'Moving Out' by Kacey Musgraves - Lyrics & Meaning

The fourth track on Kacey Musgraves' fifth studio album, Deeper Well, 'Moving On' finds the Grammy-winning artist in quite the reflective state.

Where her 2021 record, star-crossed, was very much a divorce album about her ex-husband and fellow artist, Ruston Kelly, Deeper Well emits an energy of growth and introspection.

'Moving Out', as inferred by the title, sees Musgraves looking back on the time the pair spent together in their house as a married couple. From its highlights to some of their low moments, the four walls and accompanying yard saw it all and has plenty of stories to tell.

Telling the stories of new beginnings and closing past chapters in her personal story, 'Moving Out' is a simply written and produced song that evokes a plethora of feelings across its three-minute listen.

The song opens with a calm acoustic guitar strumming through a few chords, which continues steadily throughout. There's also a lulling brushed snare drum at play for the duration of the song, making for a peaceful sonic backdrop.

It's a simple song, as far as production and prose go, both of which are credited to the familiar trio of Musgraves, Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. There's no crazy bells or whistles that pop out at you, and the last minute of the song is almost entirely an instrumental break.

'Moving Out' also doesn't really subscribe to a traditional song structure. Taking on the form of four individual verses, there's no chorus or ever repeating of lines apart from the title, "We're moving out", ending the second and final stanzas.

"Four walls and so much space
It was way more than just a place,
Wasn’t it babe?"

We meet Musgraves as she's seemingly addressing her former partner, Ruston Kelly.

Noting that it was merely a building with four walls and plenty of space, she asks for validation from his that it was more than just a house to them as it was the place they also built a life together.

"The bedroom where you pulled me in
I found out love could start again, start again
And that big tree in the front yard lost a limb
It almost crushed your car but it didn’t
Yeah, we kept living in the house
Planted roses all around
Leaving it better than we found it
Now autumn’s moving in
And we’re moving out"

Starting in the bedroom, she explains that it was the room where she realized that she could fall in love again. The place of so much intimacy and shared moments, it gave her a newfound appreciate for a second change at love.

Moving on to the tree outside and the storm that broke off a limb and nearly cost Kelly his car, she talks about the years that they spent together here, planting flowers and ultimately fixing it up to be even better than when they moved in.

To close this stanza, she sings: "Autumn's moving in, and we're moving out". While this could refer to the literal season and the timeline of when they split up, it could also mean that the cold season of loneliness or the hard part of her healing journey is setting in as they're moving out and breaking off their marriage.

"Remember I still wore that dress
The Christmas that we all got sick
And partied anyway
I had a break up and then I bought it
You always said it might be haunted
And I think you’re right"

Flashing back to times gone by, she asks if he remembers a certain Christmas where, even though the family was ill and unable to fully enjoy the holiday, she still got dressed up in her Sunday best and threw a party anyway.

However, the dress has a bit of a darker history. The resulting purchase of a bad breakup breakdown, it would seem that Kelly thought the dress was haunted, holding onto some of the bad energy from that point in her life.

Closing the stanza with "I think you're right", we're led to believe that there was in fact something about that Christmas that's significant, and perhaps marked the beginning of the end to their relationship.

"And the couple of real big fights
That we had
I cried but it was hard to stay mad
We had good times
Can’t deny it
And even though I feel excited
I’m kind of sad to leave it
Now that autumn’s moving in
And we’re moving out
We’re moving out"

Still looking back at memories shared in the house, we reach some of the not so bright moments in their journey. Mentioning some of the fights that the couple shared, Musgraves explains that she was deeply upset but just couldn't find it in herself to stay mad at him.

As she closes the door to the house and on this phase of her life, she notes that they had so many good times and memories in the house. While she's excited and hopeful to move into a new season of life, she's also sad to be saying goodbye to the house that ultimately was so formative to her in her late 20s and early 30s.

Four walls and so much space
It was way more than just a place,
Wasn’t it babe?

The bedroom where you pulled me in
I found out love could start again, start again
And that big tree in the front yard lost a limb
It almost crushed your car but it didn’t
Yeah, we kept living in the house
Planted roses all around
Leaving it better than we found it
Now autumn’s moving in
And we’re moving out

Remember I still wore that dress
The Christmas that we all got sick
And partied anyway
I had a break up and then I bought it
You always said it might be haunted
And I think you’re right

And the couple of real big fights
That we had..
I cried but it was hard to stay mad
We had good times
Can’t deny it
And even though I feel excited
I’m kind of sad to leave it
Now that autumn’s moving in
And we’re moving out
We’re moving out

––

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