Miranda Lambert’s ‘Locomotive’ Is ‘Total Country Punk-Rock’ [Listen]
Miranda Lambert has responded to fan demand with the surprise release of an incendiary studio version of a new song, "Locomotive."
Lambert surprised fans when she debuted the song during her live set at the 2019 CMA Music Festival in June, and she surprised them again on Thursday morning (July 18) by dropping the new studio recording of "Locomotive" alongside her new single, "It All Comes Out in the Wash." Both songs appear on Lambert's forthcoming new studio album.
Lambert calls the barnstorming new track "total country punk-rock" in a press release, and that's about as good a description as any. "Locomotive" opens with a distorted electric guitar riff and immediately plunges headlong into a high-velocity, drum-heavy rhythm figure that's a refreshing contrast to the singer-songwriter approach Lambert took to her last album, The Weight of These Wings. The track is topped off with bluesy harmonica runs and scorching electric slide guitar.
"Locomotive" returns Lambert to the energy of early songs like "Kerosene" and then some, featuring perhaps the most aggressive arrangement and vocal performance of her career. But the lyrics reflect a newfound maturity; this is not the vengeful young Lambert threatening the man who has done her wrong, but rather a settled-down married woman who still retains the restless energy of her youth.
Miranda Lambert, "Locomotive" Lyrics:
I'm like a locomotive / I don't run out of steam / I'm headed toward the reservoir and I'm gonna need a drink / I ain't no Napa Valley / New York City seems okay / Ooo, I'm a little bit more Tennessee, there’s whiskey in my veins.
Chorus:
'Cause I'm sweet tea sippin' on my front porch sittin’, while my hubby fries chicken and I'm picking these strings / I've been down on my luck but I ain't given up, well I totaled his truck but he loves me just the same / Ooo he gives me wings, oh he gives me wings.
I ain't no grand piano / I play a little out of tune / I spent all of my glory days in a honky-tonk saloon
Chorus:
Well I'm sweet tea sippin' on my front porch sittin' while my hubby fries chicken and I'm picking these strings / I've been down on my luck but I ain't given up, got a heart like a truck, I’m a hummingbird ready to sing / Ooo he gives me wings, oh he gives me wings.
Repeat Chorus
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