“Born In The Right Country” is from North Carolina’s indie folk outfit River Whyless upcoming third album Kindness, A Rebel, due out June 8, 2018. The topical tune eloquently addresses the subject of privilege. Band member Ryan O’Keefe made the following statement about his intent for penning the poignant tune: “Born in the Right Country speaks both through the eyes of our president and the narrator. In the song, vanity seems to trickle down much more freely than money and you can see it take root in the middle and lower classes as we strive to live like the upper. The dominant class is built on the idea that anyone can, and should become like them. We were raised to call this the American Dream. It’s imperative to the success of the upper class that the American Dream stays as it is, a dream. Meanwhile, the reality persists, which is that the vast majority of people stay in the class to which they were born.”
One of the powerful lyrics which resonates is “manufactured truth is easy to sell, when you own the factory”. Blindly buying into the myth of the American dream quite often leads people to vote for and support individuals and ideologies that go against their best interest.