Story Behind the Song: Josh Thompson, ‘Comin’ Around’

In December of 2011, Josh Thompson released "Comin' Around," the first single from what would have been his sophomore album (and what is now being released as Change: The Lost Record). Written by Thompson with Rodney Clawson and Kendell Marvel, the song peaked just outside the Top 30 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart (No. 31). Below, Thompson tells The Boot how the song came to be.

It was my first time writing with both of them together. I remember it was only about two or three hours that we spent together, and we wrote this song. It's one of those songs that I knew right away was a Josh Thompson song, and it was really special to me.

I don't hang on to a lot of songs. I'm a songwriter, and there are a lot of songs that I love, but I pitch them around. This is one that I've never played, or had played, for another artist, because I knew it was for me. I held on to it for a year and a half at least, maybe two years.

Kendell was writing on a resonator guitar, which is steel guitar-ish; it almost sounds like a banjo. So, he had that melody. 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.

My favorite line is still "a little more lost than I am found." There's a line in every verse that I absolutely love: "I blew out of here the next day after graduation / Destination: anywhere with a higher population" -- absolutely love it.

The whole line about hating your dad's music ... Everybody hates your parents' music. I don't know whether you do, but you definitely try to [laughs], and you're supposed to be rebellious; that's what it's all about. My dad listened to oldies: It was the rock 'n' roll of the '50s and the '60s -- the stuff that seems so docile to us now, and everybody thought it was devil's music back in the day. It's fantastic music, and I listen to that stuff today.

Eventually, it's about reaching that point where you step out of that and be yourself for a while and really look at the world with neutral eyes, and it's like, "That's just stupid; that's great music. I miss my hometown, and I need to stop being such an idiot."

This story was originally written by Erin Duvall, and revised by Angela Stefano.