toluca lyric is back! toluca lyric 7 is an analysis of the lyrics of lil nas x‘s hit of the year, old town road.
lil nas x and billy ray cyrus
country is a genre of music that traditionally has represented rural, southern and cowboy elements. trap is a type of hip hop music popularized by artists from the south of the u.s. old town road is a fusion of these two styles. there has been controversy in the u.s. about whether or not old town road is really a country song. in fact the remix of old town road with billy ray cyrus, the focus of toluca lyric 7, was an effort to reinforce the song’s country credentials and obscure (hide, cover up) the racism of country music fans who are uncomfortable with classifying a hip hop song by a black artist as country. the country feeling of old town road is reflected in the vocabulary and tone of toluca lyric 7.
the recommendation at :12 is that u might as well click on this link from the beginning of the video. might as well means it’s a better idea to click on this post than not to click on it (good job if that’s how u got here😺). as the video says at :20, this post will aid u in your educational stimulation. aid means help, assist.
follow through, used at :38, means i didn’t really continue with that idea or try to make it happen.
it’s common to make new year’s resolutions at the beginning of the year. it’s also common not to follow through on them
what in tarnation? (1:00) is a country sounding expression that shows confusion, frustration or surprise. it is used in reference to the misheard lyric horses in the bag.
fun esl practice 
richyrocks english on youtube
two more country phrases: that don’t make no god damn sense either (1:09) and i can’t make head nor tail of it also express confusion over the line horses in the back. make sense means it’s understandable or logical. either is used to show the agreement of two negative statements, in this case horses in the bag and horses in the back are both confusing. the phrase head nor tail gives the idea that neither the top nor the bottom can be identified. the explanation for horses in the back that makes the most sense to me is that it is a reference to a porsche that has its engine in the back; the horses referring to the horsepower (measure of power) of the engine. that’s not what lil nas x says in this tweet though.
when i wrote the line “i got the horses in the back” it was in reference to the economic downfall and political tension going on within the united states
— nope (@LilNasX) January 4, 2019
the second misheard lyric, hat is mighty black (1;18) sounds pretty country too. mighty ( a word which also sounds mighty country) is understood as very or strong or powerful, like in the title of this nes video game .
a powerful game for the nes (wikipedia)
the brand porsche is mentioned in the lyrics of old town road and at 1:50 in toluca lyric 7. the rhyme of porsche and porch (1:53) is maybe the best rhyme in the song. a porch is a comfortable place for relaxing in front of a house. in the lyric u ain’t been up off that porch, ain’t replaces the present perfect phrase haven’t been.
ain’t is considered poor grammar, but it is common in song lyrics and country styles of speaking and it is extremely versatile. in the line u ain’t gotta whip a porsche dummy at 1:55, ain’t replaces haven’t in the have got structure. and at 3:38 in the video, in the line i guess billy ray ain’t hannah montana’s daddy no more, ain’t replaces isn’t.
like the video says, the “up” in “up off that porch” is not necessary. it’s common to hear in music though, frequently to indicate a location. dmx‘s hip hop classic party up (up in here) is a great example.
do u have questions about other vocabulary words and expressions that u saw in toluca lyric 7 or old town road? then u will definitely want to check out part two of this post. after that, if u still have lingering doubts, please post them under leave a reply
