Beyoncé’s critically celebrated Coachella performance from 2018–dubbed “Beychella”–now has its own album, Homecoming: The Live Album. A year after the lauded event, the pop behemoth also released a behind-the-scenes documentary, Homecoming, on Netflix, featuring a cover of Frankie Beverly and the Maze’s 1981 song “Before I Let Go” over the credits. It features Tay Keith’s famous producer tag.
The bandleader recently talked about the cover with Billboard, where he called it “one of the high points of my life.”
He said that he first met the superstar-in-the-making when she was a teen. She was a fan of his band, Maze, so her mother, Tina Knowles, brought her to their show at the Houston Rodeo. “I met her then for the first time but didn’t know much about her,” he said. “She wasn’t a big hit star then, but we wound up working together a few times since and she’s always been very, very nice to me.”
Beverly also divulged that he didn’t know Beyoncé was planning to cover his song. “This cover was just like she is,” he told the magazine. “She didn’t make a big deal out of doing this song, and that’s just the way she works. I love the way she does her thing.”
The instrumentation diverges from the guitar-driven funk of the original. To fit into the HBCU theme of her Coachella set, a marching band drumline props up the percussion.
The pop diva also reflected on her festival experience in the second verse:
I pull up to Coachella (Pull up)
In boots with the goose feathers (Pull up)
I brought the squad with me (I got the squad)
Black on black bandanas, I (I got the squad)
Dussé and Champagne (Champagne)
I did the damn thing (I did the damn thing)
Bey puts her own spin on the lines from the original that she retains, until the song culminates in a set of dance floor instructions:
Turn around, kick, then slide
And twirl that ass to the right, now
Ooh, bunny hop, bunny hop, drop, pop
Cross your legs, turn around and clap
In contrast, Frankie Beverly’s version of the song centers around an imminent breakup.
We had our good times that’s not the same
We’re hurting each other girl it’s ashame
I won’t be foolish I’ve got to know
I want to make sure I’m right before I let go
“[‘Before I Let Go’] was about a relationship I was in,” he told Billboard. “It was just up and down, and by the end of it I wrote a song because I was feeling I needed to get out of it. I was so into the girl, but it just wasn’t working out.”
Beverly also added that her cover is a blessing. “Other people have done my songs, but the way she did this was in a class of its own,” he said. “I’m hearing from people I haven’t heard from in years. She’s done something that has affected my life.”
Additionally, Beyoncé’s spin on the song samples “Candy” by Cameo.
The pop diva released a flurry of content over the past week. Her 2016 album, LEMONADE, finally became available on all streaming platforms after three years.
Read all the lyrics to Beyoncé’s cover of “Before I Let Go” on Genius now.
