Settling Down

Album: Wildcard (2019)
Charted: 41
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Miranda Lambert first met New York City Police Department officer Brendan Mcloughlin in late 2018 when she was in the Big Apple promoting the Pistol Annies' third album and he was on security detail. They quietly struck up a relationship.

    This pensive, mid-tempo acoustic track finds Lambert reflecting on her newfound romance and how settling down with her boyfriend might affect her life. "I always have an itch to find a new adventure, but I'm also always ready to walk through my front door," Lambert explained in a press release.

    Lambert and McLoughlin got married on January 26, 2019 in Davidson County, Tennessee.
  • Lambert wrote the song with Luke Dick and Natalie Hemby shortly after getting hitched to Mcloughlin. The same trio also penned her "Bluebird" hit single.
  • I'm a wild child and a homing pigeon
    Caravan and an empty kitchen
    Bare feet on the tile with my head up in the clouds
    I'm one heart goin' both directions
    One love and a couple of questions
    Am I settlin' up or settlin' down?


    Lambert has always felt being torn between a wanderer and a homemaker, and her mom used to call her "a wild child and a homing pigeon." The singer already had her "wild child and a homing pigeon" hook when she arrived at the songwriting session with Hemby and Dick. She mentioned her idea to the pair, and it led them to a conversation about how a well-lived life usually requires balancing the two feelings.

    "This song is full of paradoxes of wanting to do two things that don't necessarily jive, wanting to do two things that are a little bit at odds with one another," Dick told Billboard. "You want to be a troubadour, playing from town to town, but you want to wake up in your own house and make your own breakfast and be with the people that you love every day. The life of the artist is much more of a whirlwind than most people's. But artists are still people too, and everybody wants those roots."
  • Trey Fanjoy directed the video, which shows Miranda Lambert and Brendan McLoughlin at home on their farm in Nashville. Lambert's horse, Gibson, and rescue dog, Delta Dawn, also make appearances.

    Lambert told radio.com's Kelly Ford this was her first ever video with a love interest. "I'm like, 'you're cute, you're here, and you're free,'" she joked. "It was fun; he did such a great job... and our little dog is in it, and our ponies. It's at my magical-happy place an hour away from Nashville."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Zakk Wylde

Zakk WyldeSongwriter Interviews

When he was playing Ozzfest with Black Label Society, a kid told Zakk he was the best Ozzy guitarist - Zakk had to correct him.

Emmylou Harris

Emmylou HarrisSongwriter Interviews

She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.

Eagles Lyrics Quiz

Eagles Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

Lots of life lessons in these Eagles lyrics - can you match them to the correct song?

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Kiss

KissFact or Fiction

Kiss is the subject of many outlandish rumors - some of which happen to be true. See if you can spot the fakes.

Michael Franti

Michael FrantiSongwriter Interviews

Franti tells the story behind his hit "Say Hey (I Love You)" and explains why yoga is an integral part of his lifestyle and his Soulshine tour.