‘M-E-X-I-C-O’ by Post Malone & Billy Strings - Lyrics & Meaning

August 15, 2024 2:35 pm GMT

Last Edited August 16, 2024 2:11 pm GMT

Post Malone & Billy Strings - ‘M-E-X-I-C-O’

Official Release Date: August 16th, 2024

Album: F-1Trillion

Songwriters: Post Malone, Billy Strings, Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome & Chase McGill

Proucers: Louis Bell & Charlie Handsome

The Background:

Billy Strings was one of the first country-adjacent artists to bring Post Malone into the fold, with the duo covering Johnny Cash's classic hit, ‘Cocaine Blues’, in 2022 during one of Strings’ shows. It was inevitable, then, that the bluegrass phenom would play a part in Posty's debut country album, F-1Trillion, with Billy Strings joining the ‘I Had Some Help’ singer-songwriter for the jovial, rip-roaring ‘M-E-X-I-C-O‘.

Little was known about this momentous collaboration prior to F-1Trillion's official release on August 16th, 2024, but fans were excited to hear Posty trying his hand at a more bluegrass-inspired style. It's safe to say he delivers, with ‘M-E-X-I-C-O’ showcasing Post Malone's appreciation for yet another country sub-genre, alongside the likes of country-pop (‘Guy For That’), traditional country (‘Never Love You Again’), Southern Rock (‘Wrong Ones’, ‘California Sober’) and more.

Interestingly, the now-iconic two-tone Ford truck that adorns the cover of F-1Trillion - which was created by Gonzalo Lebrija - was dropped onto a Mexican lake called Presa Salto del Nogal in Tapalpa, Jalisco, for the album's photoshoot. This easter egg was used to add to the sense of anticipation ahead of Posty's Billy Strings collaboration, which of course pivots around the titular country.

The Sound:

‘M-E-X-I-C-O’ is a caffeinated, intentionally chaotic bluegrass anthem. Post Malone takes the lead vocals throughout, with Billy Strings joining for back-up in the choruses.

The addition of a fiddle, banjo, guitar and an energising drum pattern help to give ‘M-E-X-I-C-O’ the feeling that you're speeding away at 100mph. The frenetic pace - which is intensified during the playful instrumental towards the end of the track - mirrors the lovestruck, frenzied pandemonium that ensues as the story progresses.

The Meaning:

“I was hangin' 'round in Brooklyn town with a settle-down type girl

Her daddy was a diplomat, he thought he ruled the world

And he was well-connected, he helped me connect the dots

He payed me off to leave and let's just say he payed a lot”

The first of the many characters we meet in ‘M-E-X-I-C-O’ is a wealthy woman that Posty meets downtown, with the protagonist hinting that he doesn't have the affluence to match her.

It quickly becomes clear that her father, a powerful diplomat, doesn't think Post Malone can offer her stability, so he - somewhat extremely - pays him to leave his daughter and never return.

“I guess it's M-E-X-I-C-O for me

Laid up in the shade of a coconut tree

And love said ‘Go to Hell’ but there's somewhere I'd rather be

So it's M-E-X-I-C-O for me”

Although reluctant at first, Post Malone shrugs his shoulders and accepts his fate, but instead of ‘going to Hell’ like the father suggested, he decides to disappear off the grid and head down to Mexico. He paints an idyllic picture of this potential lifestyle, with Posty dreaming of being gleefully “Laid up in the shade of a coconut tree”.

“So I took her daddy's money but I stopped in Vegas first

I met a dancer on the Strip and fell in love in her

We almost tied the knot when Elvis asked, ‘Any objections?’

Her mobster boyfriend busted in with an AK-47”

However, before he makes it across the border, he decides to stop off in Sin City and have some more fun in the USA. He ends up falling for a dancer on the Strip, with the duo about to get married in one of the famous Vegas chapels. In classic Las Vegas fashion, their ordained minister is - of course - an Elvis Presley impersonator.

Before they can say ‘I do’, though, the service is dramatically interrupted with gunfire, and Post Malone is again forced to flee Las Vegas and resume his plan to go to Mexico.

“I made it South of El Paso, met a business woman there

I knew that she was rich, but how, I didn't care

When the cops kicked in the door, they found a suitcase of cocaine

She took off with the Federale and I took all the blame”

Again, there's a hitch, as he gets sidetracked in El Paso, Texas, where he meets another lover. This time, it's a business-woman with a sizeable fortune. The narrator foreshadows the song's conclusion by crooning that he didn't care to ask how she got rich, and as it turns out, she was selling drugs. She frames Posty and leaves with the Fedarale - a Spanish term for federal police - while he's locked up for good.

“I guess it's M-E-X-I-C-O for me

From this jail cell I can't see one coconut tree

And love said ‘Go to Hell’ but now I can't ever leave

So it's M-E-X-I-C-O for me

So it's M-E-X-I-C-O for me”

Our protagonist finally makes it to Mexico, then, only not in the circumstances he initially imagined. He is left to wistfully picture that paradisal coconut tree, even though there's no such view from his lonely jail cell, from which he “can't ever leave”.

What have Post Malone and Billy Strings said about ‘M-E-X-I-C-O’?

Although he hasn't spoken at length about ‘M-E-X-I-C-O’ specifically, Post Malone has paid tribute on a number of occasions to how welcoming the country music world has been to him. Billy Strings has performed with him a couple of times now, and their friendship epitomises how unanimously Posty has been embraced.

In a 2024 CBS interview with Anthony Mason, the ‘Chemical’ singer-songwriter shared, “Everyone here was so accepting and kind”. When Mason provided the explanation that this is a testament to Post Malone's kind-hearted character, Posty responded with an endearing dismissal, “I disagree. I think it's a testament to them”.