A-Yo

Album: Joanne (2016)
Charted: 66 66
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Songfacts®:

  • This foot-stomping rocky hoedown was penned by Lady Gaga with Nashville songwriter Hillary Lindsey ("Jesus, Take The Wheel," "Girl Crush") and produced by Mark Ronson and BloodPop.
  • Mark Ronson is on bass, and BloodPop on organ, while Gaga plays drums with Este Haim. Other musicians on the track include Queens Of The Stone frontman Josh Homme, who contributes the twangy guitar solo and The Roots' Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax and jazz musician Brian Newman on trumpet.
  • Gaga's dip into Nashville waters is no surprise to those who know her. She told Rolling Stone Country in a 2016 interview that she is a big fan of country music, especially Johnny Cash and Garth Brooks. "When I was little, my father used to play 'Friends In Low Places' really loud in the basement, and I'd catch him down there dancing by himself, screaming real loud," she recalled. "I thought it was cool."
  • The rootsy outlaw track is about doing your own thing and spitting in the face of those who don't like it.

    A-YO, A-YO we smokin' 'em all

    Gaga tweeted the chorus is about celebrating while "leaving our haters in the dust."
  • Gaga performed a spirited version of this song on the October 24, 2016 episode of Saturday Night Live, as Mark Ronson and BloodPop jammed along with her backing band.

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