‘Somewhere Over Laredo’ by Lainey Wilson - Lyrics & Meaning

After teasing us with a flurry of snippets and a virtual, travel-themed listening party for fans, Lainey Wilson dropped her new single, ‘Somewhere Over Laredo’, on Friday, May 23rd 2025. If we view ‘Bell Bottoms Up’ as a standalone track promoting the Louisiana native's Nashville bar, then we have to assume ‘Somewhere Over Laredo’ is the lead single from Wilson's eagerly awaited Whirlwind follow-up album.

It finds the 2025 ACM Entertainer of the Year interpolating ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ and giving it a Texas country twist, with Lainey Wilson stepping into the shoes of a protagonist who longs to return into the arms of their old flame in Laredo.

‘Somewhere Over Laredo’ carries a decidedly sobering, wistful ambience, with Lainey Wilson eschewing the uptempo, lively spirit that underpinned the first few singles from Whirlwind in favour of a more atmospheric, piano-driven instrumental.

The ‘Country's Cool Again’ hitmaker's charismatic delivery take centre-stage, with Lainey Wilson again showcasing why she's considered one of the leading vocalists in the genre.

“Caught me a red eye flight out of Houston
Found me a window seat with a view
Headed out west for South California
One Tito's in, I'm thinking 'bout you
In that little border town
Where the desert glows gold when the sun goes down
My head's thirty thousand feet in the clouds
Knowing twenty minutes from now, I'll be”

The curtains open on a protagonist who is speeding across the sky on a flight to South Carolina, and although not autobiographical, the narrator does appear to be a country music singer. As she heads to her next show on the West Coast and begins eating her packet of Titos, she gazes longingly out of the window and reflects on a past romance. Her old flame is now in Laredo, with the protagonist wondering what her ex is up to now as the airplane flies over the southern Texas city.

“Somewhere over Laredo
Dreaming about those rodeo nights
Laid there on the banks of the Rio
New silver buckle on your jeans next to mine
Couple wrong for each other, lone star-crossed lovers
Born to get gone from the get-go
But you're on my mind every time I'm chasing this neon rainbow
Somewhere over Laredo”

During the hook, which draws inspiration from ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ from The Wizard Of Oz, the narrator recalls the romantic nights she spent with her old flame. She depicts these moments through a rose-tinted lens, bringing the distinctly Texas feel of the imagery to life through references to silver buckles and rodeos.

The ‘chasin’ this neon rainbow’ line is seemingly a nod to Alan Jackson's iconic song of the same name, with the protagonist exploring the bittersweet feeling of running full-steam for your country music dreams, even if it means love has to take a backseat.

“I'm flying high on a 737
Yeah, boy, I'm eye level with these stars
You think I'd be five miles closer to heaven
But I reckon heaven's down there where you are
Do you stop and stare at the Texas sky
Up in the air, and wonder if I'm”

The lead character adds some more detail to the scene, poetically describing how she feels as though she's eye-to-eye with the stars as she soars across the night sky.

We then get a striking piece of juxtaposition, as the narrator refers to how she should be feeling a little closer to Heaven, due to being high up in the sky, but in reality, she can't help but view Heaven as being wherever her old flame is right now in Laredo.

“Where the blackbirds fly
Once in a lullaby
For a second, I'm still yours
And you're still mine”

As ‘Somewhere Over Laredo’ approaches its conclusion, the protagonist contrasts the supposed euphoria and freedom associated with blackbirds flying through the sky with the warmth and happiness she felt when she was with her ex in Laredo. For a moment, she allows herself to imagine they're back in each other's arms.

Lainey Wilson is yet to delve into how the song came about, but as the anticipation for the new single picked up steam, the ‘Heart Like a Truck’ crooner started to share more snippets of the track, alongside tantalising, cryptic captions such as “You can find me in the Texas sky” and “Window seat girl, always”.

“Caught me a red eye flight out of Houston
Found me a window seat with a view
Headed out west for South California
One Tito's in, I'm thinking 'bout you
In that little border town
Where the desert glows gold when the sun goes down
My head's thirty thousand feet in the clouds
Knowing twenty minutes from now, I'll be

-

Somewhere over Laredo
Dreaming about those rodeo nights
Laid there on the banks of the Rio
New silver buckle on your jeans next to mine
Couple wrong for each other, lone star-crossed lovers
Born to get gone from the get-go
But you're on my mind every time I'm chasing this neon rainbow
Somewhere over Laredo

-

I'm flying high on a 737
Yeah, boy, I'm eye level with these stars
You think I'd be five miles closer to heaven
But I reckon heaven's down there where you are
Do you stop and stare at the Texas sky
Up in the air, and wonder if I'm

-

Somewhere over Laredo
Dreaming about those rodeo nights
Laid there on the banks of the Rio
New silver buckle on your jeans next to mine
Couple wrong for each other, lone star-crossed lovers
Born to get gone from the get-go
But you're on my mind every time I'm chasing this neon rainbow
Somewhere over Laredo

-

Where the blackbirds fly
Once in a lullaby
For a second, I'm still yours
And you're still mine

-

Somewhere over Laredo
Dreaming about those rodeo nights
Laid there on the banks of the Rio
New silver buckle on your jeans next to mine
Couple wrong for each other, lone star-crossed lovers
Born to get gone from the get-go
But you're on my mind every time I'm chasing this neon rainbow
Somewhere over Laredo

-

Somewhere over Laredo
Somewhere over Laredo”

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