One million people viewed “I Want to Go Home” on the YouTube page of country music singer Oliver Anthony in less than a day, revealing his new vision of a world gone awry.

Anthony plays guitar and performs into a microphone against a backdrop of trees, dogs, and a Chevrolet in a video filmed in the forests.

The video concludes with the verse from Mark 8:36: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB9n0XA8dks

According to AZLyrics, the song began, “Well, if it [weren’t] for my old dogs and the good Lord; They’d have me strung up in the psych ward; ‘Cause every day livin’ in this new world; Is one too many days to me.”

“Son, we’re on the brink of the next world war; And I don’t think nobody’s prayin’ no more; And I ain’t sayin I know it’s for sure; I’m just down on my knees,” Anthony sang.

The song makes a slight reference to the subject of Anthony’s first hit, “Rich Men North of Richmond,” in lyrics that go, “People just doin’ what the rich men say; I wanna go home.”

Twitter link: http://twitter.com/nlmedia11/status/1694300438336561651

After citing the tragedy of generations of farmland being converted to urban development, Anthony describes what he sees as the nation’s underlying problem: “People have really gone and lost their way. They all just do what the TV say.”

According to Billboard, “Rich Men North of Richmond” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs tally, making Anthony the first artist without any prior chart history to reach the top spot.

In assessing the song’s impact, Anthony told Billboard, “The hopelessness and frustration of our times resonate in the response to this song. The song itself is not anything special, but the people who have supported it are incredible and deserve to be heard.”

More on this story via The Western Journal:

Anthony ruminated about the nation and the times in which we live in a post on his Facebook page, on which he describes himself this way: “I play music and pet dogs.”

“Im sitting in such a weird place in my life right now. I never wanted to be a full time musician, much less sit at the top of the iTunes charts. Draven from RadioWv and I filmed these tunes on my land with the hope that it may hit 300k views. I still don’t quite believe what has went on since we uploaded that. It’s just strange to me,” he wrote. CONTINUE READING…