Beyonce — ALLIIGATOR TEARS | Analyrical Content
Below you will find the complete lyrics to the song ALLIIGATOR TEARS and its meaning. 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 unbolded like this.
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
High tides in the city, I’m in too deep
And I’m runnin’ on fear
Oh, dear, you and your alligator tears
Works me over and through
[Chorus]
You say move a mountain
And I’ll throw on my boots
You say stop the river from runnin’
I’ll build a dam or two
You say change religions
Now, I spend Sundays with you
Somethin’ ‘bout those tears of yours
How does it feel to be adored?
[Post-Chorus]
You and your alligator tears
You and those alligator tears
You
Somethin’ ‘bout those tears of yours
How does it feel to be adored?
[Verse 2]
Sunrise in the morning, you’re all I need
And all I need is rain or the roots get weak
Sweet things need time to grow
Thinkin’ ‘bout leaving? Hell no
Squeeze every ounce of love from my body, yеah
[Chorus]
You say move a mountain
And I’ll throw on my boots
You say stop the river from runnin’
I’ll build a dam or two
You say changе religion
Now, I spend Sundays with you
Somethin’ ‘bout those tears of yours
How does it feel to be adored?
[Outro]
I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore you
Those alligator tears
I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore you
Your alligator tears
I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore
Alligator tears
I adore, I adore you, I adore you, I adore, I adore (How does it feel to be adored?)
Alligator tears
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
High tides in the city, I’m in too deep
And I’m runnin’ on fear
Oh, dear, you and your alligator tears
Works me over and through
Beyonce is singing about her weakness. Firstly “alligator tears” can be used when “someone is pretending to be sad or sympathetic when in fact they are not at all”.
These tears come in like high tides, which typically don’t happen in a city, and she’s deep in them filled with adrenaline.
She’s completely aware of the insincerity, but she loves him enough to do anything.
[Chorus]
You say move a mountain
And I’ll throw on my boots
You say stop the river from runnin’
I’ll build a dam or two
You say change religions
Now, I spend Sundays with you
Somethin’ ‘bout those tears of yours
How does it feel to be adored?
This chorus is amazing. Let me explain why. First, it maintains the religious continuity within her album.
She references Matthew 17:20 which is about having enough faith to move mountains, highlighting the amount of faith she has but also the amount of physical strength she’s willing to exert as she throws on her country boots.
She then says she’s willing to build a damn. An interesting fact about beavers: “Beavers form monogamous couples and both males and females raise their young.”
Beyonce, thereafter, calls Jay-Z her God. She stopped going to church to be with him because he is her everything. Even when she knows he’s crying about nothing, she is still willing to be with him over anything else.
The last word “adore” is an interesting choice. Adore comes from the latin word “adorare” which means “to worship” (from ad- ‘to’ + orare ‘speak, pray’.)
Essentially she’s asking him, how does it feel to be worshipped?
[Post-Chorus]
You and your alligator tears
You and those alligator tears
You
Somethin’ ‘bout those tears of yours
How does it feel to be adored?
I don’t have anything to add here.
[Verse 2]
Sunrise in the morning, you’re all I need
And all I need is rain or the roots get weak
Sweet things need time to grow
Thinkin’ ‘bout leaving? Hell no
Squeeze every ounce of love from my body, yеah
She now uses a nice metaphor to call herself a flower/plant. As the sun comes up (when she sees Jay-Z face) she perks up. And his alligator tears give her life, because she adores him, otherwise her roots would get weak.
She is the sweet thing that needs time to grow. But her growth is contingent upon him and how much he gives her.
He’s her. He can’t leave. That’s a “hell no”, which is a nice word to put in a religious-adjacent text.
[Chorus]
You say move a mountain
And I’ll throw on my boots
You say stop the river from runnin’
I’ll build a dam or two
You say changе religion
Now, I spend Sundays with you
Somethin’ ‘bout those tears of yours
How does it feel to be adored?
Nothing to add here
[Outro]
I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore you
Those alligator tears
I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore you
Your alligator tears
I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore
Alligator tears
I adore, I adore you, I adore you, I adore, I adore (How does it feel to be adored?)
Alligator tears
The word “adore” encapsulates “love & worship” and she repeats it.
This was a beautiful song. As a polyglot I love looking at etymology and as soon as I saw “adore” I saw what she was doing.
This entire song is about how her husband can basically do anything he wants and as long as he cries she will be there because she hates seeing him sad/ hates dispealsing him. Hence why their relationship is like a god and a worshipper. This gets even more interesting when you think about how Jay-Z calls himself “hova”, short for “Jehovah”, the god of the Abrahamic religions.
Anyway. I’m Kevan. I’m a copywriter. HMU.
