Beyoncé Drops ‘Pony Up’ Remix of ‘Texas Hold ‘Em’ With New Verse, Breakdown

Beyoncé is rustling up all her cowboys and kindly asking them to hit the dancefloor for a new remix of her Cowboy Carter single “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The track gets a fresh bounce as well as a new verse and breakdown in a “Pony Up” remix of the song that topped the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Country Songs chart when it dropped in February.

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In addition to the new lyrics, the song has some new vocals, cracking drums and new samples, as well as a breakdown in which Bey calls “all my cowboys to the dancefloor,” then making her request more urgent with a call to “Get on the dancefloor!”

The new second verse cranks up the righteous cowboy action with the lines, “Woke up this mornin’, my heart keeps racin’/ Straight to the bottom, we all need salvation (Come take it to the floor now, ooh)/ Need you to in this drought, take me downtown/ Gon leave the truck, whiskey, baby/ Let’s get weekend wasted/ Might as well just throw it all (Woo-woo)/ And pony up, b–ch, don’t hold back on me.”

The song ends with a new outro as well, on which Bey sings, “Pony up and salute your town/ Chasin’ our sins away, way brown/ And I’ll be damned if I cannot dance with you/ Baby, pour that sugar and liquor on me, too/ Furs, spurs, boots.”

In addition to the remix, the singer also launched a mysterious new website this week, beencountry.com, which at press time featured an image of a teen Bey singing at the Texas Sweetheart Pageant, as well as a childhood pic of the singer, a contemporary shot of her in her full cowboy regalia — including furry chaps — a picture of a banjo and the reminder that “This ain’t a country album. This is a ‘Beyoncé’ album.” Some Beyhive members noted that posters with the beencountry images have gone up around Los Angeles, speculating that they could be a tease for an as-yet-unannounced Cowboy Carter tour.

Listen to the “Texas Hold ‘Em” remix below.

Gil Kaufman

Billboard