Taylor Swift's 13 most meaningful songs and the best lyrics from them || a thread

ALL TOO WELL

"and you call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest, I'm a crumpled up piece of paper lying here"

• from the album RED •

- tells the story of her relationship with Jack Gyllenhaal, fan's favorite because it feels like a storyline

-the chorus are all different scenarios, and the bridge is the most powerful part of the song, alongside with the outro

best lyrics:

- "maybe I asked for too much, but maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up"

- "time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it, I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it"

- "I left my scarf there at your sister's house and you've still got it in your drawer, even now"

- "but you keep my old scarf from that very first week 'cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me, you can't get rid of it 'cause you remember it all too well"

DEAR JOHN

"all the girls that you've run dry have tired lifeless eyes 'cause you burned them out, but I took your matches before fire could catch me, so don't look now, I'm shining like fireworks over your sad empty town"

• album SPEAK NOW •

- written about her relationship with John Mayer

- personally, one of my favorites. I also had an ex boyfriend called John, and later i found out that it was an abusive relationship, so this song means a lot to me

best lyrics:

- "you paint me a blue sky then go back and turn it to rain and I lived in your chess game, but you changed the rules everyday"

- "wondering which version of you I might get on the phone, tonight
Well I stopped pickin' up and this song is to let you know why"

- how she blames herself: "well maybe it's me and my blind optimism to blame" and "i should've known"

- "don't you think I was too young to be messed with? the girl in the dress wrote you a song, you shoulda' known"

CLEAN

"ten months sober, I must admit, just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it"

• from the album 1989 •

- this song is about finally feeling free after a bad relationship, but for some it can also mean as in mental illness, addiction or abuse

- the hidden message behind this song is "she lost him, but she found herself, and somehow that was everything"

best lyrics:

- "the drought was the very worst, when the flowers that we'd grown together died of thirst"

- "you're still all over me like a wine stained dress I can't wear anymore"

- when the relationship was over, it was a relief: "rain came pouring down when I was drowning, that's when I could finally breathe"

- the good memories of their time together turned into something negative: "when the butterflies turned to dust that covered my whole room"

WHITE HORSE

"maybe I was naive, got lost in your eyes and never really had a chance, my mistake, I didn't know to be in love"

• from the album FEARLESS •

- it's about falling in love and dreaming about the fairy tales and then realizing that it is not going to happen

- in this song, Taylor clearly blames herself and her innocence for the relationship's failure

best lyrics:

- "stupid girl, I shoulda known, that I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairytale"

- "I was a dreamer before you went and let me down"

BACK TO DECEMBER

"your guard is up and i know why, because the last time you saw me, you gave me roses and i left them there to die"

• from the album SPEAK NOW •

this song is an apology for Taylor's ex boyfriend Taylor Lautner, for the way she treated the relationship and for the end of it

best lyrics:

- Taylor, once again, writes the song as a storyline, going through the seasons: "I think about summer, all the beautiful times, realized I loved you in the fall, and then the cold came"

- "you gave me all your love, and all I gave you was goodbye"

- "when your birthday passed and I didn't call"

- she also talks about the 2009 AMA's incident: "how you held me in your arms that September night, the first time you ever saw me cry"

LAST KISS

"you can plan for a change in weather and time, but I never planned on you changing your mind"

• from the album SPEAK NOW •

- about her breakup with Joe Jonas. It's the opposite of her song "Forever and Always" where she describes the negative part of the relationship

- the song has a 27 seconds intro, maybe reflecting the 27 seconds breakup call she got from him

best lyrics:

- "you told me you loved me, so why did you go away?"

- she also remembers the time and date it all happened: "lit through the darkness of 1:58, that July 9th"

- "I don't know how to be something you miss, never thought we'd have a last kiss"

- "so I'll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep and I feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe"

- the song ends abruptly with "just like our last" without her saying "kiss", just like the relationship ended all of sudden

I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE

"the blame is on me, 'cause I knew you were trouble when you walked in, so shame on me now"

• from the album RED •

- fans think the song is written about Jake Gyllenhaal, how she, once again, blames herself for a fail relationship

best lyrics:

- "once upon a time, a few mistakes ago, I was in your sights, you got me alone, you found me"

- "and when I fell hard, you took a step back without me"

- "pretend he doesn't know that he's the reason why you're drowning"

intro and outro:

-"when it's all over, it's like a kaleidoscope of memories, it just all comes back. But he never does"

- "I think that the worst part of it all wasn't losing him, it was losing me"

- "I don’t know if you know who you are until you lose who you are"

ok i'm continuing it later

CORNELIA STREET

"we were a fresh page on the desk, feeling in the blanks as we go"

• from the album LOVER •

- a street located in Manhattan, where Taylor rented a place back in 2016 and 2017, but there's also a Cornelia street in London

- another song where Taylor plays with the storyline type of song, where she talks about her relationship with Joe Alwyn

best lyrics:

- in the line: "we were in the backseat, drunk in something stronger than the drinks in the bar" parallels with New Year's Day "you squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi" and also compares love to being a better sensation then to being drunk

- she refers to the early stage of her relationship with Joe, when it was a secret: "back when we were card sharks, playing games, I thought you were leading me on"

SOON YOU'LL GET BETTER

"and I hate to make this all about me, but who am I supposed to talk to? What am I supposed to do if there's no you?"

• from the album LOVER •

- dedicated to her mother Andrea, who was diagnosed with cancer, this song is probably the most personal Taylor Swift song ever

best lyrics:

- "in doctor's office lighting, I didn't tell you I was scared. holy orange bottles, each night I pray to you"

- "I know delusion when I see it in the mirror, you make the best of a bad deal, I just pretend it isn't real"

DANCING WITH OUR HANDS TIED

"I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us, so baby can we dance through an avalanche"

• from the album REPUTATION •

- this song is about Taylor and Joe Alwin's relationship as a secret in the beginning

- while dancing is supposed to be something liberating, here it represents the inability of keeping their relationship a secret, because their hands are tied

best lyrics:

- she talks about how Joe was 25 when they met "i loved you in secret. twenty-five years old, how were you to know"

- another line about their secrecy: "picture of your face in an invisible locket"

- "I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted"

DAYLIGHT

"I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you. I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you"

• from the album LOVER •

- also about her relationship with Joe Alwyn, she talks about how she finally found true love, someone who brightens her life

- the last song on the album, states how she changed her mind when it comes to love and it's meaning and color

best lyrics:

- "I'll tell you the truth, but never goodbye" contradicts with Cruel Summer's line: "said I'm fine, but it wasn't true, I don't want to keep secrets just to keep you"

- "I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night, and now I only see daylight"

- she no longer sees love as in her song Red: "I once believed love would be burning red, but it's golden like daylight"

outro:

- "I wanna be defined by the things that I love, not the things that I hate. I just think that you are what you love"

continuing this later, gotta eat pizza

I ALMOST DO

"I bet you think I either moved on or hate you, 'cause each time you reach out, there's no reply"

• from the album RED •

- Taylor talked about this song: "I think I needed to write it in order to not call that person actually. I think that writing the song was what I did instead of picking up the phone."

- the secret message behind it is "wrote this instead of calling"

best lyrics:

- at the beginning of the song she says "I bet sometimes you wonder about me" and at the very end she changes "bet" to "hope" as if now it's just a wish

- "it takes everything in me not to call you, and I hope you know that every time I don't, I almost do"

ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS STAY

"people like you always want back the love they gave away and people like me wanna believe you, when you say you've changed"

• from the album 1989 •

- Taylor explained the idea behind it: "I had a dream that my ex showed up at my door and I was about ready to launch into the perfect thing to say. And instead, all that would come out of my mouth was that high-pitched chorus of people singing 'stay'."

best lyrics

- "you say you want it back, now that it's just too late, it could've been easy, all you had to do was stay"

- "I've been picking up the pieces of the mess you made"

- "this was what you wanted, you ended it. you were all I wanted, but not like this"

end of thread!!

hope y'all liked it :)

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