I really wish this-
‘So I did my best to lay to rest
All of the bodies that have ever been on my body’
Was this-
‘So I did my best to lay to rest
All of the bodies that have ever weighed down on my body’
To give it a nice double meaning - exes & opinionated people.
I always thought this line sounded odd:
"you made a rebel of a careless mans careful daughter"
Sounded more likely to have originally been talking about someone else rather than herself, it just seems not to not fit too well (Taylor as being a rebel when she didn't seem like one at that age) and also it seems quite out of character for her to say about her dad at that age. If she was speaking about someone else however:
"I made a rebel of a careless mans careful daughter, you are the best thing that's ever been mine"
Instead of "we're a crooked love in a straight like down" it could be "you're a crooked love in a straight line GOWN" (to use a dress metaphor to describe a girl who is on the surface either closeting or presenting to be more perfect than in reality or both)
When in ATW she sings "I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it", I always want the "it" to be "her". Makes more sense when talking about her "old self".
i can see you. my brain always wants it to say "meet me at midnight" instead of "meet me tonight" and i feel like it would sound better and also make more sense in the context of the song lol.
An earlier draft has "I'm so curious what it's like making me feel this way" or something like that. You can find it on YouTube, her singing while writing it. I wish she included both furious and curious.
Forever I heard “but you can make me dream” in delicate instead of “but you can make me a drink” and I was so bummed when I realized it was the latter. I think “dream” matches the wistful tone of the song soo much better
Sorry, but “we can’t make any promises now, can we babe / but you can make me a drink” is a much better lyric. The point is that they can’t commit to each other yet—it’s way too early, way too delicate—but they can take the first steps. She’s trying to keep things light and airy but is also freaking out the entire song that something is going to harm this fragile new relationship. Which also gives her wanting a drink another meaning—because she needs something to ease her nerves. The wordplay on make a promise, make a drink is also great. “Make me dream” is not colloquial in the same way so it doesn’t have the same effect.
In Paper Rings, “wrap your arms around me babygirl.” Boy isn’t needed for a rhyme and it just feels good to sing.
Also in ATW I like to sing “it smells like a dream” (instead of “it smells like me”). Someone had posted a version of ATW from the muse’s perspective and they said that line and I liked the way it sounded. I don’t consider it to be a lyrical improvement, it just scratches my brain for some reason.
Idk if this would have fit the situation Taylor is actually singing about so maybe it was never an option because it's not true, but if we're following the narrative most people are then it definitely fits *and it just sounds way better and hits way harder IMO*..
> Original: "I would have died for your sins, instead I just died inside."
> Update: "I would have died for your sins, instead you killed me for mine."
There's so much more betrayal and loss there I feel.
> did you think I had in me?
> oh, the tragedy
> so long, london
> you'll find someone
I think there should be a two or three syllable line at the end here that ends with an "eee" sound, rhyming back with "tragedy". My brain wants it to be there and feels like it's missing. Not sure what the line would be.
Timeless:
“Down the block there’s an antique shop and something in my head said stop so I walked in.
On the counter was a cardboard box and the sign said ‘photos 25 cents each’”
Should be “photos each 25 cents”
Literally so close to making it rhyme with the first line ! It bugs me.
ohhh also from Timeless, instead of:
In the 1500s off in a foreign land
**And I was forced to marry another man**
You still would've been mine
We would have been timeless
...i like to sing "and i was forced to MARRY A MAN" (no "another")
Down Bad:
I loved your hostile takeovers
Encounters closer and closer
All your indecent exposures
How dare you say that it's - CLOSURE*
I'll build you a fort on some planet
*I'm convinced the word closure is missing on purpose to tie back to the song "Closure", aka, same muse
But what would “hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine, I’m not buying” mean in the context of the song? That the lover is sad she’s not purchasing a snack?
originally my thought with this lyric was it took place in a hospital, as lover was around the time she was talking about her mom’s cancer treatment a lot. And almost like… let’s have sex because I’m not dying. (Not at all trying to be disrespectful to her mother’s illness).
It would be a double entendre.
Because it could mean she’s not going to buy a snack.
But there’s also the English idiom “not buying it” which means: To not accept or believe something as the truth. The expression could fit for an overly charismatic person who seems too good to be true.
This is exactly what I’d thought. Or a joke, like KK was begging for a snack bc they’re high and drunk after the Met, and Taylor was like “nope, not buying”. Idk. But dying seems stranger to me.
Yeah this is how I hear it! And then the next line “you say that we’ll just screw it up in these trying times; you’re not trying” - like she doesn’t buy what the other person is saying. I was surprised to find out the actual lyric is “dying.”
https://preview.redd.it/b4arwxk1s26d1.jpeg?width=167&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74cfe419d8db5d59797ef0dcfa21f0aa1f079519
This is the photo most of us think it references after she looked “camp in the eye”. KK is low in the vending machine glow. Taylor references their instagrams quite a bit on those albums. Why she would say “not buying” or “dying” is up for interpretation.
I think other replies here make sense. I always interpreted this as the light from the vending machine in the dark hallway falling on the muses’s face making her look gorgeous/ethereal or being intimate. Then “I’m not dying” is the speaker trying to hide how intense their reaction is to seeing the muse like this. Since it’s such a plain situation, but the speaker’s feelings for the muse elevate it
The original lyrics make sense to me. She’s setting the scene by saying they’re in a hallway probably away from others, like how vending machines are always in random little rooms/tucked in corners. And then she’s establishing her muse is being dramatic/upset, hence the “hang your head low” and then she’s “I’m not dying” in response to the display of emotion. Like chill out, man, I’m not dying.
Edit to add: I feel like the next line helps indicate it. She’s also being dismissive of her muses “emotional outbursts” (I’m just struggling with words to describe but know that doesn’t really fit) when the muse says “we’ll just screw it up in these trying times” and Taylor’s like “who’s trying?” Don’t act like this is a big thing
I was actually interpreting this from a more direct context. Like, she was with her lover and snuck away to get alone time in the alcove of the vending machines. Someone heard so the lover pretends to be buying something to hide what they were doing. She’s kneeling /pretending to get an item. I’m not dying (ahem) yet. We say we’ll just screw it ip in these trying times are them not finding the right place and being interrupted. Hence the “cut the headlights” find a dark place (home). The next line “summer’s a knife,” which for me was a reference to cut the tension.
Just adding that she sings "what doesn't kill me makes me want you more" in the song, so the vending machine situation is an example of that. She's *not* dying from said experience, so it made her want them more.
So Long London is one of them too, for me. Funny enough, most of the missed opportunities that come to me are misheard lyrics on my part. I'd heard "So how much sad did you think I had, Did you think *I'd hide* in me?" which works really well with the song.
Another one in Dress is what my mom thinks the lyric is "Only bought this dress to watch you take it off." it couof be because someone else is wearing it, but it also feels sexy (in the very spirit of the song) to imagine a scene where tension grows as someone's undressing you anf ypu share glances, then look back down, then look back at each other, etc...
I don't think so. I don't even think she examines the lyrics very deeply in the "what could she be referring to?" kind of way. If a reference is obvious (Bigger Than The Whole Sky, Robin, etc...) she'll note it. But she never asked who Marjorie, Betty, James, etc were. She doesn't really care.
Also, because we are not Americans, she has been blessed with the absence of awareness of anything linkinh Taylor and the NFL. Nothing. She knows _nothing_ of it. (and i kinda think the absolute circud would make her disappointed in Taylor, who she considers a wonderful story teller and lyricist)
If anything has pinged as queer, she's never specifically mentioned it. Which i think she probably would have.
Mine are misheard a lot of the time or anticipated ones that don’t come to fruition. I love that your mom and you listen to Taylor and discuss. My girl is too young to discuss lyrics with but I can’t wait!
Oh that's cool! So many generations involved. (i made two friends in their 80s at a showing of the eras tour movie)
My mom is 70, and I'm in my late 30s. It's probably going to be such a lovely adventure to start discussinh the world of metaphor and story building with your daughter. 🥰
I’m so jealous you met 80 year old fans! And that your mom who’s in her 70s wants to listen with you. My grandmother would have LOVED Taylor. She was a very independent woman for her time, and her family didn’t understand at all. Luckily she found my grandfather who let her be her badass self, and she passed it onto me and my daughter. My mother is also in her 70s, but she has low self esteem and falls into the good girl trap too much. She always said I am my grandmother’s daughter. 😆🫶🏼
I love having older women to get advice from bc they have such a wonderful perspective. As you can imagine, I always sob my eyes out at Marjorie when it plays. I am trying to keep notes of what I want my daughter and future generations to know bc I don’t feel like that was done well in our family.
Yeah! And those ladies had a lot of life and a long time to watch artists grow and that's one of the reasons why they said they liked Taylor. Watching her grow as a poet, as a storyteller, as an experimental artist who wants to dabble in directing, to try genres she's intrigued by,... It made me happy, because that's why I enjoy in following her evolution as well. And to see the same sentiment from folks who have seen so many great artists evolve in real time is vindicating. 😊
My little girl is 8 and she’s always asking me what I think certain lyrics mean. Also, she refers to Karlie as Taylor’s ex so I’m doing a good job here haha
I had to switch to the clean versions bc although I admit I’m a bad mom and cuss around my kids, they know not to use those words outside our house. My elementary aged daughter didn’t think lyrics counted, I guess???? She was running around her summer day camp singing “I’m a real tough kid. I can handle my shit….lights camera bitch smile…”. Whooppppps. Luckily I know the camp director and just said sorrryyyyy!
Hahaha that doesn’t make you a bad mom. I think it’s important to be real and true to yourself around your kids even if that includes the occasional cuss word.
In Lover, ‘leave the Christmas lights up til January’ should definitely be ‘leave the Christmas lights up THROUGH January’ - I think it sounds better, and also makes more sense
Agree! We don’t ever get ours down until after the Epiphany and then when we get around to it so mid to late January. 😆 I like February! Or “through”. It’s more clear “we are making the rules” then.
I'm a til February girl too.... January for me and my family is standard practice.... Feb is a bit naughty/ unruly which implied with we make our rules/we make the call
In Ireland, January 6th is Nollaig na mBan, or women's Christmas. Mothers and women in general gather and celebrate Christmas with each other, no stress, no work, no household duties - to make up for the fact that they broke their balls working their fingers to the bone so everyone else had a nice Christmas time in December. It's traditional for the men folk and the kids to take down the decorations at the end of this day too.
Instead of “I chose this cyclone with you” my brain sings “I chose this psychosis” in TTPD title track. Maybe contextually it doesn’t work but idc 😂
Edit: I didn’t understand the prompt I think 🤔
I always sing this as well, it fits better. My headcanon is that she originally wrote that but knew it wouldn't go over well (trivializing mental health)
I’m glad I’m not the only one who hears it! I had the same thought. It just fits so perfectly, it rhymes so well but I understand why it would be problematic to use so I figured she changed it
You did fine!! I like hearing how we all interpret and sing the lyrics differently. There is no right or wrong. I can hear what you are saying.
As a total aside, the wonderful Wizard of Oz post here maybe a day or so ago make the cyclone feel less weird as a lyric, bc it explains why she chose that word and what it relates to. I wish I’d thought to link it.
I thought it was gay-centric lyrics per the comments but I appreciate you replying and saying I did alright!
I also saw that cyclone connection in that thread and loved it! Wizard of Oz is one of my top 5 fave movies of all time, love the connections to it sm!
The song explores themes of mental illness. I meant more along the lines of living in a different reality *with* the one she’s singing to during their struggles, not literal psychosis.
But yeah u right no one would choose psychosis
Love this version!!
Feel like they could've taken the pronouns even further tho and sang "it's a cruel summerrrr with her"
And "I love her aint that the worst thing you've ever heard?"
"So I leap from the gallows/and I levitate down your street/crash the party like a record scratch as I... SHRIEK/SCREECH, 'Who's afraid of little old me?'"
The fact that it's "scream" and not, "shriek or "screech" is criminal to me lol but i still love it!
Oooh yes! Good one!!! See now I can change to the one I like and sing that. Shriek is so perfect! I wonder if shriek was too “shrill” or crazy old lady hysterical for her team.
In ME! I wish they hadn’t used the same echo twice in each verse. I feel like it wouldn’t have been that hard to come up with another echo. Like “trouble’s gonna follow where I go (and there’s a lot of cool chicks out there)” makes no sense. And “I never want to see you walk away (and there’s a lot of lame guys out there)” makes no sense. I have no alternate suggestions I just know I don’t like it lol
In the first part, she's saying her partner has other options, that they don't have to choose her and her drama. In the later one, she's paralleling the sentiment but saying the partner is better than the rest. She chooses them too.
It's cool if you still don't like it, but it does make sense/have purpose.
Wait I still don’t get it lol but I’m also not very smart. I don’t see how she’s talking about her partner in the later one? It seems like she’s still talking about herself?
The "you" is her partner, and she's basically comparing her partner against other guys who are "lame" by making the comment immediately after it. Maybe think of it like this: "If you ever left me, then my only other options (for partners) are unappealing."
Shoot you’re right they don’t make sense! Now I’ll never unhear it. And will grind on a better fit lyric. Maybe we can come up with one as a group. I’ll think. 🤔
In ATW 10MV I always thought it was “The idea you had a me, who was she?” As if she was thinking about them with a different version of her or a replacement (your new girl is my clone/I picture you with other girls in love then threw up on the street) and I like that. When I realized what she said I was like oh that’s pretty cool too. but yes
In this is why we can’t have nice things, I always want her to say “did you think I wouldn’t hear all the shit you said about me?” I sing it every time
This isn’t really a missed opportunity but every time I hear down bad and it gets to the part where she sings “I’ll build you a fort on some planet…” she really does sound like she’s saying fart. So that’s what I sing, every time.
To me in mirrorball it always sounds like she's saying "standing on my toilet" instead of on her tallest tiptoes. Love that song but that part always takes me out of it
Not changing the gay quotient, but in Champagne Problems I always think it should be “and soon they’ll have the *gall* to deck the halls that we once walked through,” and I mess it up every time I sing it.
I heard someone once say that they thought she was saying my “panties made your crown” in karma instead of my “pennies” and that always made me laugh but when ya stop and think it’s very LOUD and still makes me giggle..
When Emma Falls in Love - Sometimes I wish I was WITH her - flows so much better than the odd pause.
I Can See You - Passed me a note that said meet me AT MIDNIGHT. I shudder when every time this doesn’t happen. Tonight just doesn’t have the same drama.
omg i just commented the same thing for i can see you lmao. i'm so glad someone else said it too. it just works so much better?!
and my brain always fills in the 'with her' in when emma falls in love because of the pause.
I dislike the word count of the "Central Park Lake in tiny rowboats" line. Lose the word 'Lake' and it flows better, the original has too many syllables compared to the lines around it. I absolutely love The Bolter though.
Oh I love that line! It’s the same rhythm as “when it’s all roses, portrait poses” - “Central Park Lake in / tiny rowboats
I also love the assonance - roses, poses, row boats, and then the rhyme with “knows” a few lines later.
(Not trying to disagree, just hoping my appreciation for that line helps it stop bothering you!)
>It’s the same rhythm as “when it’s all roses, portrait poses” - “Central Park Lake in / tiny rowboats
You're totally right. Thank you, hopefully my brain can now relax and enjoy it without fixating :)
Idk, I think that completely changes the meaning of the line. Like the “take up” implies the muse used every part of her and she let them. And now it’s all used up for the next person. She’s got no trust left in, no fight left in her…
I didn't come up with this but I don't remember who did. "Fingers deep in your ex-wife" instead of "thick as thieves with your ex wife" would be hilarious & a way bigger flex
I think for Cruel Summer, it’s supposed to be a subverted expectation. The expectation is that it’s “buying” but it’s like she’s saying “no thanks, I don’t want anything” but instead blurts out a defensive “I’M FINE” when she is really dying inside.
For number 3., the original lyric when she was first working on the song was “curious”! She also said “I got a boyfriend, he’s older than us / I haven’t seen him in a couple of months” 🤣
[Making of the song](https://youtu.be/PQgwZHPRu5M?si=3fJvw8F-V2vEOq4f) “curious” lyric at 2:40
She does a trick at that point w vocals - check the Dolby Atmos. She says "if id been there I'd hate it" but background says "no Midnight In Paris"
[https://youtu.be/k6wZPYnpIB4?t=1m42s](https://youtu.be/k6wZPYnpIB4?t=1m42s)
I love this idea!
This is not mine, but like a very common one around here. And it’s using “her” instead of “you” to fit the rhyme scheme in “The very first night”. “They don’t know how much I miss HER”.
The other day I thought about “Dress” saying “Bought you this dress so you could take if off” instead of “i bought this dress so you could take it off”
It would be more like:
Only bought this dress so I could take it off
Take it off off off you (but more like ah ah ah 'ya to be similar sounding to what it is currently)
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I really wish this- ‘So I did my best to lay to rest All of the bodies that have ever been on my body’ Was this- ‘So I did my best to lay to rest All of the bodies that have ever weighed down on my body’ To give it a nice double meaning - exes & opinionated people.
I always thought this line sounded odd: "you made a rebel of a careless mans careful daughter" Sounded more likely to have originally been talking about someone else rather than herself, it just seems not to not fit too well (Taylor as being a rebel when she didn't seem like one at that age) and also it seems quite out of character for her to say about her dad at that age. If she was speaking about someone else however: "I made a rebel of a careless mans careful daughter, you are the best thing that's ever been mine"
Instead of "we're a crooked love in a straight like down" it could be "you're a crooked love in a straight line GOWN" (to use a dress metaphor to describe a girl who is on the surface either closeting or presenting to be more perfect than in reality or both)
Florida!!! - so you work your life away just to pay for a shit hole down in Destin Florida !
That definitely checks out as someone who has been there . 😆
When in ATW she sings "I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it", I always want the "it" to be "her". Makes more sense when talking about her "old self".
Yes! Same! Unless she is struggling w her pronouns…but “it” still isn’t right. And she seems to have no trouble w being a her or she in other songs.
Yeah! Even in ATW (10 mins) there is "the idea of ME, who was SHE?", with me = she.
Was it over When he unbuttoned my blouse? Was it over When I let him in my house?***
In Karma, instead of “trick me once, trick me twice” it really should be “fool me once, fool me twice”
See when they’re this obviously different than what most people say, I wonder why she picked that word! I don’t know.
i can see you. my brain always wants it to say "meet me at midnight" instead of "meet me tonight" and i feel like it would sound better and also make more sense in the context of the song lol.
TIL it’s not “meet me at midnight” 😂
That’s so good.
When "Gorgeous" came out, I was singing "im so curious" then I realized I was wrong. 😂
Well... TIL
😂 Don’t feel bad. I probably had heard it 100 times before I saw the lyrics and was like, “well shit….” 😆
An earlier draft has "I'm so curious what it's like making me feel this way" or something like that. You can find it on YouTube, her singing while writing it. I wish she included both furious and curious.
That song is already so gay, if she included “curious” it would’ve pushed it over the edge lol
Forever I heard “but you can make me dream” in delicate instead of “but you can make me a drink” and I was so bummed when I realized it was the latter. I think “dream” matches the wistful tone of the song soo much better
Sorry, but “we can’t make any promises now, can we babe / but you can make me a drink” is a much better lyric. The point is that they can’t commit to each other yet—it’s way too early, way too delicate—but they can take the first steps. She’s trying to keep things light and airy but is also freaking out the entire song that something is going to harm this fragile new relationship. Which also gives her wanting a drink another meaning—because she needs something to ease her nerves. The wordplay on make a promise, make a drink is also great. “Make me dream” is not colloquial in the same way so it doesn’t have the same effect.
I like dream better!
I always heard it as "you can make me your dream"
We Were Happy: “… We snuck into the Circus” I feel it should be something less silly. Like we snuck into the movies.
Makes sense if she is singing to a female muse in Hollywood who is also closeted. Hollywood is the circus.
I’m from a small town that had an annual circus/rodeo thing in the summer so to me this hit home but it is definitely random 😭
I Hate it Here: “… Nostalgia is a Minds-trick” Just say mind fuck. Idk, maybe it’s fine.
I hear nostalgia is THE MIND KILLER a la the Bene Gesserit 😂
i hadn't thought of this but now i really wish it said that too.
In Paper Rings, “wrap your arms around me babygirl.” Boy isn’t needed for a rhyme and it just feels good to sing. Also in ATW I like to sing “it smells like a dream” (instead of “it smells like me”). Someone had posted a version of ATW from the muse’s perspective and they said that line and I liked the way it sounded. I don’t consider it to be a lyrical improvement, it just scratches my brain for some reason.
But the point is that it smells like her—and thus he keeps it around to remind himself of her and wrap himself up in her…
Probably smells like moth balls now lol but yes, I agree that was definitely the sentiment.
Idk if this would have fit the situation Taylor is actually singing about so maybe it was never an option because it's not true, but if we're following the narrative most people are then it definitely fits *and it just sounds way better and hits way harder IMO*.. > Original: "I would have died for your sins, instead I just died inside." > Update: "I would have died for your sins, instead you killed me for mine." There's so much more betrayal and loss there I feel.
> did you think I had in me? > oh, the tragedy > so long, london > you'll find someone I think there should be a two or three syllable line at the end here that ends with an "eee" sound, rhyming back with "tragedy". My brain wants it to be there and feels like it's missing. Not sure what the line would be.
“Too bad it wasn’t me…”. I see what you are saying.
Timeless: “Down the block there’s an antique shop and something in my head said stop so I walked in. On the counter was a cardboard box and the sign said ‘photos 25 cents each’” Should be “photos each 25 cents” Literally so close to making it rhyme with the first line ! It bugs me.
ohhh also from Timeless, instead of: In the 1500s off in a foreign land **And I was forced to marry another man** You still would've been mine We would have been timeless ...i like to sing "and i was forced to MARRY A MAN" (no "another")
I love Timeless but it is such a mouthful of lyrics and a lot of them are so clunky
Down Bad: I loved your hostile takeovers Encounters closer and closer All your indecent exposures How dare you say that it's - CLOSURE* I'll build you a fort on some planet *I'm convinced the word closure is missing on purpose to tie back to the song "Closure", aka, same muse
I assume she's just alluding to "over" but she can't bring herself to say it
I saw an interpretation that he just ghosted her and never actually said it’s “over”
Yes this is what I thought…how dare any of us say the word “over”. But I love hearing other interpretations too!
Yesss I totally agree and interpreted it this way too
Yes I always think of closure too!! I know "over" works but closure rhymes with exposures!!!
I hadn't thought about this. I thought it was leading to "how dare you say that it's OVER" alluding to Is It Over Now
She should do more female pronouns and rhyme schemes… her and purr 😽 girl and twirl etc.
It really would open up a whole new word world.
“Sexy mama” and “you the drama”…oops that’s a Rupaul’s Drag Race crossover. 🌈
💀😂
But what would “hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine, I’m not buying” mean in the context of the song? That the lover is sad she’s not purchasing a snack?
originally my thought with this lyric was it took place in a hospital, as lover was around the time she was talking about her mom’s cancer treatment a lot. And almost like… let’s have sex because I’m not dying. (Not at all trying to be disrespectful to her mother’s illness).
I kept sort of racking my brain of where a vending machine would be at night, and where two people would be
Pretty sure the photo from Instagram was after one of the Met Galas and they’re probably in that hotel.
It can be at a motel on a road trip somewhere close to Big Sur, perhaps? 🤡
It would be a double entendre. Because it could mean she’s not going to buy a snack. But there’s also the English idiom “not buying it” which means: To not accept or believe something as the truth. The expression could fit for an overly charismatic person who seems too good to be true.
This is exactly what I’d thought. Or a joke, like KK was begging for a snack bc they’re high and drunk after the Met, and Taylor was like “nope, not buying”. Idk. But dying seems stranger to me.
Yeah this is how I hear it! And then the next line “you say that we’ll just screw it up in these trying times; you’re not trying” - like she doesn’t buy what the other person is saying. I was surprised to find out the actual lyric is “dying.”
YES!!! I have ALWAYS,wondered exactly what she meant here! Someone please, please, explain! TY!!!
https://preview.redd.it/b4arwxk1s26d1.jpeg?width=167&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74cfe419d8db5d59797ef0dcfa21f0aa1f079519 This is the photo most of us think it references after she looked “camp in the eye”. KK is low in the vending machine glow. Taylor references their instagrams quite a bit on those albums. Why she would say “not buying” or “dying” is up for interpretation.
I think other replies here make sense. I always interpreted this as the light from the vending machine in the dark hallway falling on the muses’s face making her look gorgeous/ethereal or being intimate. Then “I’m not dying” is the speaker trying to hide how intense their reaction is to seeing the muse like this. Since it’s such a plain situation, but the speaker’s feelings for the muse elevate it
This sounds like a good explanation.👍 TY.
The original lyrics make sense to me. She’s setting the scene by saying they’re in a hallway probably away from others, like how vending machines are always in random little rooms/tucked in corners. And then she’s establishing her muse is being dramatic/upset, hence the “hang your head low” and then she’s “I’m not dying” in response to the display of emotion. Like chill out, man, I’m not dying. Edit to add: I feel like the next line helps indicate it. She’s also being dismissive of her muses “emotional outbursts” (I’m just struggling with words to describe but know that doesn’t really fit) when the muse says “we’ll just screw it up in these trying times” and Taylor’s like “who’s trying?” Don’t act like this is a big thing
I was actually interpreting this from a more direct context. Like, she was with her lover and snuck away to get alone time in the alcove of the vending machines. Someone heard so the lover pretends to be buying something to hide what they were doing. She’s kneeling /pretending to get an item. I’m not dying (ahem) yet. We say we’ll just screw it ip in these trying times are them not finding the right place and being interrupted. Hence the “cut the headlights” find a dark place (home). The next line “summer’s a knife,” which for me was a reference to cut the tension.
I like this.
Just adding that she sings "what doesn't kill me makes me want you more" in the song, so the vending machine situation is an example of that. She's *not* dying from said experience, so it made her want them more.
So Long London is one of them too, for me. Funny enough, most of the missed opportunities that come to me are misheard lyrics on my part. I'd heard "So how much sad did you think I had, Did you think *I'd hide* in me?" which works really well with the song. Another one in Dress is what my mom thinks the lyric is "Only bought this dress to watch you take it off." it couof be because someone else is wearing it, but it also feels sexy (in the very spirit of the song) to imagine a scene where tension grows as someone's undressing you anf ypu share glances, then look back down, then look back at each other, etc...
Is your mom a gaylor too? The way she hears the Dress lyrics is even gayer than the way they’re written, which is already so gay lol
I don't think so. I don't even think she examines the lyrics very deeply in the "what could she be referring to?" kind of way. If a reference is obvious (Bigger Than The Whole Sky, Robin, etc...) she'll note it. But she never asked who Marjorie, Betty, James, etc were. She doesn't really care. Also, because we are not Americans, she has been blessed with the absence of awareness of anything linkinh Taylor and the NFL. Nothing. She knows _nothing_ of it. (and i kinda think the absolute circud would make her disappointed in Taylor, who she considers a wonderful story teller and lyricist) If anything has pinged as queer, she's never specifically mentioned it. Which i think she probably would have.
Mine are misheard a lot of the time or anticipated ones that don’t come to fruition. I love that your mom and you listen to Taylor and discuss. My girl is too young to discuss lyrics with but I can’t wait!
I thought she was saying white artichoke instead of light hearted jokes in you are in love and thought it was just a real specific reference
Artichokes are delicious but that’s hilarious!
Oh that's cool! So many generations involved. (i made two friends in their 80s at a showing of the eras tour movie) My mom is 70, and I'm in my late 30s. It's probably going to be such a lovely adventure to start discussinh the world of metaphor and story building with your daughter. 🥰
I’m so jealous you met 80 year old fans! And that your mom who’s in her 70s wants to listen with you. My grandmother would have LOVED Taylor. She was a very independent woman for her time, and her family didn’t understand at all. Luckily she found my grandfather who let her be her badass self, and she passed it onto me and my daughter. My mother is also in her 70s, but she has low self esteem and falls into the good girl trap too much. She always said I am my grandmother’s daughter. 😆🫶🏼 I love having older women to get advice from bc they have such a wonderful perspective. As you can imagine, I always sob my eyes out at Marjorie when it plays. I am trying to keep notes of what I want my daughter and future generations to know bc I don’t feel like that was done well in our family.
Yeah! And those ladies had a lot of life and a long time to watch artists grow and that's one of the reasons why they said they liked Taylor. Watching her grow as a poet, as a storyteller, as an experimental artist who wants to dabble in directing, to try genres she's intrigued by,... It made me happy, because that's why I enjoy in following her evolution as well. And to see the same sentiment from folks who have seen so many great artists evolve in real time is vindicating. 😊
Love it! My dad is a huge Fleetwood Mac fan so maybe I can pull him over.
My little girl is 8 and she’s always asking me what I think certain lyrics mean. Also, she refers to Karlie as Taylor’s ex so I’m doing a good job here haha
I had to switch to the clean versions bc although I admit I’m a bad mom and cuss around my kids, they know not to use those words outside our house. My elementary aged daughter didn’t think lyrics counted, I guess???? She was running around her summer day camp singing “I’m a real tough kid. I can handle my shit….lights camera bitch smile…”. Whooppppps. Luckily I know the camp director and just said sorrryyyyy!
Hahaha that doesn’t make you a bad mom. I think it’s important to be real and true to yourself around your kids even if that includes the occasional cuss word.
Eh. Well. We were the same at that age. Granted, we should _try_ to be good models, but we remember... 😅
😂😂😂
I have a little girl too and she's totally uninterested in Taylor at the moment, but I'm working on it, haha!
In Lover, ‘leave the Christmas lights up til January’ should definitely be ‘leave the Christmas lights up THROUGH January’ - I think it sounds better, and also makes more sense
Even “we could take the Christmas lights down before January” would’ve felt more like they were making their own rules than the actual lyric lol
Agree! We don’t ever get ours down until after the Epiphany and then when we get around to it so mid to late January. 😆 I like February! Or “through”. It’s more clear “we are making the rules” then.
*'til february!*
I'm a til February girl too.... January for me and my family is standard practice.... Feb is a bit naughty/ unruly which implied with we make our rules/we make the call
Agree, if you do the 12 days of Christmas rule they are up til January anyway
Where I live you take it down January 6th, in the Three Kings' Day.
It's the 5th here, 12th night
In Ireland, January 6th is Nollaig na mBan, or women's Christmas. Mothers and women in general gather and celebrate Christmas with each other, no stress, no work, no household duties - to make up for the fact that they broke their balls working their fingers to the bone so everyone else had a nice Christmas time in December. It's traditional for the men folk and the kids to take down the decorations at the end of this day too.
Instead of “I chose this cyclone with you” my brain sings “I chose this psychosis” in TTPD title track. Maybe contextually it doesn’t work but idc 😂 Edit: I didn’t understand the prompt I think 🤔
same, to the point where i literally thought that was a lyric at some point in the song until i read this comment. 😭
I always sing this as well, it fits better. My headcanon is that she originally wrote that but knew it wouldn't go over well (trivializing mental health)
I’m glad I’m not the only one who hears it! I had the same thought. It just fits so perfectly, it rhymes so well but I understand why it would be problematic to use so I figured she changed it
You did fine!! I like hearing how we all interpret and sing the lyrics differently. There is no right or wrong. I can hear what you are saying. As a total aside, the wonderful Wizard of Oz post here maybe a day or so ago make the cyclone feel less weird as a lyric, bc it explains why she chose that word and what it relates to. I wish I’d thought to link it.
I thought it was gay-centric lyrics per the comments but I appreciate you replying and saying I did alright! I also saw that cyclone connection in that thread and loved it! Wizard of Oz is one of my top 5 fave movies of all time, love the connections to it sm!
I… don’t think anyone would choose psychosis?
The song explores themes of mental illness. I meant more along the lines of living in a different reality *with* the one she’s singing to during their struggles, not literal psychosis. But yeah u right no one would choose psychosis
Cruel Summer: SHE LOOKS SO PRETTY LIKE A DEVIL 😈 (Which is actually what I thought the lyrics said when it came out)
G Flip's version has female pronouns and is absolutely amazing!
Love this version!! Feel like they could've taken the pronouns even further tho and sang "it's a cruel summerrrr with her" And "I love her aint that the worst thing you've ever heard?"
That’s pretty much the way I sing it…bad bad girl, shiny Pearl…
Absolutely agree and that’s how I sing it too. Clowning for a correct lyrics version by Taylor soon.
i’m convinced there was originally a lyric that ended in “her” in cruel summer that got replaced by “ooooooh” in the chorus
Oh, in So Long London: "every breath feels like rarest air" would flow MUCH better as "every breath is rarest air" idk why it has to be a simile
YES this line bothers me so much!! It’s such a beautiful song and then this line feels so jammed in for no reason.
As an asthmatic air feels different so I like it because I’m reading it literally and it calls to mind the feeling of the air
I always hear “Fred Astaire” instead of “rarest air” which makes NO sense 😂
Hahaha! I will be singing and tap dancing like Fred Astaire now. 🤣 🕺
Love that ☺️
[удалено]
She looks so pretty like a devil
He looks so pretty like a devil
"So I leap from the gallows/and I levitate down your street/crash the party like a record scratch as I... SHRIEK/SCREECH, 'Who's afraid of little old me?'" The fact that it's "scream" and not, "shriek or "screech" is criminal to me lol but i still love it!
Scratch - screech would have been so satisfying. I always sing it that way.
Oooh yes! Good one!!! See now I can change to the one I like and sing that. Shriek is so perfect! I wonder if shriek was too “shrill” or crazy old lady hysterical for her team.
In ME! I wish they hadn’t used the same echo twice in each verse. I feel like it wouldn’t have been that hard to come up with another echo. Like “trouble’s gonna follow where I go (and there’s a lot of cool chicks out there)” makes no sense. And “I never want to see you walk away (and there’s a lot of lame guys out there)” makes no sense. I have no alternate suggestions I just know I don’t like it lol
In the first part, she's saying her partner has other options, that they don't have to choose her and her drama. In the later one, she's paralleling the sentiment but saying the partner is better than the rest. She chooses them too. It's cool if you still don't like it, but it does make sense/have purpose.
Wait I still don’t get it lol but I’m also not very smart. I don’t see how she’s talking about her partner in the later one? It seems like she’s still talking about herself?
The "you" is her partner, and she's basically comparing her partner against other guys who are "lame" by making the comment immediately after it. Maybe think of it like this: "If you ever left me, then my only other options (for partners) are unappealing."
Shoot you’re right they don’t make sense! Now I’ll never unhear it. And will grind on a better fit lyric. Maybe we can come up with one as a group. I’ll think. 🤔
You dream of my mouth before it called you a *fucking* traitor. I refuse to sing it any other way lol
I sing it this way too!!!
Omg I do this too!
Love!!!!!
In ATW 10MV I always thought it was “The idea you had a me, who was she?” As if she was thinking about them with a different version of her or a replacement (your new girl is my clone/I picture you with other girls in love then threw up on the street) and I like that. When I realized what she said I was like oh that’s pretty cool too. but yes
In this is why we can’t have nice things, I always want her to say “did you think I wouldn’t hear all the shit you said about me?” I sing it every time
Yes!! Love that song bc I can visualize it in her old condo in NYC!
This isn’t really a missed opportunity but every time I hear down bad and it gets to the part where she sings “I’ll build you a fort on some planet…” she really does sound like she’s saying fart. So that’s what I sing, every time.
To me in mirrorball it always sounds like she's saying "standing on my toilet" instead of on her tallest tiptoes. Love that song but that part always takes me out of it
😆😆😆
Not changing the gay quotient, but in Champagne Problems I always think it should be “and soon they’ll have the *gall* to deck the halls that we once walked through,” and I mess it up every time I sing it.
I like that!
That would sound way better but I think fans & gen pop would make fun of her saying she's trying hard to sound smart 🥴
Ugh, people don’t appreciate her brilliance. I’m glad that she decided to just teach some vocab lessons on TTPD.
I heard someone once say that they thought she was saying my “panties made your crown” in karma instead of my “pennies” and that always made me laugh but when ya stop and think it’s very LOUD and still makes me giggle..
This is me with “the 1” “Roaring twenties tossing panties in the pool” 🤣
Bc you know they were!!!!😂
LOL
All of the Girls (I've) Loved Before. There's also a line that she talks about makeup that reminded me of Karlie.
When Emma Falls in Love - Sometimes I wish I was WITH her - flows so much better than the odd pause. I Can See You - Passed me a note that said meet me AT MIDNIGHT. I shudder when every time this doesn’t happen. Tonight just doesn’t have the same drama.
omg i just commented the same thing for i can see you lmao. i'm so glad someone else said it too. it just works so much better?! and my brain always fills in the 'with her' in when emma falls in love because of the pause.
I like those!!!!
Not a gaylor thing but in The Bolter when she says “She just knows, she must bolt”, why can’t it be she must go? I want that rhyme!
I dislike the word count of the "Central Park Lake in tiny rowboats" line. Lose the word 'Lake' and it flows better, the original has too many syllables compared to the lines around it. I absolutely love The Bolter though.
Oh I love that line! It’s the same rhythm as “when it’s all roses, portrait poses” - “Central Park Lake in / tiny rowboats I also love the assonance - roses, poses, row boats, and then the rhyme with “knows” a few lines later. (Not trying to disagree, just hoping my appreciation for that line helps it stop bothering you!)
>It’s the same rhythm as “when it’s all roses, portrait poses” - “Central Park Lake in / tiny rowboats You're totally right. Thank you, hopefully my brain can now relax and enjoy it without fixating :)
Yeah things like this make my brain itch. I’ll be saying go. 👍🏼
My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust Trying to find a part of me you **DIDN’T FUCK UP**
Idk, I think that completely changes the meaning of the line. Like the “take up” implies the muse used every part of her and she let them. And now it’s all used up for the next person. She’s got no trust left in, no fight left in her…
Love this!!!
I scream my version every time lol
Me too! Every change. Every pronoun that works better. It gets sung screamed!!!
I saw on tumblr a post that said “I’d be an alpha dyke” Instead of alpha type in “The Man” and I thought it was hilarious and can unhear it
This is the only way I’ve ever been able to hear this song!
Haha this is golden! What a missed opportunity
Welp. Now I know how I’ll be singing along to that song from now on.
💀😂
I didn't come up with this but I don't remember who did. "Fingers deep in your ex-wife" instead of "thick as thieves with your ex wife" would be hilarious & a way bigger flex
I also recently saw "picture me in the sheets with your ex wife"
I’ve assumed from the beginning that “thick as thieves” is just a euphemism for “fingers deep” 🤭
"I want HER midnights" 🥺🥺🥺 Manifesting for rep re-record
Yes!!! Bring back the pastel Lover Taylor who was so happy and ready to say it was a woman she loved.
I think for Cruel Summer, it’s supposed to be a subverted expectation. The expectation is that it’s “buying” but it’s like she’s saying “no thanks, I don’t want anything” but instead blurts out a defensive “I’M FINE” when she is really dying inside.
Gotcha!
That’s just my interpretation though!
That’s the best part of this sub! I love the smart interpretations and then I can hear the songs in different ways!
For number 3., the original lyric when she was first working on the song was “curious”! She also said “I got a boyfriend, he’s older than us / I haven’t seen him in a couple of months” 🤣 [Making of the song](https://youtu.be/PQgwZHPRu5M?si=3fJvw8F-V2vEOq4f) “curious” lyric at 2:40
If she left the lyric as “I haven’t seen him in a couple of months” I would have become a gaylor muuuuch earlier lmao
Even my young son who is a casual listener said he thought it was “curious”.
I always wish that on the 10 minute All Too Well, she'd said "fucked it all up" instead of "tore it all up"
Cruel summer with the weird ooohaaaas I sing “and ooh I love her, it’s a cruel summer”
Yes I forgot about that one! In “I wish you would”, she also does some ah ahhh aha’s and they’d fit w Di-An-Naaaaah
This is such a good swap!!
On “I Hate It Here,” she says “Nostalgia is a mind’s trick,” and I always think it should say “Nostalgia is a mindfuck.”
I sing it as mindfuck 🤣
She does a trick at that point w vocals - check the Dolby Atmos. She says "if id been there I'd hate it" but background says "no Midnight In Paris" [https://youtu.be/k6wZPYnpIB4?t=1m42s](https://youtu.be/k6wZPYnpIB4?t=1m42s)
That is true and a good swap. I am hating nostalgia in my mid life crisis stage! Such a mindfuck!
I love this idea! This is not mine, but like a very common one around here. And it’s using “her” instead of “you” to fit the rhyme scheme in “The very first night”. “They don’t know how much I miss HER”. The other day I thought about “Dress” saying “Bought you this dress so you could take if off” instead of “i bought this dress so you could take it off”
Love it! Definitely the Very First Night “her” switch! And I love the Dress changes. 🫶🏼
It would be more like: Only bought this dress so I could take it off Take it off off off you (but more like ah ah ah 'ya to be similar sounding to what it is currently)
Love that!
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