This Week with David Rovics

Why I Love the Song, ”Rich Men North of Richmond” (After Slightly Revising the Lyrics)

I've heard from so many people asking for my response to this song that I had to listen to it, learn it, make a couple minor edits to it, cover it, and write an essay about it.

Rich Men North of Richmond (adapted)

So many people have asked me over the past few weeks what a leftwing version of the song, "Rich Men North of Richmond" would sound like, that this morning I actually got around to listening to this beautiful, powerful song in full.  There were a couple lines i changed -- but just a couple.  Just the ones where Oliver Anthony was punching down instead of up.    

I haven't improved at all on Anthony's gorgeous voice and delivery, or the excellent quality of his overall songwriting, but hopefully I've made a minor improvement on this song with these little changes.  This is called the folk process, this is what people do to my songs all the time as well.  I don't know Oliver Anthony and I'm sure he's very busy lately, with his song having gotten tens of millions of views all of a sudden, but I hope if he ever discovers my slightly revised version of his song, he'll like it.  

For the record, here is Oliver Anthony's original second verse section:  

I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the obese milkin' welfare  

Well, God, if you're 5-foot-3 and you're 300 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  

Here's how I changed it:  

I wish politicians would look out for miners
And not just minors on an island somewhere
Lord, we got folks in the street, ain't got nothin' to eat
And the corporations milkin' welfare  

If you got a silver spoon in your mouth and a private jet
Taxes ought not to pay for all the money you get
Young men are puttin' themselves six feet in the ground
'Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin' them down

Getting On Lists and Having Weird Coincidences

What makes me jump to the most paranoid-seeming possible conclusion about why I am shadowbanned on Bandcamp with no explanation?

Bandcamp or Bannedcamp?

Why am I shadowbanned on Bandcamp, and why does this matter?

New song: ”Supply and Demand (Song for the Highland Clearances)”

The Scottish Highlands were cleared through methods identical to those that are transforming the US today, brought to you by the same sorts of investor-landlords and the same sort of captured state.

Generating Generation Gaps

Some thoughts on our collective divisions and how they've been implemented.

Live in Boulder: What Can Be Gleaned from Old Recordings

If a photo from twenty years ago can sometimes transport you to a time and place, what about a live concert recording?

The Left: How We Can Build It and How We Can Destroy It

Whether the left develops an inclusive orientation towards organizing the working class, or the exclusive orientation of a dystopic cancellation cult, is up to all of us.

Conflict, Compromise, and Controversy in Centralia

Whatever it is that happened or is happening now in Centralia, come November, 2023, there will be a new, town-sanctioned IWW plaque in Centralia Square.

New song: ”Centralia”

In November of this year, after 124 years, the statue in the center of Centralia, Washington memorializing the deaths of four members of the American Legion will finally be joined by a plaque remembering IWW organizer, Wesley Everest, and our fellow workers who were sentenced to 25-40 years in prison for defending their union hall as it and other IWW halls across the country were under attack by the same organized groups of war veterans doing the bidding of our newly-formed national secret police force, the FBI -- which was created with the express intention of destroying the radical labor movement.