Billy Ray Cyrus Says He Had to Cut This Lyric From His “Old Town Road” Verse
Written by SOURCE on August 6, 2019
During a recent interview with Taste of Country, Billy Ray Cyrus revealed that a line referencing marijuana was cut from the verse he originally wrote for Lil Nas X‘s “Old Town (Remix),” which you probably knew busted the record for most weeks sitting atop Billboard’s Hot 100.
Cyrus told the outlet that he was tasked with penning his verse on the spot after hitting the studio, which is something he’d never done before during his career. Working in tandem with co-writer Jozzy, Cyrus says that he “batted around a few ideas” and that it ultimately took about 10 minutes to complete the job.
As transcribed by Genius, Cyrus reveals how the lyrics that you’ve probably heard (perhaps dozens of times) ultimately came to fruition.
“I had on a ball cap it was down low, and she said, ‘Well, hat down and you drove across town.’ She said, ‘You looked like a rockstar,’ so I’m just looking for rhyme words, and I was sitting there holding my guitar, just like so,” he revealed. “For some reason, I immediately thought it was funny to say, ‘Baby’s got a habit: diamond rings and marijuana.’ They said, ‘Everything but the marijuana.’ And [Jozzy] said, ‘How about Fendi sports bra?’ I thought, ‘Well, it’s probably good because I don’t know what that is.’”
It’s good to have collaborators.
The marijuana line may have gotten the ax, but much of the rest of that brainstorming session found its way onto the track. As he sang in the finalized version:
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
Cyrus also revealed to Taste of Country that he worried about whether or not he could properly belt out his verse, specifically the high note he had to hit. “I was singing everything like Nas was doing it, keeping it all down, low register,” said Cyrus. “[Jozzy] asked me to go up and do way up over that. I didn’t know if I could hit the note or not, but once I got out there, it was a lot of fun.”
With the amount of remixes coming out, maybe we may yet get the original lyrics recorded. Who knows?
In either event, check out everything he had to say about the subject below:
