with his dogs at his feet, he begins singing about how the country is on the brink of something disastrous, possibly the next world war, but that he wants none of it. He sings that he just wants to go home but he can't remember the way as it's been so long since he's been there.
Then the chorus hits:
"I just know I didn't used to wake up feeling this way
Cussing myself every damn day
There's always some kind of bill to pay
People just doin' what the rich man say
I want to go home"
As the song closes out, Mark 8:36 appears on the screen.
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul?"
The song is a fascinating retelling of the thoughts of many Americans who say we need to return the country back to what it was, but as we drift further away in the darkness of modernity, we slowly forget how to get back there. We don't know how to get back to that America, but we do know we want to go back very badly.
Anthony isn't wrong. One thing that I find very interesting about our society is our penchant for nostalgia. We're always trying to dredge back the past that we used to enjoy so much that even corporations began preying on it. We're constantly seeing them bring old franchises and titles back from the past and remaking them, only for "modern audiences."
We had something back then that we don't have now, and Anthony expressed that sentiment beautifully.
The song already has over 1 million views on YouTube and 145k likes, and deservedly so. Anthony proved that he's not just a musician who got big on a fluke. He's a real talent capable of singing people's feelings, frustrations, anxieties, and emotions beautifully.
If I'm being completely honest, I think "I Want To Go Home" is better than "Rich Men North of Richmond," and I thoroughly enjoyed the latter. While it's more subtle in its condemnations, it speaks more about the individual in a descending country than the state of the nation, which I find makes it far more personal and impactful.
I fully expect this song to climb the charts swiftly as well. While I don't expect it to hit a viral stride quite like "Rich Men North of Richmond," I do imagine it's going to be on people's playlists all over the country. I know it's on mine.
I can't wait to see what Anthony does next. Now I have full confidence that the man will produce something truly worth listening to.
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