My Favorite Lyric from Every Taylor Swift Song

A Deeply Scientific and Utterly Necessary Survey

Editor’s Note: This piece was originally posted in 2018. It has been (and will continue to be) updated to reflect subsequent releases.

Recently, I finally saw the queen, the goddess, my inspiration herself in concert, and I’ve been looking for ways to celebrate the fact that I am now forever changed. Given that I had prepared for the show by listening to her entire catalog on shuffle, I’ve had a lot of her bons mots echoing around my brain, and this seemed like a fitting exercise.

I was going to offer “The Best Lyric from Every Taylor Swift Song,” but I ran into too many multi-way ties. It was easier to narrow down when I made it subjective.

I would like you to know that I did most of these from memory. Enjoy.

Taylor Swift (2006)

Tim McGraw

But in a box beneath my bed
Is a letter that you never read,
From three summers back.

Picture to Burn

I really, really hate that
Stupid old pickup truck
You never let me drive.

Let’s be very clear: this is the final repeat, with the repeated “really” for emphasis.

Teardrops on My Guitar

He’s the time taken up,
But there’s never enough.

The unrequited love song of our age.

A Place in This World

I don’t know what I want,
So don’t ask me.

A nearly unbeatable opening line.

Cold as You

You never did give a damn thing, honey,
But I cried, cried for you,
And I know you wouldn’t have told nobody
If I died, died for you.

This bridge renders the entire genre of emo redundant.

The Outside

But nothing seems to work the first few times,
Am I right?

Tied Together with a Smile

I guess it’s true that love was all you wanted,
’Cause you’re giving it away like it’s extra change,
Hoping it will end up in his pocket,
But he leaves you out like a penny in the rain.

Stay Beautiful

He smiles, it’s like the radio.

What a wild image. “I will speak daggers to her” (Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 2).

Should’ve Said No

You should’ve known that word
‘Bout what you did with her’d
Get back to me.

Love this internal rhyme.

Mary’s Song (Oh My My My)

Take me back to the creek beds we turned up,
Two A.M. riding in your truck.

Our Song

He’s got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel,
The other on my heart.

It’s the pause before “heart” that makes this.

BONUS TRACKS

I’m Only Me When I’m with You

You drive me crazy half the time;
The other half I’m only tryin’
To let you know that what I feel is true.

Invisible

She’s never gonna love you like I want to.

Here is where she taught us one of her most important lessons: always get the bonus tracks.

A Perfectly Good Heart

How do I get it back the way it was before?

The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection (EP)

Christmases When You Were Mine

“Merry Christmas, everybody”…
That’ll have to be something I just say this year.

Christmas Must Be Something More

Would the song still survive
Without five golden rings?

Beautiful Eyes (EP)

Beautiful Eyes

I wake up; I’m alive.
In only a little while, I’ll cry.

I Heart Question Mark

Wake up and smell the breakup;
Realize that we won’t make up.

This I love because it’s the final-chorus-lyric-change payoff of the previous “Fix my hair, put on my makeup.”

Fearless (2008)

Fearless

In this passenger seat,
You put your eyes on me;
In this moment now,
Capture it, remember it.

Fifteen

In your life, you’ll do things greater than
Dating the boy on the football team…
I didn’t know it at fifteen.

Love Story

Romeo, save me;
They’re trying to tell me how to feel.

She was giving us tongue-in-cheek denouncements of the haters long, long before “Shake It Off.”

Hey Stephen

You’re perfect for me;
Why aren’t you here tonight?

White Horse

I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet,
Lead her up the stairwell.

I love Swiftian stair imagery, and this instance not least because I originally misheard it as “leader of the stairwell.”

You Belong with Me

Have you ever thought, just maybe,
You belong with me?

Breathe

You’re the only thing I know
Like the back of my hand.

Tell Me Why

I take a step back,
Let you go.
I told you I’m not bulletproof;
Now you know.

I love a good last line. “And I thought it was the end of the world… and it was” (“Four Black Dragons,” Pacific Overtures, 1976).

You’re Not Sorry

You don’t have to call anymore.

The Way I Loved You

You were wild and crazy,
Just so frust-r-ating,
Intoxicating, complicated,
Got away by some mistake and…

You really have to hear how she draws out “frustrating.”

Forever and Always

You looked me in the eye and told me
You loved me.
Were you just kidding?

The Best Day

I’m thirteen now,
And I don’t know how
My friends could be so mean.

Change

They might be bigger,
But we’re faster and never scared.

BONUS TRACKS

Jump Then Fall

Well, I like the way your hair falls in your face.
You got the keys to me; I love each freckle on your face.

Seeing this written out, it looks like a legitimately bad lyric, but in a song that makes a game of drawing big love confessions out of the mundane, it doesn’t get better than this passing “you got the keys to me.”

Come In with the Rain

Talk to the wind,
Talk to the sky,
Talk to the man with the reasons why,
And let me know what you find.

This is, low-key, an incredible dis.

Superstar

And I knew from the first note played
I’d be breaking all my rules to see you.

The Other Side of the Door

You carried me from your car up the stairs, and I
Broke down crying — “Was she worth this mess?”
After everything and that little black dress,
After everything, I must confess I need you.

Note: “Untouchable” is a cover so I did not include it. (I only recently learned this after over a decade of Swiftiedom!)

Hannah Montana: The Movie (Soundtrack)

Crazier

Every sky was your own kind of blue,
And I wanted to know
How that would feel.

Speak Now (2010)

Mine

You made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter.

On no other entry did I consider so heavily the angry mail I would receive if I chose poorly.

Sparks Fly

Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down;
Give me something that’ll haunt me when you’re not around.

Back to December

The last time you saw me is still burned in the back of your mind;
You gave me roses, and I left them there to die.

Speak Now

But I-I-I-I
Kno-o-o-ow
You wish it was me,
You wish it was me — don’t you?

Golly, her delivery.

Dear John

The girl in the dress wrote you a song…
You should’ve known.

Only “All Too Well” rivaled this song for sheer number of possible favorite lyric options. In the end, though, the choice was obvious.

Mean

I can see you years from now in a bar,
Talking over a football game.

The Story of Us

But you held your pride
Like you should’ve held me.

Never Grow Up

Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room.

Enchanted

The lingering question kept me up —
Two A.M., who do you love?

Better Than Revenge

No amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity.

Innocent

Wasn’t it easier in your lunchbox days?

The later change to “firefly-catching days” is an all-time great variation.

Haunted

Stood there and watched you walk away
From everything we had,
But I still mean every word I said to you.

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.

Long Live

And the cynics were outraged,
Screaming, “This is absurd!”
’Cause for a moment, a band of thieves in ripped-up jeans
Got to rule the world.

BONUS TRACKS

Ours

Your hands are tough,
But they are where mine belong.

If This Was a Movie

But if this was a movie, you’d be here by now.

Sometimes I didn’t need to overthink these.

Superman

I hope you don’t save some other girl.

This line is — I think unintentionally so but nonetheless — utterly maniacal.

Valentine’s Day (Soundtrack)

Today Was a Fairytale

I wore a dress;
You wore a dark gray t-shirt.

The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond (Soundtrack)

Safe and Sound

Don’t you dare look out your window;
Darling, everything’s on fire.

Eyes Open

The tricky thing
Is yesterday, we were just children,
Playing soldiers, just pretending.

Ronan (Charity Single)

Ronan

Flowers pile up in the worst way;
No one knows what to say.

Red (2012)

State of Grace

Love is a ruthless game,
Unless you play it good and right.

Red

Fighting with him was like
Trying to solve a crossword and realizing there’s no right answer.

Of course she does crossword puzzles. Typical lyricist.

Treacherous

Two headlights shine through the sleepless night,
And I will get you a-, get you alone.
Your name has echoed through my mind,
And I just think you should, think you should know
That nothing safe is worth the drive.

I Knew You Were Trouble

And the saddest fear
Comes creeping in,
That you never loved me
Or her, or anyone, or anything.

All Too Well

’Cause there we are again in the middle of the night;
We’re dancing ’round the kitchen in the refrigerator light.

I know. Sometimes I like to go for the non-obvious choice.

Twenty-Two

You don’t know about me,
But I’ll bet you want to.

I Almost Do

I bet you think I either moved on or hate you,
’Cause each time you reach out there’s no reply.
I bet it never ever occurred to you
That I can’t say hello to you and risk another goodbye.

Like for the pre-echo of “never ever”; love for Taylor explaining something I never understood about my own past relationships.

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

I remember when we broke up — the first time.

Now that’s how you set the scene in a single line. (If we were to count the dialogue break, my answer would be “This is exhausting.”)

Stay Stay Stay

Before you, I’d only dated self-indulgent takers.

The Last Time

This is the last time I’m asking you this:
Put my name at the top of your list.

Holy Ground

I was reminiscing just the other day
While having coffee all alone, and lord, it took me away.

This happens to me all the time. I mean that with total sincerity.

Sad Beautiful Tragic

And you’ve got your demons,
And darling, they all look like me.

The Lucky One

You had it figured out since you were in school:
Everybody loves pretty; everybody loves cool.

Everything Has Changed

And all I feel
In my stomach is butterflies,
The beautiful kind, making up for lost time.

Starlight

Don’t you dream impossible things?

Begin Again

And I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny,
’Cause he never did.

BONUS TRACKS

The Moment I Knew

You called me later
And said, “I’m sorry I didn’t make it,”
And I said, “I’m sorry, too.”

This is like when a parent says “I’m disappointed in you” and it’s so much worse than being yelled at.

Come Back… Be Here

This is falling in love in the cruelest way.

Girl at Home

And it would be a fine proposition,
If I was a stupid girl.
And yeah I might go with it,
If I hadn’t once been just like her.

One Chance (Soundtrack)

Sweeter Than Fiction

What a sight, what a sight when the light came on;
Proved me right, proved me right when you proved them wrong.

1989 (2014)

Welcome to New York

Kaleidoscope of loud heartbeats under coats…

Blank Space

Got a long list of ex-lovers;
They’ll tell you I’m insane.

Y’ns “lonely Starbucks” pretenders can all go shove it. Preferably a Q-Tip, into those clogged-up ears.

Style

Take me home.
Just take me home.

Out of the Woods

But the monsters turned out to be just trees;
When the sun came up, you were looking at me.

All You Had to Do Was Stay

People like you always want back the love they pushed aside,
But people like me are gone forever when you say goodbye.

Shake It Off

My ex-man brought his new girlfriend,
She’s like, “Oh my god,” but I’m just gonna shake.

I’ll defend this rap break to my death. Put it on my tombstone.

I Wish You Would

You’re thinking that I hate you now,
’Cause you still don’t know what I never said.

Bad Blood

So if you’re coming my way…
Just don’t.

Wildest Dreams

I said, “No one has to know what we do.”
His hands are in my hair;
His clothes are in my room.

Steamy!

How You Get the Girl

That’s how it works;
That’s how you got the girl.

I love this old-school songwriting “turn” on the hook.

This Love

When you’re young, you just run,
But you come back to what you need.

I Know Places

Something happens when everybody finds out.

Clean

You’re still all over me,
Like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore.

BONUS TRACKS

Wonderland

You searched the world for something else
To make you feel like what we had,
And in the end, in Wonderland,
We both went mad.

You Are in Love

And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars,
And why I’ve spent my whole life trying to put it into words.

I realize bridges might be overrepresented in this list. Maybe that’s because she’s so damn good at writing bridges.

New Romantics

The rumors
Are terrible and cruel,
But honey, most of them are true.

Fifty Shades Darker (Soundtrack)

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever

Now I’m in a cab; I
Tell ’em where your place is.

Reputation (2017)

…Ready for It?

He can be my jailer,
Burton to this Taylor;
Every love I’ve known in comparison is a failure.

End Game

I bury hatchets,
But I keep maps of where I put ’em.

I Did Something Bad

If a man talks shit,
Then I owe him nothing.

Don’t Blame Me

I once was poison ivy,
But now I’m your daisy.

Delicate

My reputation’s never been worse, so
You must like me for me.

She says “reputation” like forty times in “End Game,” but make no mistake — this is the title drop.

Look What You Made Me Do

Honey, I rose up from the dead; I do it all the time.

So It Goes…

Come here, dressed in black now.
Scratches, down your back now.

Gorgeous

You should think about the consequence
Of you touching my hand in a darkened room.

Getaway Car

It was the great escape, the prison break,
The light of freedom on my face.

But if you asked my favorite part to sing along to, it’s obviously “GO GO GO!”

King of My Heart

Up on the roof with a schoolgirl crush,
Drinking beer out of plastic cups,
Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff;
Baby all at once, this is enough.

She’s so good at zeugma.

Dancing with Our Hands Tied

I’m a mess, but I’m the mess that you wanted.

Dress

I don’t want you like a best friend.

The line that launched a thousand ’shippers.

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

And therein lies the issue:
Friends don’t try to trick you,
Get you on the phone and mind-twist you.

Call It What You Want

’Cause he really knows me,
Which is more than they can say.

New Year’s Day

You squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi;
I can tell that it’s gonna be a long road.

Lover (2019)

I Forgot That You Existed

Would’ve been right there, front row,
Even if nobody came to your show.

There is no blade more vicious than “I would have been kind to you.”

Cruel Summer

Snuck in through the garden gate
Every night that summer just to seal my fate,
And I screamed “For whatever it’s worth,
I love you; ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?”

I promise the Lover picks won’t all be bridges!

Lover

Swear to be overdramatic — and true!

…just a lot of them.

The Man

And they would toast to me, oh,
Let the players play.
I’d be just like Leo
In Saint-Tropez.

The Archer

And I cut off
My nose just to spite my face,
Then I hate my reflection
For years and years.

I Think He Knows

I got that ah, I mean…
Wanna see what’s under that attitude.

Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince

The whole school is rolling fake dice;
You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

Paper Rings

I hate accidents,
Except when we went from friends to this.

Cornelia Street

Barefoot in the kitchen,
Sacred new beginnings
That became my religion…

Death by a Thousand Cuts

My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust —
Tryna find a part of me you didn’t take up.
Gave you so much, but it wasn’t enough.
But I’ll be all right; it’s just a thousand cuts.

This was, by far, the hardest one to narrow down. You heard it here first: “Dx1kC” is her best lyric since “All Too Well.”

London Boy

Stick with me; I’m your queen,
Like a Tennessee Stella McCartney on the Heath.

Soon You’ll Get Better

Desperate people find faith,
So now I pray to Jesus, too.

False God

The altar is my hips.

S T E A M Y !

You Need to Calm Down

Sunshine on the street at the parade,
But you would rather be in the Dark Ages.

Something about the intentionally wonky scansion of “parade” played against the intentionally wonky scansion of “Dark Ages” catches my ear in the most delightful way every time.

Afterglow

I lived like an island,
Punished you with silence,
Went off like sirens,
Just crying.

Me!

I’m the only one of me;
Baby, that’s the fun of me!

It’s Nice to Have a Friend

Something gave
You the nerve
To touch my hand.
It’s nice to have a friend.

Daylight

I once believed love would be burning red,
But it’s golden.

BONUS TRACKS

All of the Girls You Loved Before

Crying in the bathroom
For some dude
Whose name I cannot remember now.

It’s just very funny when Taylor says “dude.”

Cats (Soundtrack)

Beautiful Ghosts

And I know that this life isn’t safe,
But it’s wild and it’s free.

Christmas Tree Farm (Holiday Single)

Christmas Tree Farm

Sweet dreams of holly and ribbon;
Mistakes are forgiven,
And everything is icy and blue.

Miss Americana (Promotional Single)

Only the Young

It keeps me awake,
The look on your face
The moment you heard the news.

I think this song is mostly cheese, but this line hits.

Folklore (2020)

The One

We never painted by the numbers, baby,
But we were making it count.
You know the greatest loves of all time
Are over now.

This quatrain structure with the shortened last line gets me every time.

Cardigan

I knew I’d curse you for the longest time,
Chasing shadows in the grocery line.

The Last Great American Dynasty

The doctor had told him to settle down;
It must’ve been her fault his heart gave out.

Exile

I can see you staring, honey,
Like he’s just your understudy.

My Tears Ricochet

I didn’t have it in myself to go with grace,
’Cause when I’d fight, you used to tell me I was brave.

Mirrorball

I’m a mirrorball;
I can change everything about me to fit in.

This was the first time I cried on the first album listen. (I know, I got really far!)

Seven

Your braids like a pattern;
Love you to the Moon and to Saturn.

To land a surprising rhyme by twisting a familiar phrase like this is next-level lyric writing.

August

Remember when I pulled up and said, “Get in the car”?
And then canceled my plans just in case you’d call?
Back when I was living for the hope of it all, for the hope of it all…
“Meet me behind the mall.”

This Is Me Trying

They told me all of my cages were mental,
So I got wasted like all my potential.

Illicit Affairs

Take the words for what they are:
A dwindling, mercurial high,
A drug that only worked
The first few hundred times.

Invisible String

Chains around my demons,
Wool to brave the seasons.

Mad Woman

Do you see my face in the neighbor’s lawn?
Does she smile?
Or does she mouth, “Fuck you forever”?

Reader, I gasped.

Epiphany

Holds your hand through plastic now;
“Doc, I think she’s crashing out.”

I truly did not think anyone could make art about the pandemic that wouldn’t come off as hackneyed and cringeworthy. But such is her power.

Betty

Betty, I won’t make assumptions
About why you switched your homeroom,
But I think it’s ’cause of me.

Honorable mention to the triumphant return of the cardigan at the album’s climax.

Peace

All these people think love’s for show,
But I would die for you in secret.

Hoax

My only one,
My kingdom come undone,
My broken drum,
You have beaten my heart.

BONUS TRACKS

The Lakes

I’ve come too far
To watch some namedropping sleaze
Tell me what are my words worth.

Evermore (2020)

Willow

Head on the pillow, I could feel you sneaking in.

I love the ambiguity (sneaking into the room? into her head?), and the rhyme with the title-drop phrase.

Champagne Problems

But you’ll find the real thing instead;
She’ll patch up your tapestry that I shred.

Gold Rush

I see me padding ’cross your wooden floors
With my Eagles T-shirt hanging from the door.

’Tis the Damn Season

I parked my car
Right between the Methodist
And the school that used to be ours.

Boy does she capture that “estranged high school friend group meetup” vibe.

Tolerate It

Gain the weight of you, then lose it;
Believe me, I could do it.

No Body, No Crime

Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was fifteen.

Yeah, yeah, we all love the Olive Garden line.

Happiness

When I’m above the trees,
I see it for what it is,
But now my eyes leak acid rain on the pillow
Where you used to lay your head.

Pillow and ship imagery on the upswing this album cycle!

Dorothea

And damn, Dorothea,
We all wanna be ya,
But are you still the same soul I met under the bleachers?

Coney Island

The fast times, the bright lights, the merry-go.

The shortening of “merry-go-round” thrills me, not least because the merry has gone and isn’t coming back ’round.

Ivy

And the old widow goes to the stone every day,
But I don’t; I just sit here and wait,
Grieving for the living.

Cowboy Like Me

And the old men that I’ve swindled
Really did believe I was the one.

Long Story Short

Your nemeses
Will defeat themselves
Before you get the chance to swing.

Honorable mention to “And my waves meet your shore, ever and evermore.” SHE SAID IT!

Marjorie

Long limbs and frozen swims,
You’d always go past where our feet could touch.

Closure

It cut deep to know you,
Right to the bone.

Evermore

Writing letters
Addressed to the fire.

BONUS TRACKS

Right Where You Left Me

And you’re
Sitting in front of me
At the restaurant,
When I was still the one you want.

It’s Time to Go

Now he sits on his throne
In his palace of bones,
Praying to his greed.

Never have I so instantly identified a favorite line on first listen.

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021)

FROM THE VAULT

​You All Over Me

You know you can scratch it right off;
It’s how it used to be.

Mr. Perfectly Fine

​Oh, he’s so smug, Mr. Always Wins,
So far above me in every sense,
So far above feeling anything.

“Casually cruel” though!

We Were Happy

You threw your arms around my neck,
Back when I deserved it.

That’s When

Then through the phone
Came all your tears.

Don’t You

I heard she’s nothing like me;
I’m sure she’ll make you happy.

Bye Bye Baby

All I have is your sympathy.

Devastating.

How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? (Album by Big Red Machine)

Renegade

​Is it really your anxiety
That stops you from giving me everything,
Or do you just not want to?

Red (Taylor’s Version) (2021)

FROM THE VAULT

​Better Man

And I gave to you my best,
And we both know you can’t say that.

This isn’t even the meanest song in this set of vault tracks!

Nothing New

They tell you while you’re young,
“Girls, go out and have your fun,”
Then they hunt and slay the ones
Who actually do it.

Babe

What a waste,
Taking down the pictures and the plans we made.

Message in a Bottle

You could be the one that I keep,
And I-I-I
Could be the reason you can’t sleep
At ni-i-ight.

I Bet You Think About Me

I don’t have to be your shrink to know that
You’ll never be happy.

Taylor Swift reminds us of the valuable lesson that you don’t have to be nice to people who wrong you, and perhaps you shouldn’t.

Forever Winter

He spends most of his flights
Getting pulled down by gravity.

Run

​No one to be, no one to tell.​

​The Very First Night

’Cause they don’t know about the night in the hotel;
They weren’t riding in the car when we both fell.​

All Too Well (10 Minute Version)

The idea ​you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel
Whose shine reflects on you.

A song in its fullness is a sacred prayer.

Where the Crawdads Sing (Soundtrack)

Carolina

I’ll make a fist;
I’ll make it count.

Midnights (2022)

Lavender Haze

The only kind of girl they see
Is a one-night or a wife.

Maroon

The mark they saw on my collarbone,
The rust that grew between telephones…

Anti-Hero

I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror.

She remains the queen of these dual constructions.

Snow on the Beach

This scene
Feels like what I once saw on a screen;
I searched “aurora borealis green.”

You’re on Your Own, Kid

I touch my phone as if it’s your face.

A devastating image in a song that builds its power by accumulating them.

Midnight Rain

He wanted a bride; I was making my own name.

Question…?

Does it feel like everything’s just like
Second best after that meteor strike?

Vigilante Shit

Draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man.

Though not my favorite of her songs, one of her finest opening lines.

Bejeweled

Putting someone first only works
When you’re in their top five.

Labyrinth

You know how scared I am of elevators,
Never trust it if it rises fast…

Karma

Karma’s a relaxing thought —
Aren’t you envious that for you it’s not?

Sweet Nothing

On the way home
I wrote a poem;
You say “What a mind.”
This happens all the time.

Mastermind

No one wanted to play with me as a little kid,
So I’ve been scheming like a criminal ever since
To make them love me and make it seem effortless.

BONUS TRACKS

The Great War

Say a solemn prayer,
Place a poppy in my hair,
There’s no morning glory.
It was war; it wasn’t fair.

Bigger Than the Whole Sky

’Cause it’s all over;
It’s not meant to be,
So I’ll say words I don’t believe.

Paris

No, I didn’t see the news
’Cause we were somewhere else,
In an alleyway,
Drinking champagne…

Note this is specifically the final iteration, where the pretend alleyways and make-believe champagne turn simply real, where the metaphor becomes the thing itself. It’s elegant and excellent and the kind of thing she does effortlessly all the time.

High Infidelity

You know there’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love;
The slowest way is never loving them enough.

Glitch

Nights are so starry,
Blood moon–lit,
It must be counterfeit.

Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve

God rest my soul,
I miss who I used to be.
The tomb won’t close,
Stained glass windows in my mind;
I regret you all the time.

Dear Reader

Dear reader, when you aim at the devil,
Make sure you don’t miss.

“And if you’d like an example, hey, just hit the Previous Track button.”

Hits Different

Freedom felt like summer then
On the coast;
Now the sun burns my heart
And the sand hurts my feelings.

This song is one of my favorite lyrics of hers, ever. Get thee to a Target!

You’re Losing Me

And I wouldn’t marry me either,
A pathological people pleaser
Who only wanted you to see her.

Oof.

Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (2023)

FROM THE VAULT

Electric Touch

It’s 8:05
And I see two headlights…

When Emma Falls in Love

Like if Cleopatra grew up in a small town.

Can’t begin to understand what this means! Don’t care!

I Can See You

I can see you
Waiting down the hall from me,
And I could see you
Up against the wall with me.

!!!!!

Castles Crumbling

Smoke billows from my ships in the harbor.

Foolish One

’Cause you got her on your arm,
And me in the wings;
I’ll get your longing glances,
But she’ll get your ring.

Timeless

I had to smile when it caught my eye —
There was one of a teenage couple in the driveway,
Holding hands on the way to a dance,
And the date on the back said 1958.

One of the Taylor Swiftiest songs to ever Taylor Swift.

1989 (Taylor’s Version) (2023)

FROM THE VAULT

“Slut!”

Everyone wants him;
That was my crime.

Say Don’t Go

Why’d you whisper in the dark
Just to leave me in the night?

When I was very briefly in a band in high school I wrote a song called “Whisper in the Dark,” and while that is not my primary reason for choosing this lyric, it is definitely proof that Taylor understands me on a deep personal level.

Now That We Don’t Talk

I don’t have to pretend I like acid rock.

Suburban Legends

And you kiss me in a way that’s gonna screw me up forever.

Is It Over Now?

You dream of my mouth before it called you a lying traitor.

This song is a lyrical treasure trove.

The Tortured Poets Department (2024)

[COMING SOON… please be patient she gave me so much homework this time]

Puzzlements? Quibbles? Nuclear takes? Fight me in the comments.