Liberal Arts Blog — Beyonce (1981- ) From “Dangerously In Love” (2003) To “Lemonade” (2016) To “Cowboy Carter” (2024)
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day
Today’s Topic: Beyonce (1981- ) from “Dangerously in Love” (2003) to “Lemonade” (2016) to “Cowboy Carter” (2024)
Last week the New Zealand artist Lorde and her hit “Royals.” Two weeks ago, Lata Mangeshkar (1929–2022) “The Nightingale of India” and the “Queen of Melody.” Three weeks ago, three Indian songs, “Chaiyya Chaiyya,” “Baabul Mora,” and “I Am a Disco Dancer.”
Today, Beyonce. A sample of three songs: “Crazy in Love” from her first album “Dangerously in Love” (2003), “Formation” from her album “Lemonade” (2016) which was the worldwide best selling album of that year, and “Texas Hold Em” from “Cowboy Carter” *(2024) which won her the Grammy for Album of the Year this week.
What is your favorite Beyonce single? favorite album? Why? Do you know her work? Should you? Why?
Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter has won 35 Grammy Awards — the most for any artist in history. Next comes Georg Solti (the classical music conductor) at 31. Chick Corea (the jazz pianist and composer) and Quincy Jones (composer, arranger, trumpeter, conductor) are tied at 28. Jay-Z has 25, Kanye West 24, and Kendrik Lamar 22. U2 also has 22 and Bruce Springsteen 20. Wow!
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
CRAZY IN LOVE (2003) — featuring Jay-Z — excerpts
1. “I look and stare so deep in your eyes, I touch on you more and more every time when you leave. I’m begging you not to go, Call your name two, three times in a row, Such a funny thing for me to try to explain such a funny thing for me to try to explain How I’m feeling and pride is the one to blame (yeah, yeah) ’cause I know I don’t understand just how your love can do what no one else can.”
2. “Got me looking so crazy right now, your love’s, Got me looking so crazy right now (your love), Got me looking so crazy right now, your touch, Got me looking so crazy right now (your touch) got me hoping you’ll page me right now, your kiss, Got me hoping you’ll save me right now, looking so crazy in love’s Got me looking, got me looking so crazy in love (I’m warmed up now, let’s go).
3. “When I talk to my friends so quietly who he think he is? Look at what you did to me, Tennis shoes, don’t even need to buy a new dress, If you ain’t there, ain’t nobody else to impress, It’s the way that you know what I thought I knew, It’s the beat that my heart skips when I’m with you, But I still don’t understand, Just how your love can do what no one else can.”
Beyoncé — Crazy In Love ft. JAY Z
“FORMATION”(2016) from “Lemonade” (worldwide best selling album of the year) — excerpts (“parental advisory: explicit lyrics”
1. “Y’all haters corny with that illuminati mess, Paparazzi, catch my fly, and my cocky fresh, I’m so reckless when I rock my Givenchy dress (stylin), I’m so posssessive, so I rock his Roc necklaces, my daddy Alabama, momma Louisiana, You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas bama:
2. “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros, I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils Earned all this money, but they never take the country out me, I got hot sauce in my bab, swag. I see it. I want it. I stunt yellow-bone it. I dream it. I work hard. I grind ‘till I own it. I twirl on them haters, albino alligators El Camino with the set Cuervo with no chaser (chaser)
3. “Sometimes I go off (I go off), I go hard (I go hard) Get what’s mine (take what’s mine), I’m a star (I’m a star) ’Cause I slay (slay), I slay (hey),. I slay (okay), I slay (okay), all day (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay), I slay (okay), We gon’ slay (slay, gon’ slay (okay), we slay (okay) I slay (okay)
NB: “I slay (okay), okay (okay,” I slay (okay) okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay ladies, now let’s get in formation (’cause I slay) Okah, ladies, now let’s get in formation (’cause I slay), prove to me you got some coordiation (’cause I slay), Slay trick, or you get eliminated (I slay)”
“When he fuck me good, I take his ass to Red Lobstser (’cause I slay), When he fuck me good, I take his ass to Red Lobster (’cause I slay), If he hit it right, I might take him a flight on my chopper (’cause I slay), Drop him off at the mall, let him buy some J’s, let him shop up (’cause I slay).”
“I might get your song played on the radio station (’cause I slay), I might get your song played on the radio station (’cause I slay), You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making (’cause I slay), I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making.”
Beyoncé — Formation (Official Video)
“TEXAS HOLD EM” (2024) from “Cowboy Carter” — 2024 Grammy Album of the Year — excerpts
1. ”This ain’t Texas (woo), ain’t no hold ’em (hey), So lay your cards down, down, down, down So park your Lexus (woo) and throw your keys up (hey) stick around, ‘round, ‘round, ‘round (stick around) And I’ll be damned if I can’t slow dance with you, Come pour some sugar on me, honey too It’s a real life boogie and a real life hoedown. Don’t be a bitch, come take it to the floor now, woo, huh (woo).
2. ”There’s a tornado (there’s a tornado), in my city (in my city) hit the basement (hit the basement) that shit ain’t pretty (shit ain’t pretty), Rugged whiskey (rugged whiskey) ’cause we survivin (’cause we survivin), Off red cup kisses, sweet redemption, passin’ time, yeah.”
3. “Ooh, one step to the right, We headin to the diver bar we always thought was nice, ooh run me to the left then spin me in the middle, boy, I can’t read your mind”
NB: “There’s a heatwave (There’s a heatwave) coming at us (coming at us), Too hot to think straight (too hot to think straight), too cold to panic (cold to panic), All of the problems just feel dramatic (just feel dramatic) And now we’re running to the first spot that we find, yeah.”
“Take it to the floor now, ooh, Hoops, spurs, boots, to the floor now ooh, Tuck, back, oops (ooh, ooh, ooh), shoot, Come take it to the floor now, ooh, And I’ll be damned if I cannot dance with you, Baby, pour that sugar and liiquor on me too, furs, spurs, boots, solargenic, photogenic, shoot”
Beyoncé — TEXAS HOLD ’EM (Official Visualizer)
BACKGROUND
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonc%C3%A9_singles_discography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_in_Love
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_(song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Hold_%27Em_(song)
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
A LINK TO THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED BY THEME:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENT BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music.
Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music. Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make someone else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
