"Carousel" is the final track on Miranda Lambert's 2022 Palomino album. Written by Lambert, along with her frequent collaborators Luke Dick and Natalie Hemby, the Texan says the experience of writing that song is likely something that will never be repeated for her.
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"We took some nuggest from our surroundings to make that song feel very real, because parts of it are real," Lambert tells Stage Right Secrets. Indeed, Lambert did grow up in Smith County, and Johnny Davis, also mentioned in the song, is a road near her farm.
"It was one of those songs where, we were writing it, and we're like, 'Oh, this is getting somewhere. ... I'm feeling things,'" Lambert remembers. For Lambert, it was a magical experience.
"We were living in this moment of these string lights and crickets and writing 'Carousel,'" Lambert recalls. "And I'm like, this moment will never happen again. And one day when I'm in my Airstream somewhere in a KOA, half-retired ... I'll be hearing that song and I'll go straight to that place. It's sort of permission to move to the next thing, and that it's ok that the circus leaves town, because it does."
Miranda Lambert Moves On After "Palomino"
It's fitting that "Carousel" is the last song on Palomino, because that was also the end of her nearly two decades at RCA Records. Miranda Lambert followed Palomino with Postcards from Texas, her first album on Republic Records. The project includes "Run," a painfully honest look at her split from Blake Shelton in 2015.
"I wrote this song 'Run' during 'The Weight of These Wings' era," Lambert shares on TikTok. "At the same time as songs like 'Tin Man' and 'Vice.' But wasn't ready to release it till now."
For nearly two decades, Lambert has been releasing bold and honest lyrics, baring her soul in most of her songs.
"I've just picked my moments when I was ready to have whatever song that was out," Lambert tells Taste of Country. "Because I signed up to tell the truth. I got in country music, and that's what we do. And I just feel like it's important to — good, bad and ugly— tell your story, because it's also somebody else's story. It makes you not feel alone... I mean, it's scary putting [out] all your feelings. You can't hide behind a co-writer. It's like, here it is. Here's my diary entry."
