Songfacts®:

• The title track of Mastodon's sixth studio album, the song is about appreciating one's life and taking advantage of the time we have here on Earth. Guitarist Brent Hinds told Kerrang! "I'm not sure if I really live by the code of this song, but I tend to write about things that I can't achieve because then I can achieve them through the song in some way."
• The album title was generated before this song was recorded. Bassist Troy Sanders told Paste: "After we finished the two-year touring cycle on our last record, The Hunter, we were kind of gearing up to go back to our rehearsal space in Atlanta. And we were starting the effort, the time, the blood, the energy, the months of driving, the recording and the long process between recording and the release day."
  
  "In a nutshell: we're fortunate enough to do this again, but there's this feeling of this yearly cycle," he continued. "It's not a bad thing. We get to go tour a bunch, we get to record a bunch of songs we love. It's embracing the positive - the wonderful side, to be able to have the same four dudes who love doing what we do so much. And like anything in the Mastodon world, it's open to interpretation."
• Guitarist Bill Kelliher told Noisecreep: "It's not a concept record, but there is a theme going on. Once More 'Round the Sun is loosely based on the life and times of each person in the band during the past year. Each song kind of explains what has happened to each one of us in our personal journeys in life, outside of the band. Struggles and hardships, relationships and big change, almost being kicked out of our homes - just things that happen to everybody."
• This samples Thin Lizzy's 1976 Jailbreak track "Cowboy Song."
• Speaking to SpazioRock.it bassist and co-vocalist Troy Sanders responded to the comment that there are more memorable choruses on Once More 'Round The Sun compared to some of Mastodon's previous albums. He said: "We've tried to incorporate more melody - not only guitar-wise, but vocal melodies and vocal harmonies and vocal patterns that really are catchy; you know, like, hooks that bring you in and make a song more memorable. So we did spend more time and effort on trying to find those right vocal moments for this new record without cheating the song's music itself."
  
  Sanders continued: "You can find vocal patterns that are catchy and meaningful to the song without just being cheesy about it and singing for the sake of not screaming. We're always trying to be better songwriters, and just continue to evolve and make songs that don't sound like the last song we wrote."