Solange is the guest on this week's Song Exploder, the podcast where artists go into forensic detail over one of their songs. Speaking with host Hrishikesh Hirway, Solange explains how she first got hold of the song's instrumental from producer Raphael Saadiq while she was recording her 2008 album Sol-Angel And The Hadley St. Dreams and worked on it over time until it was ready for 2016's A Seat At The Table.
"I immediately had this really strong reaction," Solange says of hearing the song's music for the first time. "I went to my hotel room and wrote the lyrics and melody. Just immediately coming up with the four lines."
Later in the episode Solange talks about how the phrase "Cranes In The Sky" is very literal and was inspired by spending time around construction work in Miami. There's also stories about producer Saadiq losing the stems to the song and how she recorded early vocals in a house infested with roaches
As is traditional with Song Exploder, the podcast includes recordings from the demo stages of the song plus Solange's isolated vocal takes from the studio. Check out the whole thing below or download it from iTunes.
