Comin' Around

Album: Change: The Lost Record (2011)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Josh Thompson grew up in a construction family in the Wisconsin town of Cedarburg, 20 miles north of Milwaukee. He was pouring concrete in his father's business when he was just 12 and by the time he was 19, he was a journeyman concrete finisher working on a road crew. Hooked on Country music, he moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a songwriter at the age of 27.
  • The first single from Thompson's second album finds the narrator coming round to appreciating his small town roots. Thompson told The Boot: "'Comin' Around' is one of those songs that I knew was special as soon as we finished writing it. The lyrics are 100% truth, and the melody to me is infectious. I'm excited that this is the first single to represent my second album. I think it will also show people a different side of me that they haven't seen yet."
  • The song's music video was directed by P.R. Brown and shot in Nashville in January 2012. "It consists of me, a vacant field and a carnival - an old-time carnival with a big wheel that's got some pictures that go back to my grandpa, my parents when they were young, me when I was young, up until the present," Thompson explained to The Boot: "It's a menagerie of all the moments that define me, turn a circle and come around. A big carnival pops out of nothing, is the one thing that really caught me off guard and caught my attention."
  • Brown took inspiration from Tom Waits' "Hold On" music video. "The shooting style and the lens, it's like how an old newspaper kind of looks like tingy yellow after a while," said Thompson to The Boot. "I saw that video and I was like, 'Man that's pretty cool.' That, and a carnival that pops out of nowhere and a monkey."
  • Thompson penned the song with Nashville songwriters Rodney Clawson (Jason Aldean's "Crazy Town," George Strait's "I Saw God Today") and Kendell Marvel ( Jake Owen's "Places To Run," George Strait's "Twang"). It was the first time that Thompson had written with the two songsmiths together and they penned this cut within two or three hours.
  • Thompson told The Boot that the song wasn't just a reflection of his experiences. He explained: "The 'Comin' Around' part, I can't remember whose idea it was or if it's just an idea that came out as we were writing it. I've found that if I try to direct a writing appointment and gear completely towards me and my experiences that more times than not it ends up negatively affecting the writing appointment, especially with someone you've not met before. Just to get in there and write the best song that you possibly can and not try to gear it towards anyone or anything that's how the best songs get written."
  • The Change album was recorded in 2011, but wasn't released by RCA. In 2015 some of the songs were made available on an EP Change: The Lost Record, Vol. 1. The entire collection was eventually released in 2017 as an album titled Change: The Lost Record.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Psychedelic Lyrics

Psychedelic LyricsMusic Quiz

Whoa man! Do you know which band came up with these cosmic lyrics?

Carl Sturken

Carl SturkenSongwriter Interviews

Hitmaker Carl Sturken on writing and producing for Rihanna, 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Donny Osmond, Shakira and Karyn White.

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?