Demo Edition
Background
On April 6th, 2019, the relatively unknown artist Lil Nas X was propelled into the spotlight of mainstream media as Billboard attempted to remove his earworm “Old Town Road” from the Bilboard Hot Country list, citing the fact that it wasn’t ‘actually’ country music. Opinions abounded, but from that moment Lil Nas X had made the jump from Tik Tok obscurity into the limelight of social media star turned serious artist. X, acknowledging the possibility of going down as one of so many one hit wonders, has since released a second single “Panini” which was less threatening to the country music establishment, but “Old Town Road” will likely be remembered as his first and greatest hit.
As music has gone digital (the resurgence in hipsters buying vinyl again aside), the way artists release songs has changed. The use of social media, streaming proceeds from websites like Spotify and SoundCloud, and the fickle nature of growing a brand through radio when so few people still listen it has resulted in a new set of tactics that artists employ to publicize their music. One way that rising artists try to keep their singles from being lost in the shuffle is by re-releasing remixes, sometimes only adding 10-15 seconds of content or a single guest verse, in the months following their song’s initial release. “Old Town Road” is a prime example of this considering the fact that no fewer than 4 mixes of the song were released between January and July of 2019.
The first version of “Old Town Road” was released in December 0f 2018 by Lil Was X independently. After the song grew in popularity, it was picked up and re-released by Columbia Records in March of 2019.
In April of 2019 X responded to Billboard’s attempt to remove his song from the Hot Country chart by releasing a collaborative version of the song featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, thumbing his nose at the accusation that the song wasn’t country enough. “Old Town Road (Remix)” is the track that plays over the most fully-fledges music video (in contrast to the more minimalist talking Memoji heads that would follow).
As the song maintained momentum into the summer, on June 12 a remix featuring the Country Trap artist Young Thug and the viral sensation Mason Ramsey (otherwise known as the Walmart Yodeling Kid) dropped. This is widely regarded as a decision based on X’s desire to challenge Mariah Carey’s “One Sweet Day” and “Despacito” for the all tim top-100 record.
On July 24, Lil Nas X released what he stated will be the last remix of the song “Seoul Town Raod” with RM from the hit K-Pop group BTS featuring on the Korean influenced track.
Since then, parodies such as what is presumed to be a verse Lil Wayne wrote for a future mix (As performed here at the music festival Lollapalooza), the always notorious Cupcake’s take on it (Very NSFW, but it exists here) have come out, and the electronic beat driven remix by Diplo (here) but I have chosen to leave them out of my edition for various reasons. In the case of Lil Wayne’s verse, it only exists as a live performance separate from Lil Nas X, so I see that in terms of the public life of the song rather than a facet of what the artist meant it to be. Diplo’s remix, while undeniably good, doesn’t feature any lyrical changes. Since my analysis is mainly focused on the song as a text (not to mention my own admittedly lacking perspective in musicology) I will pass over an auditory analysis of Diplo over in favor of more time spent looking at lyrical variance. In Cupcake’s case, Lil Nas X doesn’t actually feature in the song at all; and frankly, I couldn’t bring myself to post and analyze a song that’s entirely graphic depictions of sex.
Comparing Editions
The following chart compares the four major remixes of “Old Town Road”. The following symbols represent who is singing: NX (Lil Was X), BR (Billy Ray Cyrus), YT (Young Thug), MR (Mason Ramsey), and RM (RM). Voices that cannot be identified due to heavy autotune are italicized, they are usually vocalizations. Blank cells do not indicate a gap in the song, but rather make it so that the consistencies across the songs can be better observed and by the same token, highlight where length and extra verses have been added.
| Old Town Road | Old Town Road (Remix) | Old Town Road (Young Thug & Mason Ramsey Remix) | Old Town Road (Seoul Town Road Remix) |
| Oh, oh-oh Oh | YT: Yeehaw Oh, oh-oh Oh | ||
| NX: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Kio, Kio) | BR: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Kio, Kio) | BR: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Kio, Kio) YT: Woo | RM: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the Seoul town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the Seoul town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Kio, Kio) |
| NX: I got the horses in the back Horse tack is attached Hat is matte black Got the boots that’s black to match Ridin’ on a horse, ha You can whip your Porsche I been in the valley You ain’t been up off that porch, now | NX: I got the horses in the back Horse tack is attached Hat is matte black Got the boots that’s black to match Ridin’ on a horse, ha You can whip your Porsche I been in the valley You ain’t been up off that porch, now | NX: I got the horses in the back Horse tack is attached Hat is matte black Got the boots that’s black to match Ridin’ on a horse, ha You can whip your Porsche I been in the valley You ain’t been up off that porch, now | NX: I got the horses in the back Horse tack is attached Hat is matte black Got the boots that’s black to match Ridin’ on a horse, ha You can whip your Porsche I been in the valley You ain’t been up off that porch, now |
| NX: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ | NX: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ | NX: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ | NX Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ |
| NX: Ridin’ on a tractor Lean all in my bladder Cheated on my baby You can go and ask her My life is a movie Bull ridin’ and boobies Cowboy hat from Gucci Wrangler on my booty | NX: Ridin’ on a tractor Lean all in my bladder Cheated on my baby You can go and ask her My life is a movie Bull ridin’ and boobies Cowboy hat from Gucci Wrangler on my booty | YT: Maserati rowdy, got a V12 for my bride (Skrrt) Foggy rocky road, got a three-wheeler inside (Ayy) All I wanna do is take a pill, catch a chill vibe Real prince, I’m really the real don | RM: I got the homis in my bag (Yeah) Have you heard of that? (Yeah) Homis made of steel, from Korea, they the be-e-est Ridin’ to the farm (Huh) Grabbin’ all the corn (Huh) We gon’ get yo’ money with my homi in your backyard |
| YT: I’ma take a horse to the South Berry Road (Ayy) I don’t remember her name, but I painted on her nose (Ayy) Country money, I don’t gotta do no chores I’m a menace, I got women tryna sneak me through their doors (Skrrt) | |||
| NX: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ | NX: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ | YT: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me NX: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ YT: You can’t tell – can’t tell me | NX/RM: Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ |
| NX: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I got the hor- | NX: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more | RM: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the Seoul town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the Seoul town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more | |
| BR: Hat down, cross town, livin’ like a rockstar Spent a lot of money on my brand new guitar Baby’s got a habit: diamond rings and Fendi sports bras Ridin’ down Rodeo in my Maserati sports car | BR: Hat down, cross town, livin’ like a rockstar Spent a lot of money on my brand new guitar Baby’s got a habit: diamond rings and Fendi sports bras Ridin’ down Rodeo in my Maserati sports car | ||
| BR: Got no stress, I’ve been through all that I’m like a Marlboro Man so I kick on back Wish I could roll on back to that old town road I wanna ride ’til I can’t no more | MR: Hold up, let me tell y’all somethin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ NX/MR: You can’t tell me nothin’ | ||
| NX/BR: Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more | MR: Hop up in my RZR, got a thousand acres Ride up on the cows with it, pray that it don’t faze her Aye-o, aye-o, yippee-o ki-yay If you ain’t got no giddy up then giddy out my way | ||
| MR/NX/BR/YT: I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more | |||
| YT: Yeehaw |
Just looking at the remixes structurally, the relationship between the length of the song and the number of collaborators is clear. As new voices are added, new verses need to come as well, sometimes even as the expense of some of the songs choruses and hooks to keep the whole thing at a manageable length. Also immediately obvious is the fact that ‘new’ artists get a double length verse. Billy Ray’s original verse looses its section about the Marlborough man when Ramsey and Young Thug get their own two part features. This demonstrated an authorial decision to highlight the new artists, which I see as a choice to emphasize the genre-bending power they bring to the track in addition to keeping the new releases feeling like recycled copies of the old more than they already do.
A Special Case: KidzBop
Released November 5th 2019, the KidzBop edition of “Old Town Road” is only slightly less bad than Cupcake’s rendition in terms of versions of this song I dislike. It takes the song, sanitizes parts of it that could be seen as inflammatory, and hires child singers to perform it.
The original is performed entirely by Lil Nas X and the Remix entirely by the KidzBop Kidz, as a result I will not be explicitly indicating who is singing in this comparison. However, I will highlight the notable lyric changes with bold text.
| Old Town Road | Old Town Road (KidzBop Kidz) |
| Mmm Na-na-na, na-na-na Mmm Da-da-da | |
| Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Kio, Kio) | Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Yeah, yeah, KB, KB) |
| I got the horses in the back Horse tack is attached Hat is matte black Got the boots that’s black to match Ridin’ on a horse, ha You can whip your Porsche I been in the valley You ain’t been up off that porch, now | I got the horses in the back Horse tack is attached Hat is matte black Got the boots that’s black to match Ridin’ on my horse, ha You can whip your Porsche I been in the valley You ain’t been up off that porch, now |
| Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ | Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ |
| Ridin’ on a tractor Lean all in my bladder Cheated on my baby You can go and ask her My life is a movie Bull ridin’ and boobies Cowboy hat from Gucci Wrangler on my booty | Ridin’ on a tractor Ridin’ on my bladder Cheated on my baby You can go and ask her My life is a movie Bull ridin’ and bougie Cowboy hat from Gucci Wrangler like on TV |
| Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ | Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ Can’t nobody tell me nothin’ You can’t tell me nothin’ |
| Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I got the— | Yeah, I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I got the— |
Given that the song is rather tame, relatively KidzBoppy changes exist. “boobies” is replaced with the more hip and less vulgar “bougie” and presumably “booty” was changed to “on TV” likely for a similar reason. In the same vein, the reference to lean, a mixture of prescription cough syrup and soft drinks, has been excised in favor of the somewhat absurd line “riding on my bladder”.
On the face of it, this version doesn’t seem to provide much information about authorial intent. Lil Nas X didn’t’t perform the song and he isn’t credited with the lyric changes. However, I would argue that the fact that this version exists says something about X’s opinion of the song. To be included in a KidzBop album is to be counted as important enough to have your song rewritten to reach as broad an impulse as possible. In the example of KidsBop, we see an example of the broad ranging artistic production that I believe X is attempting to generate with his country-rap crossover style.
Next Steps
As you may notice, the scope of the analysis I have done is rather limited. Given that this edition is a proof of concept I have not tried to argue in any particularly aggressive way for what Lil Nas X intended his song to be. That being said, I hope it gives you a sense of what a digital edition could look like and could do. The information is here in a mode that I hope makes sense, and I encourage you to think about what your reactions to the different versions when they are all laid out like this.
