We Touched The Sun

Album: Living Hard (2007)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Allan told Country Weekly magazine that he came up with this song on a songwriting trip to Costa Rica with Odie Blackmon and Jim Lauderdale: "I found a house that was in the middle of a wildlife preserve. It was 6 hours from the airport. We'd never do it again, because it took too long to get to the airport. It backed up to a marine preservation. We couldn't even get there by car, we had to have guys carry our stuff across the river and get us to this place. I paid some lady to come and cook for us. She charged me $7 a day. These fishing boats would come in in the morning and we would choose what we wanted to eat, and she would cook it that day. We were woken up by baboons every morning. Jim is quite the character - he's way into tai chi and stuff like that. I'd have my coffee every morning and there were a few guys that gave jungle tours that would hike up to see us because they could hear us playing music. There's nothing forever, so you could hear us far away. I just love the visual of those guys sitting there watching Jim do tai chi in the jungle. It's the first time I'd ever sat down and written 24/7 like that. That's all we did, was sit around with guitars and kick over stuff. I needed that. My wife had just passed. I'm sure they were looking at me going, 'He is a wealth of emotion right now.'" Allan laughed then added: "It was good for all of us. The song that made the record off of that session was 'We Touched the Sun.'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Andrew Farriss of INXS

Andrew Farriss of INXSSongwriter Interviews

Andrew Farriss on writing with Michael Hutchence, the stories behind "Mystify" and other INXS hits, and his country-flavored debut solo album.

Jethro Tull

Jethro TullFact or Fiction

Stage urinals, flute devices, and the real Aqualung in this Fact or Fiction.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino EditionMusic Quiz

Whether he's splitting ears or burning Nazis, Quentin Tarantino uses memorable music in his films. See if you can match the song to the scene.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.

Donald Fagen

Donald FagenSongwriter Interviews

Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillian

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillianSong Writing

A Soul Train dancer takes us through a day on the show, and explains what you had to do to get camera time.