Old Town Road

Song meaning of Old Town Road by Lil Nas X

After dropping out of college in Atlanta, Montero Hill was hoping for his big break in music. He was sleeping on his sister's couch when he heard a Dutch 19-year-old named YoungKio's song, which was based on a banjo sample from a Nine Inch Nails song.

“I was picturing, like, a loner cowboy runaway,” he told Rolling Stone. Within a year he composed “Old Town Road” which was the longest-running Number One song of all time, a song that only lasts one minute and 53 seconds.

The song, which was first released independently in December 2018, is American rapper Lil Nas X's first mainstream hit. The song was re-released by Columbia Records in March 2019 following its rise in popularity. In April 2019, Lil Nas X and American country music artist Billy Ray Cyrus collaborated on a remix.

The song has been widely labelled as "country rap", a genre that had not often reached the mainstream prior to its release. Dutch record producer YoungKio composed the instrumental and made it available for purchase online in 2018. It features a sample of "34 Ghosts IV" by the American rock band, Nine Inch Nails.

Bass and drums from a Roland TR-808 were used to create the sample. After spending $30 on the instrumental, Lil Nas X recorded "Old Town Road" in a single day. Having dropped out of college, he was living with his sister at the time, and some of the lyrics were inspired by his problems in real life.

The song first became well-known on the social media platform TikTok, then in March 2019, it made its way into the Billboard charts. Before the magazine excluded the song from the chart on the grounds that it did not fit the category, it peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. This created a dispute about what exactly constitutes country music.

Within a month of writing it, Lil Nas X chose to alter the song's meaning so that the "old town road" would be a symbol of success. Lil Nas X recorded the song on December 2, 2018, at the CinCoYo Recording Studio in Atlanta, and released it the same day on SoundCloud under the title "Old Town Road (I Got the Horses in the Back)".

Trent Reznor later said that, shortly after the song began gaining traction, he received a call from Lil Nas X's manager about the sample, asking for clearance to use it, which he granted. He described the song as "undeniably hooky".

Cyrus explained that he loved the original song the first time he heard it. Cyrus also mentioned that he related to the song the first time he heard it, connecting the "old town road" to the Old Town Bridge in Argillite, Kentucky, that he used to play on as a child. 

In response to Billboard removing "Old Town Road" from the Hot Country Songs chart, Cyrus tweeted his support for Lil Nas X and noted that the removal put him in the ranks of great outlaws.

Old Town Road lyrics by Lil Nas X

You know what? I'm done, done, done

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)

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

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

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—