John Rich: Shuttin Detroit Down (Video and Lyrics)
John Rich, the Rich half of country music duo Big & Rich, is pushing ahead with his solo career. His new song, Shuttin’ Detroit Down, is his statement of frustration with the recent Washington bailouts at the expense of tax payers. Read about it here. We also have some photos, the video and lyrics below.
John Rich
John Rich is the country side of Big & Rich. He is 35-years-old, recently married to his long time girlfriend, Joan Bush. He is the son of a preacher from West Texas. He says he grew up poor and has lived the American Dream. Now, through the greed of politicians and big corporations, the American Dream is not so easily attained. John Rich is mad about that and so are a lot of Americans.
He came up with the idea to write Shutting Detroit Down while sitting backstage at a ZZ Top concert. He said he realized that fans were who represent the real America, not politicians or CEOs. The song has been the fastest rising hit of his career. After 9 weeks it is at No. 12 on Billboard’s country chart.
Love him or hate him, he has never falter in his connection with his roots as an American boy. He knows how to connect with working class Americans and to express what the people are feeling. That’s evidenced in the successes he has achieved. Many are calling it the first recession hit and the first great song of the bailout era.
Rich preformed his hit song live at the Academy Of Country Music Awards on Sunday, April 5 on CBS. The Shutting Detroit Down video premiered on Entertainment Tonight on Friday, April 3, 2009. The video features Mickey Rourke and Kris Kristofferson.
Shuttin’ Detroit Down is an expression of his frustration with Washington’s bailout of Wall Street. Judging from the popularity of the song, he’s not the only one frustrated.
Here’s a video of him performing it live. The lyrics are also below the fold.
John Rich
Shuttin’ Detroit Down (Live) – Video
Shuttin’ Detroit Down – Lyrics
John Rich
Written By: John Rich, John D. Anderson
My daddy taught me that in this country everyone’s the same
You work hard for your dollar and you never pass the blame
When it don’t go your way
Now I see all these big shots whinin’ on my evening news
About how they’re losin’ billions and how it’s up to me and you
To come running to the rescue
Well pardon me if I don’t shed a tear ‘cause they’re selling make believe
And we don’t buy that here
Cause in the real world there shutting Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets out of town/
And DC’s bailing out the bankers as the farmers auction ground,
Yeah while they’re living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down.
They’re shuttin’ Detroit down.”
Well that old man’s been workin’ in that plant most all of his life
Now his pension plan’s been cut in half and he can’t afford to die
And it’s a crying shame, ‘cause he ain’t the one to blame
When I look down and see his caloused hands,
Let me tell you friend it gets me fightin’ mad
Cause in the real world there shutting Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus pay and jets out of town/
And DC’s bailing out the bankers as the farmers auction ground,
Yeah while they’re living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down.
They’re shuttin’ Detroit down.”
Instrumental solo
Yeah while there’ living it up on Wall Street in that New York City town
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down
Here in the real world there shuttin’ Detroit down
In the real world they’re shuttin Detroit down, they’re shuttin’ Detroit down.
April 12th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
i do not work but in my small town the economy has hard and this song means so much to me and my town….Thanks John! I LOVE IT
April 18th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I’ve loved the song on the radio. It really hits home. The first time I saw the video, I cried. It’s so real. God bless you John!
April 20th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Thank you John for this song – it breaks my heart because it is all so real to me – My dad retired after 36 years of working for General Motors in Cleveland Ohio – We lost him a few years back but now I worry that all he worked for will be lost- for now we worry what will happen to my mom as my dad thought she would be okay with his pension that may not ring true here so. It makes me mad so very mad when I hear people blame the factory worker and not those who are really to blame. I relate to this song as I was raised in a little farm community in Colebrook,OHIO and it is a shame how many farmers have lost and will lose their farms.