Mysterious Style

Beyonce “Creole” – The production/arrangement by Rich Harrison on this track is as exciting and bombastic as you might expect from that guy, but it’s easy to understand why this didn’t make the cut for the B-Day album. For one thing, the celebratory mood is all wrong in the context of that set of songs, but more importantly, the lyrics deviate far from the impressively tight thematic focus of the finished record. So far, in fact, that it’s hard to tell what this song is attempting to articulate, though it seems to be some kind of post-Katrina tribute to New Orleans. That’s just an educated guess, though — it seems to be just as much about dancing, Beyonce’s ridiculous sexiness, and err, racial/ethnic integration. (Click here to buy the Japanese import of B-Day from Amazon.)

Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site with mp3s from Electric Six, El-P, and Good Friend.