‘Missin’ You Like This’ by Post Malone & Luke Combs - Lyrics & Meaning

August 15, 2024 12:57 pm GMT

Post Malone & Luke Combs - ‘Missin’ You Like This’

Official Release Date: August 16th, 2024

Album: F-1Trillion

Songwriters: Post Malone, Luke Combs, Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, HARDY, Ashley Gorley & James McNair

Producers: Louis Bell & Charlie Handsome

The Background:

Post Malone and Luke Combs’ first F-1Trillion collaboration, ‘Guy For That’ had been teased for months prior to its release in July - but shortly before it dropped, we got a hint from Posty that the duo had a second country duet up their sleeves.

When the full F-1Trillion tracklist was unveiled, this mysterious other Luke Combs link-up was revealed to be ‘Missin’ You Like This’, a song that Post Malone had shared a brief snippet of across his socials, but that was presumed to be a solo cut.

The Sound:

‘Missin’ You Like This’ finds Post Malone and Luke Combs’ raspy, charismatic vocals gliding forlornly together across a sumptuously steel-soaked, traditionally-minded country instrumental. As the pining cry of the pedal steel reverberates out, Posty and Luke trade verses that detail the depths of their heartbroken despair.

The serpentine hook finds Posty showcasing his dexterous, sinuous vocal ability, while Luke delivers his iteration of the hook with an additional level of force and vehemence.

This dials up the intensity, before the accompaniment is stripped away for the sparse, intricate final bridge, which in turn ensures the last chorus feels all the more impassioned.

The Meaning:

“I thought I'd think about you every now and then

When the rain falls down in Kansas, when I hear ‘Dust in the Wind’

When I told you I was leaving in that Exxon parking lot

I thought the world would keep on turning, no-one told me it would stop

And I'd have called you crazy, after we were through

If you'd have told me that it would take me all my life to get over you”

Post Malone kicks off this gut-wrenching ballad by outlining how, when he broke up with his partner, he'd experience some short-term heartbreak that would quickly fade.

There's a witty transition here from ‘I thought’ to ’I'd think’, which highlights how Posty's past mistakes have led to him playing that moment over and over again in his head.

He hints that the couple had a special memory associated with the state, Kansas, before flipping this into a reference to the band of the same name and their popular 1977 song, ‘Dust in the Wind’. Every time he hears this, he can't help but think of his ex.

“I knew for a night, girl I'd be drinkin' 'bout you

But it's years gone by and I'm still dreamin' 'bout you

Cross my heart 'til I die, I swear to God, I would've never done what I did

If I knew that I'd be missin' you like this”

Post Malone and Luke Combs again stress that they were aware that there would be some temporary pain from the break-up, but it's now been years, and yet they're still hurting. The titular line finds the protagonist underlining how much they regret their decision to split with their ex, who turned out to be the love of their life.

“Wake up in the mornin'

In the bed with someone new

She don't know I still got pictures

In that box instead of boots

You're the whiskey in my coffee

The unanswered in my prayers

You're the reason I'm still lonely

Even when the next best thing is layin' right here”

Luke Combs adopts the perspective of Post Malone's heartbroken protagonist, who has a beautiful, perfect girlfriend - yet somehow, he still can't shake his yearning for his ex.

He confesses that he keeps photos of her in his shoe-box, as well as citing their agonising break-up as the reason he tries to numb his pain by putting whiskey in his coffee. The North Carolina hitmaker admits he continues to pray for her return, before despondently remarking that these pleas have so far gone unanswered.

“I'd have called you crazy

After we were through

If you'd have said they'd have to lay me

Six feet under just to get over you”

The final bridge carries the same tone and message as George Jones’ legendary 1980 ballad, ‘He Stopped Lovin’ Her Today’, which tells the heartbreaking tale of a man who loses his partner, but keeps adoring his ex until the day he dies. Posty and Luke seemingly pay homage to this song, by underlining that the only way they'll be able to get over their exes is by being buried “six feet under”.

What have Post Malone and Luke Combs said about ‘Missin’ You Like This’?

In an interview with CMT ahead of the arrival of F-1Trillion, Luke Combs endearingly toasted his pal, Post Malone, “I mean, he's so nice. He's an unbelievable guy. You can't help but be happy around him, to be honest. He's just in such a great mood all the time - you know, at least when I'm around him, I'm sure he has his moments like everybody else. But he's just so welcoming to anyone and everyone”.

Luke expanded, “Those songwriting sessions were really, really fun. I think the thing for me was sometimes here in Nashville, we can be so structured and rigid, like, ‘We're writing at 11 o‘ clock and we're leaving by this time”...It becomes this like 9 to 5 kind of job sometimes. His were like, ‘We're starting writing at 8 o'clock at night’, and then a lot of times I'd leave at 3, 4 in the morning and we've written four or five songs, and we did that five or six times at least”.