Beyoncé — Texas Hold ’Em | Analyrical Content

12 min readFeb 20, 2024

Below you will find the complete lyrics to the song Texas Hold ‘Em. Then I will post an image. After the image will be an analytical lyrical (analyrical) analysis of the song with some additional commentary. Her lyrics will be in bold in the second section, and the commentary will look like this.

Lyrics:

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, ‘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)

There’s a tornado (there’s a tornado) in my city (in my city)
In the basement (in 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

Ooh, one step to the right
We headin’ to the dive 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

And I’ll be damned if I cannot dance with you
Come pour some liquor 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)

Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo

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 runnin’ to the first spot that we find, yeah

Ooh, one step to the right
We headin’ to the dive bar we always thought was nice
Ooh, you run to the left
Just with me in the middle, boy, I can’t read your mind

This ain’t Texas (woo), ain’t no hold ’em (hey)
So lay your cards down, down, down, down, oh
So park your Lexus (hey), throw your keys up (hey)
Stick around, ‘round, ‘round, ‘round, ‘round (stick around)
And I’ll be damned if I cannot 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)

And I’ll be damned if I cannot dance with you
Come pour some liquor on me honey, too
It’s a real life boogie and a real life hoedown
Don’t be a-, come take it to the floor now, ooh

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 liquor on me too
Furs, spurs, boots
Solargenic, photogenic, shoot

In the first line, she references Texas Hold ’Em, a game and then in the second line she uses some repetition. At first “throw your keys up” sounds like an urban way to say take a seat and kick your shoes off aka stay parked.

Look at the 3rd line here. It ties in very nicely with the first line when you combine the lyrics based on the lines they should rhyme with.

“This ain’t texas…so park your lexus”
“Aint no hold ’em, throw your keys up.”

And even with the next lines: so lay your cards down, down, down, stick around, round, round.

This is amazing. It’s like reading two sentences (ideas) written parallel to each other and all of their parts being interchangeable to create better imagery.

So knowing this, we can reorganize the two sentences to see a clearer picture that’s more direct: This ain’t Texas, so park your lexus, ain’t no hold ’em, and throw your keys up, so lay your cards down down down, and stick around, round, round. Within this context, it would make the keys sound like a reference to his emotions or the start of his decision to open up.

Texas, which is known for tough southern men, is the place that they aren’t at. So his keys, cards, and emotions can be put on full display.

In the last two lines. I love the linguistic choices. She uses urban language like “boogie” & “bitch” which just hits differently when said over a country beat.

In the first line she then switches to her city which is in Texas. She changes the setting from “not Texas” to Texas. And in Texas, there is a tornado that ain’t pretty and people are in the basement surviving.

The words in parenthesis. The background vocals in the song also start to kick up more and the harmonies are more layered in this section.

Her reference to whiskey — beautiful textured adjective.

In the last line. Nice continuity here. She’s explaining how alcoholism is getting people through, people are “kissing” red cups or “sipping”, and kissing which can be described as sweet ties into the next phrase. And redemption which takes time ties into the next phrase.

Ooh, one step to the right
We headin’ to the dive 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

She’s using words that paint a lot of directions and purpose: step right, we heading to, run left, spin me.

She then paints a beautiful picture of them taking a step towards the right, heading to the dive bar, and once entering he runs her to the left towards the dance floor and then spins her to the middle of the room. And she tells him “I can’t read your mind”. Aka talk to me.

Hence the dancefloor symbolizes a safe place. Even within Texas, the dancefloor is a place where you don’t have to take the Texas mentality.

And now as we hear the chorus again, knowing that the dancefloor is a safe place we get a deeper meaning.

Now as we hear “round, round round” — sticking around also ties into the visual of him spinning her to the middle of the room.

She’ll be damned if she can’t get him to open up on the dancefloor.

Whatever he gives her, whatever emotion he shares, she refers to it as sugar. That's fucking beautiful. And then calls him honey.

Then she calls him a bitch again. This now takes on a playful tone since there is more context. The first time it could have been taken as a little challenge, but with the full picture it can also be taken in a more playful or flirtatious way.

Come take it to the floor = Take your feelings to the dance floor

And I’ll be damned if I cannot dance with you
Come pour some liquor 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)

So she repeats this rhyme again but doesn’t include the first part about opening up. So I would assume liquor is to be taken literally. She’s ready to drink, and they’re at a dive bar, so you can imagine them running to the bar to take a break from their chat. And not drinking to “survive” as they do in Texas but they’re drinking to get lit, since it's a “boogie”.

Very interesting comparison with Texas and the dance floor. In Texas alcohol helps you survive, but on the dancefloor, it plays an energizing role like a battery.

Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo
Woo-hoo

She’s getting sexy in how she executes this vocally. The “woo-hoo” is very country, but also it uses the “oo” sound multiple times to emphasize the sexiness.

Heatwave??? This bitch is horny. But very nice word choice because Texas is also hot.

Naturally after opening up on the dance floor and then having alcohol, and then dancing more…now it's getting hot in here, so they’re gonna take off all their clothes.

The second line here. Since her last album was really gay, this could be a double entendre for the gays, or she could be saying it’s literally too hot to think straight. And Texas is hot as hell, so this means she’s at a high level of horniness.

The third line. I can’t think of many things that would be cold in this situation. Maybe the drinks are cold and stopping them from panicking. I assume it is alcohol because it's saying that now all of the problems feel dramatic. Which I would guess refers to them drinking to have fun, and in comparison to how much fun they’re having, their problems feel dramatic.

The last line. Now that the problems feel dramatic, the guy is ready to get some, and she is ready to give some. And they aren’t wasting time they are running to the first spot.

Or, in a PG version, this could also be more literal it's hot on the dancefloor and they’re running to the first spot to dance again.

but I think there is a sexual undertone because most music is about sex, and she has songs about sex. So I’m sure we all know where they’re running to.

Ooh, one step to the right
We headin’ to the dive bar we always thought was nice
Ooh, you run to the left
Just with me in the middle, boy, I can’t read your mind

And I’ll be damned if I cannot dance with you
Come pour some liquor on me honey, too
It’s a real life boogie and a real life hoedown
Don’t be a-, come take it to the floor now, ooh

This was repetitive so I don’t have much to say about the beginning. But at the end, she stops herself from using the word “bitch”. Which makes me thing there must be some kind of change she noticed in him where that word wouldn’t apply. And here in this sense the word “floor” sounds like “bed” based on how sensual the tone changes. The harmonies are sexy as hell.

I assume the hoops are from the ropes. Spurs are the things that the cowboys wear when riding horses on their boots. Or hoops could refer to earrings as well, painting a nice visual of what she is wearing.
Beyonce wearing hoops, spurs, and boots on a dancefloor would be nice, and it would bring a bit of black culture back into the mainstream country vibe. I believe she did this on purpose.

Third line from the bottom. Pour your sweet problems and liquor on me.

Second to last line. She now changes from hoops to furs which leads me to believe that the original hoop is also an accessory that you wear. And I think she’s describing her outfit — representing with hoops. This also highlights how she looks in modern country spaces, hence radio stations not wanting to play this song.

Last line. I believe solargenic means “having solar genes”, which is saying that he is out of this word, and this continues the alien theme from the Renaissance album. And I believe this is probably act ii of her grand artistic unboxing of music.

I believe this line describes the guy she’s with. She describes herself twice, and now I believe she describes him next using the words: tuck, back, oops, solargenic, photogenic & shoot.

This can be interpreted in so many ways. I don’t think I should make any more claims but you can use your imagination here and figure out what “shoot” means.

But as the music changes here, I assume it will flow into her next song because, on the renaissance album, a lot of her songs flowed very well from one to the next.

Literary devices:
I don’t have much to say about this, nothing really stood out to me.

Tones of voice:
It’s extremely country with a touch of black girl magic on it. It’s very Beyonce.

Continuity, logic, story & theme:
It’s nice but a bit dragged out at some point lyrically. I think the lyrics could have been changed a bit more in certain parts to create a better picture or get her point across more clearly. But I’m sure she likes leaving room for interpretation in her music. But I’ve only heard this song, I’m pretty sure this song will continue into another song and blend with other things. This is probably just a part of a greater plan. Dead ass.

Creative moments
Nothing stood out as unpredictably lyrically except for that “dont be a bitch, come take it to the floor now”. There’s not much wordplay. But she uses some nice directional words to show us how things are moving. A lot of verbs are giving a visual direction here.

Vocal performance
It’s Beyonce.

Flow(s)
She changes up the background vocals, the beats, her vocal runs, her volume. There’ nothing boring about how Beyonce sings. Even if the text is repetitive, the vocals will not be.

Relation to the Artist’s image (marketing)
She’s always been a country girl and sings about it but has not had the stereotypical country aesthetic that doesn’t include black people. Her last album was very camp-party adjacent. Her music has typically been R&B-centered. This is a nice shift in music for her because she’s showing that she’s not limited as an artist and she has great creative vision.

How it fits in with the theme of the album (is there even a theme)
IDK. This is the second country song I’ve heard recently. So I’m assuming she might continue the theme from her last album with her disco horse and tap into country music and stir up some well-needed conversations at the same time.

Are there areas for improvement?
Just the writing. Some parts I can see as creative, but it also comes off as basic. The ending of the song was the best part and I wish the whole song had that type of text.

Who is the target audience and who is the speaker?
The hive. And I’m sure they’re eating this up right now. It’s a good song.

I’m gonna give this song a 7/10 just because that’s what I felt. It felt like this was the type of song that was easy to produce. And I know nothing about music production, so take my untrained opinion at that. I guess I don’t like that the song is simple. But at the same time, I really like how simple it is. It does all of the right things correctly. And perhaps that's the intention because maybe she knows she’ll need to be simple to break the glass country ceiling. If that’s the case then I’d give it a 10/10 because it would have met its purpose.

Beyoncé — Texas Hold ’Em | Analyrical Content

Lyrics:

Written by Keván the Copywriter