The making of "Satellite"

Talking shit and having fun

Last year, after the boys and I finished up with a short run across the pond, I stayed behind and spent a little time in Spain. My flight home was on one of those budget airlines. Despite what it lacked in amenities, it made up for in character.

That was one of the only plane rides of my life where I KNEW someone had lit up a cigarette, and to be honest, I don’t blame them. The thing had no internet and you were only allowed two beverages the entire flight. Not only that, people were buck ass wild on there, absolutely no plane etiquette. My seat was one of four (and a middle one) right behind the flight attendant area and near a bathroom. I finally got so fed up with people treating my row as if it was a lane to the bathroom that by hour four I would post my feet up and tell them I paid for the legroom, not to have grown ass men stepping over my feet.

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I had never been on an international flight where there wasn’t at least internet you could pay for, so I wasn’t expecting to get on a plane extremely caffeinated and ready to work on the computer only to be squished between people and having no where to put that energy. I first did what I never do on planes, and tried to make conversation with the lady next to me. I punished her. I had that caffeine mouth. I told her at one point that I’m normally not a plane talker, and said to let me know if she’d like to have some quiet time. She never told me directly, but soon after that she put on her over the ear headphones and stared at her kindle. I knew she was just trying to escape me because I noticed she stayed on the same page for a few hours.

In one of my many many trips to the bathroom to stretch my legs, I started singing that “I’m just talking shit and having fun.” I even recorded myself singing it on my phone. The line amused me, but by the time I made it stateside I had long forgotten about it.

One morning before heading to the studio for Planting by the Signs, I found that voice note while drinking my coffee. Out of nowhere the whole melody of a song came to me, and then some more lines…