‘Turned Into Missing You’ by Max McNown (feat. Avery Anna) – Lyrics & Meaning

When Max McNown first released 'Turned Into Missing You' in 2024, the acoustic tune appearing on his Wandering (Love Me Back) debut, it was a quick success.

Even now, three album releases later, the song is still one of the singer-songwriter's biggest hits, but it has just gotten even bigger.

McNown recently recruited fellow rising country-folk star Avery Anna for a re-release of the tune. She has lent her striking vocals to the melancholic number, and together, they have crafted a fated duet.

'Turned Into Missing You' is now what it was always meant to be, a heart-wrenching recollection of a relationship that now haunts two former lovers.

With its re-release, 'Turned Into Missing You' has transformed from a slightly stunted acoustic number, with strings tripping over one another throughout, into a full-bodied opus of rich chords and dazzling riffs.

The new 'Turned Into Missing You' features a delicacy and sincerity that was absent from the former. It's not that the original was a bad song, quite the opposite. It simply lacked texture and light, two things that are abundant in the sweeping steel and bright keys of the song today.

"You haven't crossed my mind in a month or so
And you probably moved on now but I'll never know
I swear I left it right where it was
Guess I wasn't driving fast enough
Cuz it caught up"

The meaning of 'Turned Into Missing You' is no mystery, it's there in the name. The song, however, does a great job of navigating listeners through the aftermath of a breakup, through those unsuspecting moments when the most mundane of activities transform into an earth-shattering journey down memory lane.

The song begins with McNown realizing that his ex, someone who used to flood his thoughts incessantly, hasn't crossed his mind in a while. But as he's driving and the radio starts playing what was once their song, memories of them suddenly reappear.

"Turned on the radio and it was our song
Shoulda turned it off, but I just sang along
I got turned around in that setting sun
Came back to and knew where I was
Turned down Haverhill Drive just like we used to
And it turned into missing you"

When the first notes of that familiar tune starts to play, he should have changed the station, but he can't quite make himself do it.

He instead finds himself singing along, allowing himself to transported back to when they were in love. In the end, he gets caught up in the moment and caught up in the bitter ache of longing for his person once again.

"I’m sitting smiling here in the front seat
Trying not to laugh at you for the way you sing
The wrong words to Three Little Birds
Now we're on the front porch and you're leaning in
Coming back for more on an all-night high
Off a midnight kiss how did I get here
After all I did was"

The same predicament seems to be taking place in a vehicle elsewhere, with Avery Anna joining in to sing about how she, too, is experiencing a similar sensation.

Bob Marley's 'Three Little Birds' has come through the car speakers and she's taken back to a front porch kiss and that "all-night high" feeling of being madly and recklessly in love.

It's a dangerous memory, one that leads her down the wrong path where she stumbles upon that all-consuming feeling of missing her past love.

The song is heart-wrenching, but maybe it's not all bad. What's the saying? It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

"Turned on the radio and it was our song
Shoulda turned it off, but I just sang along
I got turned around in that setting sun
Came back to and knew where I was
Turned down Haverhill Drive just like we used to
And it turned into missing you"

You haven't crossed my mind in a month or so
And you probably moved on now but I'll never know
I swear I left it right where it was
Guess I wasn't driving fast enough
Cuz it caught up

Turned on the radio and it was our song
Shoulda turned it off, but I just sang along
I got turned around in that setting sun
Came back to and knew where I was
Turned down Haverhill Drive just like we used to
And it turned into missing you

Missing you

I’m sitting smiling here in the front seat
Trying not to laugh at you for the way you sing
The wrong words to "Three Little Birds"
Now we're on the front porch and you're leaning in
Coming back for more on an all-night high
Off a midnight kiss how did I get here
After all I did was

Turn on the radio and it was our song
Shoulda turned it off, but I just sang along
I got turned around in that setting sun
Came back to and knew where I was
Turned down Haverhill Drive just like we used to
And it turned into missing you

I swear I left it right where it was
Guess I wasn't driving fast enough
Cuz it caught up

Turned on the radio and it was our song
Shoulda turned it off, but I just sang along
I got turned around in that setting sun
Came back to and knew where I was
Turned down Haverhill Drive just like we used to
And it turned into missing you

And it turned into missing you

And it turned into missing you

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