Beyoncé’s ‘COWBOY CARTER’: What’s That Sample?

‘COWBOY CARTER’ is riddled with samples, covers, and musical easter eggs. Here are a few.

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Beyoncé has delivered her highly anticipated eighth studio LP, Act II: COWBOY CARTER, and it’s teeming with samples. The album was released on Friday (March 29) and features the singer making new ground in the confines of country music, but with a twist. Ahead of the album, Bey described her LP in a way that rejected the notion that she was going full “yee-haw.” Instead, the singer tempered expectations with an apt descriptor of the work. “This is not a Country album,” the icon typed on Instagram. “This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” And Bey made good on her statement.

COWBOY CARTER is a 27-track project that distills the Black experience into a gorgeous collection of genres rooted in and around country music. Much like the Black American experience, Bey’s album defies labels, boxes, and white acceptance en route to cultural reclamation — an underlying mission that Bey acknowledged ahead of the project’s release. “The criticisms I faced when I first entered [country music] forced me to propel past the limitations that were put on me,” she added. “Act II is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work.”

The result is an album heavy in samples, references, and cultural easter eggs featuring sounds from country, blues, Hip-Hop, soul, R&B, bluegrass, Americana, pop, dance, and even zydeco — which is music created by Southwest Louisiana by Afro-Americans of Creole heritage who blended R&B with Creole genres like la la and juré.

CC also boasts a litany of collaborators who have helped bring the diverse retelling of country history to life. Beyoncé tapped producers and writers in “cinematic fashion” that could produce “the best music I’ve ever made,” per her official statement. These artists include Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Linda Martell, Stevie Wonder, Chuck Berry, Miley Cyrus, The-Dream, Pharrell, NO I.D., Raphael Saadiq, Ryan Tedder, Ryan Beatty, Swizz Beatz, Khirye Tyler, Derek Dixie, Ink, Nova Wav, Mamii, Cam, Tyler Johnson, Dave Hamelin, JAY-Z, Post Malone, Jon Batiste, Rhiannon Giddens, Nile Rodgers, Robert Randolph, Gary Clark, Jr., Willie Jones, Brittney Spencer, Shaboozey, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, and Tiera Kennedy.

COWBOY CARTER is a cultural touchstone, and its storytelling is further explored through sampling and covers. With the exception of a few, almost every sample used on the album derives from country music’s peak popularity years, from the late 1950s to the mid-’60s. While most of the samples were used as interludes (Chuck Berry) and voiceovers (Linda Martell, Willie Nelson), there were tracks that found their way into the song form. From The Beatles to Patsy Cline, here are some of the samples found in Bey’s latest work.

The Beatles — “Blackbird”

Image Credit: Getty Images.

The Beatles‘ “Blackbird” was scribed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney for their 1968 LP, The White Album.

While most people have thought of the cut as a song about our feathered friends, McCartney wrote the song about a more pressing concern. “Blackbird” was inspired by the civil rights hardships taking place in America’s Southern states, specifically in Little Rock, AR.

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During an interview with GQ, Paul McCartney detailed how the disturbing events surrounding the Little Rock Nine inspired the song’s subject matter. He hoped that the song could give the Black girls “a little hope to get through.” He also insisted that the “Blackbird” be interpreted as “Black girl,” as “bird” is slang for a girl in England.

Beyoncé intentionally included the song as the second track on her album. She also rounded up what could be seen as the future of country music and featured them on the track. These artists included mostly all Black women, such as Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tierra Kennedy, and Reyna Roberts. The strength of Black women covering a song with such historical context and relevance shouldn’t be lost on anyone. Especially as Bey sings, “Blackbird singing in the dead of night/Take these broken wings and learn to fly/All your life/You were only waiting for this moment to arise,” to and with the next generation of Black women in music and of the world. It’s beautiful.

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Dolly Parton — “Jolene”

Image Credit: Langdon/Getty Images

Dolly Parton‘s “Jolene” is a timeless piece of art, regardless of genre. The track was produced by Bob Ferguson and released in 1973. Parton’s “most covered song” finds her pleading with a woman with “Auburn hair” to leave her man alone.

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“She had everything I didn’t, like legs — you know, she was about 6 feet tall. And had all that stuff that some little short, sawed-off honky like me don’t have,” Parton told NPR in 2018. “So no matter how beautiful a woman might be, you’re always threatened by certain… You’re always threatened by other women, period.” So, why did Bey include a cover of “Jolene” on COWBOY CARTER? Well, “Becky with the good hair” may have something to do with it.

Bey’s twist on the infamous classic finds her giving Jolene a warning. While Dolly begged the young Auburn-haired goddess to leave her man alone, Beyoncé wanted all the smoke. Knuck if you buck. Cash me outside. Pull up. Hold my earrings and hand me the Vaseline. And I’m sure every generation of Black women can relate. Throughout the track, Beyoncé asserts that she and her man are too strong to break down. And Becky — I mean, Jolene would need to find somebody else to play with.

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Nancy Sinatra — “These Boots Are Made For Walking”

Beyonce’s “YA YA” is a jam built off the bones of Nancy Sinatra‘s iconic “These Boots Are Made For Walking.” Nancy released her track in 1965 as a single for her album Boots. Her trusty musical partner, Lee Hazlewood, wrote and produced the track.

Hazlewood originally intended to write, produce and sing the track. However, Sinatra talked the producer out of it, stating that the song would be better received if a woman performed. She also insisted that “coming from a guy, it was harsh and abusive, but was perfect for a little girl to sing,” per Los Angeles Magazine.

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Bey repurposed the icon’s track and crafted “YA YA,” a song that riffs on her critics. These unnamed critics could be interpreted as folks who didn’t want her in country music. In a call-and-response delivery harkening back to her inspiration, Tina Turner, Bey notes that these folks can’t stop her and will always find a way around or through them. “Those petty ones can’t f**k with me/ ‘Cause I’m a clever girl, we snappin,’” she confidently sings.

A pitched, filtered, and slowed version of Nancy’s track can be heard in the background. The sample disappears into a breakdown of tom drums, claps and guitar as she goes full Turner. Beyoncé tackles life in America as a Black person, ridiculed, shackled, and killed at the hand of the oppressor. The song’s second half also features an interpolation of The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.”

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Patsy Cline — “I Fall To Pieces”

Image Credit: Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Patsy Cline‘s 1961 track “I Fall To Pieces” is universally heralded as a country music standard. Cline’s track is also celebrated as one of the greatest country songs ever created. So, it was only right for Bey to grab the song as a way to amplify her authority in country music.

Beyoncé makes a statement on the track “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN’” interpolating Cline’s track, singing the chorus to kick off the song. “I fall to pieces/Each time I see you again/I fall to pieces/How can I be just your friend?” Yoncé descants.

A dose of modernity greets the interpolation of Patsy’s original track. A Thumping Jersey club beat pushes into the mix, with a string of soul-rattling drums to boot. Production from Pharrell gives way to a sampled refrain set behind Beyoncé’s vocals after Shaboozey spits a 16. The three-part song evolves, twists, and blossoms over five minutes into a beautiful Texas grapefruit: citrusy, vibrant, and sweet subtleties to offset the bits of bitterness in Bey’s takedown of her anti-country haters.

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