Living in a New World with an Old Soul

 Living in a New World with an Old Soul

By Bobby Neal Winters

The Biblical prophets were poets.  They expressed many of their prophecies in verse. Today, we consume the overwhelming bulk of our poetry in the form of songs.  It is for this reason and others that I refer to some singers--Bob Dylan for instance--as prophets.  I am not joking when I do this.

There are some who believe that the only function of a prophet is to foretell the future.  I am not going to argue with that, but I will share my opinion.  True prophets speak for God.  They will share God’s message.  Sometimes that message is foretelling the future.  Sometimes that message is the creation of a vision upon which a future can be built.  Sometimes, it is like when the prophet Nathan confronts King David: Speaking the Truth to Power.

Here’s the kicker though. How do you know who’s a prophet and who is not?  Jesus said that you just have to wait and see whose prophecies come true.

I’ve recently heard the voice of someone who sounds like a prophet.  His name is Oliver Anthony. His putative prophecy is entitled “Rich Men North of Richmond.”

I used a $20-dollar word up there: putative.  Is it a prophecy or not? Don’t know.  But when I listen to it I find myself listening for the truth with it.

I’ve read a column about this song by an economist named Tyler Cowen writing for Bloomberg.  As learned as Professor Cowen is, he might be missing the point.  Though he does acknowledge the emotional impact of the song, he looks at it in a very left-brained way.  One needs to view the song through the words of Napoleon: “"A man does not have himself killed for a half pence a day or for a petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him."

In “Rich Men North of Richmond,” Oliver Anthony is speaking to the soul.

In listening to the song, I hear the pain and frustration of the working people.  Out of habit, I almost wrote “working man” instead of “working people,” but these emotions are not confined to that sex. Neither are they confined to whites.  

Working people of every color, ethnicity, and religion (or irreligion) are frustrated. I’ve listened to a few of them. The frustration is real.

In this age of identity politics, they are an identity that has been left out because “working people” are just not sexy enough and they don’t have enough money to fund political campaigns.

In the days of the New Deal, the working people belonged to the democrats to a large degree, but currently they feel spurned. The republicans--through Donald Trump--have made passes at them with the same nuance Trump uses in all the passes he makes. They’ve been playing along so far, but they are smart enough to know that the republicans are just after one thing: their votes to get into office.

These people--the working people--are the people who get things done in this country.  They know how to do things. They are effective.  And this song--”Rich Men North of Richmond”--is coming out of the tradition of country music that birthed such songs as “A Country Boy Can Survive,” “Long-haired Country Boy,” “Copperhead Road,” and “Wait in the Truck.”  These are all songs coming from the rural, anti-city slicker tradition that lives somewhere in the continuum between libertarianism and lawlessness.

We are all shocked by the events of January 6th, but one might wonder what would’ve happened if the people involved had been set up for success as opposed to being set up to be patsies.  Working people don’t dress like buffalos and take selfies.  They know how to get things done, and when they believe they’ve been pushed too far, they do them.

If you listen to ”Rich Men North of Richmond,” you are listening to a warning.  It is like the prophecy Jonah delivered to Nineveh.   Repent or you will be destroyed.

Is Oliver Anthony a prophet?  Only time will tell.  It is my hope that the “rich men north of Richmond” will heed his prophecy and repent.  It is my hope that they will turn from indulging themselves and trying to appease the people, to governing the country and nurturing its people.

In the book of Jonah, Nineveh did repent.  Will it do so again?  We will just have to pray and wait.

Bobby Winters, a native of Harden City, Oklahoma, blogs at redneckmath.blogspot.com and okieinexile.blogspot.com. He invites you to “like” the National Association of Lawn Mowers on Facebook. Search for him by name on YouTube.