Actin' Up

Album: Palomino (2022)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This sassy, bluesy number features irreverent lyrics that capture Lambert's freewheeling personality.

    Mirror mirror on the saddle
    Hear my rhinestones rattle
    Actin' up
    Billy Bob Texas
    Picking out new exes
    Actin' up


    Lambert lives her life under her own terms and refuses to behave conventionally. She's had a successful career by doing things her own way.

    With my microphone money bought my own milk and honey
    Got my own kind of country, kinda funky
    Turn it up
  • Lambert recorded "Actin Up" for Palomino; the album title comes from this song's chorus.

    I wanna see the desert
    From a painted Palomino
    Señorita need to have a little fun
    Mm, I'm actin' up


    A palomino is a horse with a gold coat and white mane and tail. Because of their distinct coloring, palominos are sought after as parade horses. Neil Young sang of saddling up the palomino on his 1977 country-flavored track of that title.
  • Lambert wrote "Actin Up" with frequent collaborators Luke Dick and Jon Randall. Dick co-wrote nine of the 15 songs on Palomino. In 2021, Lambert dropped The Marfa Tapes, an acoustic project she wrote and recorded together with her fellow Texans, Randall and Jack Ingram.
  • Lambert debuted "Actin Up" during her set at the Country 2 Country Festival in London on March 10, 2022.
  • This is the opening track of Miranda Lambert's Palomino album. "'Actin' Up' felt right for the first song," Lambert told Audacy. "It sort of eases you into this journey. I thought, 'Let's get people in from like the first note, the first line of the song, especially the first line of a record, that's important. You can lose people quick!'"

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Chris Tomlin

Chris TomlinSongwriter Interviews

The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.

Trans Soul Rebels: Songs About Transgenderism

Trans Soul Rebels: Songs About TransgenderismSong Writing

A history of songs dealing with transgender issues, featuring Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Morrissey and Green Day.

Phone Booth Songs

Phone Booth SongsSong Writing

Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.

Ramones

RamonesFact or Fiction

A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

Bryan Adams

Bryan AdamsSongwriter Interviews

What's the deal with "Summer of '69"? Bryan explains what the song is really about, and shares more of his songwriting insights.