MIRANDA LAMBERT: WORK PARTS TO SUPPORT THE RELEASE OF “SETTLING DOWN” (AUDIO)
I was talking with my bus driver one day. We were both going through something hard, and there’s no better way to talk about it than over the highway, right? We both at the time were like, “Are we settling up or are we settling down?” With people, with life, with our situations, like what’s going on? I kind of wrote that in my phone, and Natalie [Hemby] had this line when I went in to write with her and Luke, “Should I give up sunsets for marigold mornings?” And I thought that was so pretty, I said, “Well that might go with this kind of idea that I have.” Of course Luke had this beautiful melody ready to roll. But it was after I met my husband, and we weren’t married yet when we were writing this song, but it was a very like real place where Natalie’s got a daughter, and she’s doing all this amazing stuff. She’s in the Highwomen and she’s writing songs every day and having hits and traveling. And Luke is a dad, but he’s also in an amazing rock band called Republican Hair. And his four-year-old’s running around while we’re writing, and then he stays up all night making tracks. And so I’m getting on a bus, but I’m also going home to be with someone I love. So it’s this juxtaposition of, “Can I do both? Is that ok? Should I feel bad that I’m home or should I feel bad that I’m leaving?” Cause you get antsy when you’re used to moving and going, and having been touring since I was seventeen. So having time off and meeting my husband and being a person going to family breakfasts and birthday parties and stuff, it was like, “Well when are we leaving? Where’s the bus?” For a while, it took me a minute to get used to that. And now I’m adjusting back to being on the road again. Wherever the people that you love are is home, so it can be anywhere. But it was a cool song to write at the very time that we needed to write it, because I feel like a lot of people feel that way, that they have this gypsy spirit, and they want to be rock ‘n’ roll, but they also love having a morning at home with their bare feet on their own kitchen floor. It’s an amazing struggle to deal with actually. I don’t know if I’ll ever get too comfortable in one or the other. You know, my mom always tells me, it’s where the line comes from but she’d always say, “You’re a wild child and homing pigeon.” Because I really love to be home, I love my animals and my family and making casseroles and just listening to Merle Haggard. I love to be on my own porch. But I also am like, “I can leave and be ready to go anywhere in fifteen minutes. I just need a guitar and some fringe, and I’m ready to roll out the door. Everything else you can buy at Target.” I have this itch always to find a new adventure, but I’m always so ready to just walk through my own front door.