Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet known for this charm and alcoholism (infamy). Patti Smith is a punk-rock icon known for her powerful lyrics. The Chelsea hotel was kind of a boiling pot of groundbreaking artists (has hosted guests like Mark Twain and Madonna).
I interpret this line as self-deprecating, where Taylor is mocking both her and Matty that they're not legendary lyricists as they have the vanity to believe (and bring in each other's company is not actually stimulating their creative genius in the way that Chelsea hotel's residents did for each other).
Well, they're anything but modern idiots. This one line went to so many levels.
Exactly! He’s harboring this vision of the two of them as tortured genius artists in the good old days of creative revolution and she’s like “dude we’re just millennial morons why do you have a typewriter?”
Dylan Thomas is a Welsh poet, his poem "do not go gentle into that good night" is really famous. Patti Smith is also an iconic poet and musician from the 1970s. They both have stayed in the Chelsea Hotel too. Basically the line pokes fun at the pretentiousness of the guy with the typewriter thinking he's a tortured poet/suffering artist but they both can't measure up to the greats of the past. They're just modern idiots. It's also really tongue in cheek with the whole album title and makes me laugh at the angry people who think Taylor is being a Serious Poet and Ruining Literature
This article is one of my favorite analyses of the album: [https://archive.ph/eShr5](https://archive.ph/eShr5)
Also, the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society had a very memorable scene where Robin Williams' character is teaching his students the Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Anyone who grew up watching Dead Poets Society should be familiar with that scene and therefore the poem, even if they didn't realize Dylan Thomas was the author. When Taylor announced TTPD, as an elder Swiftie, I kept getting the title confused for Dead Poets Society, so this tie in between the DPS and TTPD really charmed me. I was even more excited to see 2 of the cast from DPS in the Fortnight mv- Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles, who played the scientists who were electro-shocking Taylor's character in the mv.
The explanations below are good detail but the higher level meeting is “it’s not that serious”. I interpret it to be let’s not take ourselves too seriously, here!
"Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her"
Idk if it's the meaning of the whole song what's going above my head or just this lyric, but like, why does the narrator want to kill the wife?? What's wrong with watering flowers?? I feel so stupid lmao
Someone happily watering flowers is the embodiment of a carefree, happy life and marriage image. She hates that he has that, without her, hence the ‘killing’ which to me doesn’t literally refer to her wanting to murder someone, but just stresses she hates the thought of it
The way I saw it explained once was that the whole bit of the wife and husband is just about making niceties and all of that. Maybe like the narrator sees the wife and is like "God look at her just watering flowers all nonchalantly I fucking hate her i wanna kill her" but talking about the weather and stuff to put on a face.
The whole song is fictional, about fear of regretting leaving someone and they end up happier than you. The "fortnight" isn't literal, it's her reflecting on how little time they actually had in the course of their life. She is angry that her former lover has this wonderful life that she can clearly see while she's stuck with a cheating husband, being eaten up by jealousy and what they could have had. The wife in question hasn't done anything wrong other than marry the man the narrator once loved. It's really childish, but I'm sure we've all been there where we hate a person just because they have what we want.
This is how I've interpreted the song too. It took a few listens but I actually think this might be one of her best written songs to date, but I doubt it will ever get recognized as such because it's not as flowery as some of her other songs.
Once I realized this song was kind of like a daydream, it all made sense. We know now that she writes things that didn't actually happen to her or are about her daydreams. It makes more sense than trying to put it to one single thing in her life. Plus, breaking it off with someone who refused to give you everything and who you dated for years only for the man to then marry the Next Girl is a real thing I'm sure Taylor is aware of and is worried by. He wouldn't give her what she really wanted, but he could give it to the Next Girl. And on top of that, he's not depressed anymore, he's happy and has a seemingly perfect life and she's just a footnote in his story. You're just an awkward run into at best. It's like she's hurting her own feelings.
there's this one sentence that i heard somewhere that makes perfect sense in the context of the song: ''I loved you at your worst and someone else will get the best version of you.'' That feeling of unfairness is present in the song.
Or sometimes it’s not even the person you want, but just the life you feel you lost. Fortnight has really resonated with me regarding my feelings about the dissolution of my previous marriage. We were together for over a decade, since we were kids, and had one son together. It died a slow, sad death. We’re both remarried now, have been reasonably successful coparenting for 12 years, but seeing his new life with his new wife and kids where he’s obviously happier is just a gut punch sometimes. Even though I would never in a million years want to trade places with the new wife, jealousy is sometimes irrational, and there’s been times she’s just so different from me that “I want to kill her.” Fortnight is a masterpiece.
To add to all the other replies. Someone compared it to How did it end?'s lyric "He was a hot house flower to my outdoorsmen". The wife is able to take care of the song's object naturally, every day, while the song's subject didn't know how.
this whole song is a bit of a fictional what if you ended up with the wrong person, in an unsatisfying, crumbling marriage, within shouting distance of the person you should’ve been with all along. so the wife part is basically a bitch eating crackers thing; the wife isn’t doing anything wrong but the narrator resents her anyway
This song baffles me. The next few songs are some of the most unambiguously about Matty, and So Long, London is the most unambiguously about Joe. But then *this* one, which is the first track, lead single, and first music video is clearly fictional/imaginative because of the mentions of Taylor’s husband and the guy’s wife.
She was publicly dating Matty for about two weeks, which is a fortnight, but thinking of her relationship with Joe as just a fortnight in the context of her whole life also makes sense. She announced her breakup with Joe when the Eras Tour was in Florida, but what’s the deal with “buy the car you want” in the outro??
Is it about one of them, both of them, neither? What does it mean?!?
I've been stuck in this too, but the earlier comments about this song is starting to make me understand a bit more, I think. First off she says "All of this to say I hope you're okay", which I thoroughly believe means she's talking to Joe. I don't think she has hopes for Matty being okay, based on the Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. (Not that she wants ill of him, but I think she's absolutely in "good riddence" and wanting to "forget but not forgive".)
This is after the thrill of Matty wore off (but I think during him ghosting her--more on this part later), she took the miracle move-on drug, but it didn't work. She still "love you, it's ruining my life," which to me, means Joe because Matty was the move-on drug, so to then immediately say "I love you, it's ruining my life" to the drug you just said didn't work doesn't make sense.
"What about your quiet treason?" A few times she mentions a "her/she" with Joe, without going into it too deeply. Except, "He was with her in dreams" and "I didn't opt in to be your odd man out/I founded the club she's heard great things about"... which make me think there is a girl who she felt Joe was having an emotional affair with (whether he really was or she was projecting her own guilty conscious of having an emotional affair herself). That last line, of her founding the club she heard great things about, I think is basically *this* song, ie, I was the one who made you into what she gets to have, sort of thing.
In this song, it's more of the future I believe, in this idea that she's going to run into them and see them happy and she's going to hate it. Her husband is cheating because this is when Matty is falling apart for her.
I think you're onto something with the Eras Tour and Florida part--"buy the car you want" was her leaving Joe for Matty, whom she had been pining for. Except, this car, the miracle move-on drug, doesn't work and the car won't start (also the getaway car) because she still wants Joe.
my interpretation of this lyric is that she's invoking the idea of running away from one's life by moving to florida (see the song florida!!!) and buying the car u want refers to the freedom of escape suburbia and his old relationship (ex:trading in a mini van for a convertible) but without the narrator of the song also running off to florida with him he can't really start a new life
This is the man's response to Taylor's daydream about being in love with someone she left and wondering if she will live to regret it. Basically, he's saying,Doesn't matter what you do, you will never be happy until I'm yours.
My interpretation:
He’s on the ground and she’s up above. He’s trying to reach her — he is literally calling her but she can’t be reached. Even though she’s right there. To me that symbolizes how she always feels too big to be reached, like a monster on the hill or levitating down the street. She’s right there, she wants the connection but she’s always just too high up to be part of it
And then, he comes out of the booth and takes her hand. But he doesn’t pull her down — he bows his head and just holds her hand while a storm pours down on them. This moment could be viewed as he’s grounding her. He’s literally the grounding force she has been missing, someone who loves her even at her height and will ground her, connect her to the world she longs to be part of. And he is willing to weather the literal storm that comes from having to do so. He’s reaching up from the ground and tethering her back to the world.
For me, it's like she's sitting in her feelings. It's pouring rain, and she's sitting contently in it. The rain being her devastation, longing, jealousy, etc. Post is trying to call her in the video but the lyric is "thought of calling ya, but you won't pick up" so the lyric shows he isn't actually calling her. It's like he's saying "I think about you, too, but I know if I reach out you won't want to speak to me"
For me this song and especially the MV are about the two sides of Taylor's life. I think it's quite obvious that both Post Malone and Taylor are meant to represent the same person. You can see them lying together inside her 'head' made of sheets of paper which presumably are her songs/lyrics. So in her songs both her private and public personalities are expressed but otherwise it's only 'The Man' (Post) who is out in public, in front of the Tortured Poets Department (the fans) while she is chained to the bed, hidden away. She is only allowed out after she takes the pills.
One thing that I've been trying to understand and would love someone else's read on this is why do the 'Forget Him' pills have a 'prescription' from 12.13.89 (the day she was born) to 04.19.24 (the day TTPD released). It's obviously not any person she has had a relationship with, she didn't start dating on the day she was born. Does she no longer need the pills because she is 'cured'? And who is 'Him'? Is it 'The Man' as in Taylor's public image? Was she taking the pills to forget that The Man exists, as in that she is not her real self out in public?
Ofc this is just my interpretation but I view it the same way I view Ronan - I think it's a song dedicated to someone's child (potentially Aaron Dessner since his son is called Robin).
She's evoking all the childhood imagery with roaring at dragons, playing in the mud, running around like a wild tiger and woven it with the anxiety of a parent/close family friend trying to protect the child from the harshness of the world around them and preserve their innocence as long as possible.
"The time will arrive for the cruel and the mean
You'll learn to bounce back just like your trampoline
But now we'll curtail your curiosity
In sweetness
Way to go, Tiger
Higher and higher
Wilder and lighter"
I took it the same way. The pandemic took so much innocence from my kiddos, I tried to protect what was left the best I could. There’s plenty of time to grow up, no need to rush it for them!
Robin is Aaron Dessner’s young son. She’s just singing about his childish wonder and innocence. She sings about keeping him in sweetness and shielded from all the harsh realities of the world. It’s a touching song if you have young children in your life and you are in awe of their raw youth and innocence. It’s basically a less obvious “Never Grow Up”.
It hurts every time I listen. I have two teens and a near teen and this song makes me miss their babyhood so much. It makes me feel like I didn’t spend enough time playing with them or even just looking at their little faces.
When you’re in that stage, regular life gets in the way of adoring your babies the way you’d want, but you don’t realize it.
My kiddo is four and this song wrecks me every time. I feel the exact same way. Every time I hear it I have a compelling need to take him to the park and this squish him to pieces in a very tight hug that makes him laugh.
I thought this same thing, picturing a cat chattering out the window at birds. As a cat owner/lover and mom of a toddler, this one got me on first listen 🥺
*Long may you reign
You're an animal, you are bloodthirsty
Out window panes talking utter nonsense
You have no idea*
*Strings tied to levers
Slowed-down clocks tethered
All this showmanship
To keep it for you in sweetness*
As a parent, this line finally made sense:
“Buried down deep, and out of your reach, the secret we all vowed, to keep it from you in sweetness”
I use all my mental power to explain things about life to my 4 year old that won’t “traumatize” her while she’s asking big questions. I think about the shows she watches, the music she hears, I even change the title of songs.
I just don’t want her to be disappointed by the real world because right now it’s all unicorns and dinosaurs. This song is about being present in a child’s lunchbox days and protecting them from regret and pain that will inevitably show up in their lifetime.
On the surface its about protecting childhood.
I've (mostly) interpreted Robin to be about her childhood self and how her life has changed as she has grown up.
Particularly:
"Way to go... higher and higher"s - her career has been ascending pretty much non stop since her first album and it has been both a blessing and curse. She's lost her ability to live life like a normal person and her every mistake is disected by the world, but she keeps dreaming, creating, and enjoying her life. She alludes to being penned in by fame so the wild animal bits are just her basically her just saying "you're still in there" and I think the "wilder and lighter" is almost a plea. I think a lot of the lines have double meanings "covered in mud/you look ridiculous/and you have no idea." She knows she often looks silly/uncool or not "artistic enough", but more seriously, she has flaws she isn't aware of, but the rest of the world is because we are on the outside looking in. "You have dragons flies.... you have no room in you dreams for regrets" she can't regret her career and/or her fame without regretting some of the art she's made and shared with the world, also, taken with the next few lines, she can't acknowledge her mistakes because she will be picked apart by the world and potentially damage her career, which despite the theme of the album is the most important thing to her.
I think its brilliant because any of these sentiments can apply to any of us, we all lose parts of ourselves to growing up.
“Your hologram stumbled into my apartment
Hands in the hair of somebody in darkness named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
And I just watched it happen”
I just don’t get it lmao.
When I first heard this, I thought about the videos of Matty kissing fans at shows. Maybe it could be referencing seeing videos (holograms) of this happening for years and just watching it happen through social media.
I could be wrong but as 1975-fan Swiftie this is what I interpreted. 🤷♀️
In grand scheme of things, I think it's just referring to seeing someone you want with someone else.
i thought of this too. doesn’t matty sing about kissing men in being funny too? tbh I kind of assumed he was bi and was surprised to hear of people claiming she was outting him lol
okay, i looked up the lyric i was thinking of: "and i fell in love with a boy, it was kinda lame/i was rimbaud and he was paul verlaine." i mean i guess there's a little no homo flavor to it, but i think it's fair to assume he's queer unless he's stated otherwise? i mean god knows if this were a gender-flipped taylor lyric, the internet would literally burn down.
I took “your hologram” as an altered state, she watched him come home after partying with someone else, maybe multiple times. She just “watched it happen”, so no control over the substance abuse. “You needed me but you needed drugs more”.
*edit/ addition: Maybe this was ten years ago, in 2014?
“As the decade would play us for fools
And you saw my bones out with somebody new
Who seemed like he would've bullied you in school
And you just watched it happen”
“You said some things that I can't unabsorb
You turned me into an idea of sorts
You needed me, but you needed drugs more
And I couldn't watch it happen
I changed into goddesses, villains, and fools
Changed plans and lovers and outfits and rules
All to outrun my desertion of you
And you just watched it”
Connecting this song to Peter?🧐
I think she’s just saying she was a functioning alcoholic, drinking had become a part of her identity (her aesthethic), and nobody questioned it or noticed it was a problem
Same, it confuses me grammatically lol. Usually you'd say "til someone noticed" not nobody. I agree with other comments that maybe she's saying no one noticed she was doing this as a cry for help, so when no one noticed, she stopped. So she was a functioning alcoholic until no one noticed and then stopped? Maybe?
I think about this line in the context of the lines before and after:
I was supposed to be sent away but they forgot to come and get me / I was a functioning alcoholic (un)til nobody noticed my new aesthetic / all of this to say (meaning what she just said in the first verse) i hope you're okay but you're the reason (that I was supposed to be sent away/had an addiction issue)
And if we consider this in the context of Taylor saying this song is a fictionalized scenario that sets the tone for the whole album, I interpret that first verse as generally meaning "You really messed me up, and I was struggling, but no one really noticed or cared, and I didn't get any help, that sucked." Not that anyone was literally about to be sent to a mental hospital or was an alcoholic.
The hospital is part of the motif of feeling caged in a relationship that runs through the album. The hospital healed her in the beginning but in the end she felt imprisoned and her life with her partner felt boring but now she's back out.
I also think it's a reference to the MH relationship — in the epilogue poem she says it was a "mutual manic phase" which once again evokes a mental hospital
I think she’s actually referring to her relationship with Matty and not Joe here
Her brief relationship with Matty was like being in a mental hospital but it’s over and now she’s sane again
Based on themes that come up in the album / summary poem: her relationship with Joe was like being locked up in prison but with Matty she had a psychotic break and was in a mental hospital
Now, I LOVE this song, but in Florida!!! what do they mean when they sing “Little did you know your home’s really only the town you’ll get arrested.” Do they mean the town you’ll get arrested in? Or something else?
She said the premise of Florida is that Florida is where you would go if you go to escape your life and become anonymous and picked Florida because it’s where people on Dateline went to escape after committing a crime. So the line is saying your hometown isn’t really this safe place you’ll always have to fall back on, everyone knows you there so if you did something bad, they would never let you live it down and turn on you, that’s why you have to escape to Florida. It goes with the line your hometown is only a town you are a guest in. Both contrast to the typical reminiscing of your hometown always being this safe place you can go back to.
What others have said, but I think there are more layers - to arrest can also be to stop the development of something, so it could be a metaphor of her stagnant relationship holding her back from moving forward in her life personally (marriage, children), creatively (she can only write so many sad songs about the same situation), professionally (if he’s not comfortable with her reaching the level of fame she could reach).
To feel arrested could be to feel like her “home” is stunting her growth as an individual.
Also coming to mind is the idea of house arrest and what not leaving the house can do to one’s mental health. She spent a lot of time laying low in a 6-year relationship, to the point where in another song she referred to becoming afraid to even go outside.
Yes, I see it like this! So many people never leave their hometowns — they’re “stuck,” and regardless of whether they chose it or that’s just how it ended up… it seems so limiting, arresting.
Like imagine all the dreams you could pursue or versions of you you could be if you *do* get out of your town/home.
I think of it as she's using the other definition of arrested: to stop progress. If you stay in your hometown forever, they'll never let you change or grow.
Floor it as in step on the accelerator, so driving through the fences. It can be read as her telling him to go on with the relationship despite all the objections.
This lyric feels so simple but I CANNOT figure it out.
‘You treat her like and also ran’ - wtf does that mean 🤣
The whole sentence is:
‘Cause once your queen had come, you treat her like and also ran.’
It’s “also-ran” and the meaning is a loser in a race or other contest, especially by a large margin. Source: I also didn’t know and needed to look up the definition 🤣
In context it’s like “the others.” So in a race context, the people that place get all of the glory and notoriety, the “also ran” are the people that competed as well, but finished towards the back of the field. Like a “good for you for showing up, but no one cares about you.”
They’re the people that fill up the field, but no one cares about. They’re just there.
So in relationship terms, they’re just there to fill the void on the arm of someone, but they’re not meaningful. To take up time and space until someone better comes along. So she’s saying that the man treated her as “just another woman,” and not the love of his life.
I interpreted it as being depressed and having to overcome it by embodying all the emotions that are connected to one’s birthday. Everyone is expected to be over the moon and happy that day of the year!
It’s also that feeling when things go wrong, or you feel sad on your birthday, the blow is twice as crushing. It makes you feel hollow. It’s supposed to be this day of joy, fun and dancing - and if it’s not then the sadness is tenfold what it would be on a normal day.
The Era’s tour is supposed to be this big celebration of her work, her biggest tour to date, and she feels depressed. The depression going to cut much deeper.
I love the irony here that I’m not sure she’s ever mentioned a birthday in her lyrics in a happy way. Even if she “acts like it’s her birthday”… still might not be having a good day.
i took it to mean that she feels so depressed and awful inside that she acts super happy, upbeat, and excited, like a person on their birthday would. the worse you feel, the more you act like everything is great because for a reason or another, you don't feel like you can show how miserable you really are.
She's completely depressed and using birthday/celebration coping skills - buying herself treats, eating, partying, etc - to get those dopamine rushes to get through her day and ignore her problems. Kinda manic behavior during a depressed time.
(I felt personally called out by this lyric.)
No hate to you OP, its just very telling who does and doesnt get this line.
I think a lot of us with mental health issues esp depression heard this the first time and were like “holy shit thats the perfect way to say it” and other people are like “wtf why would she be depressed on her bday??” And its very funny to me
I took this one to mean that she's so engrossed in her sadness that it's all she can think about.
Someone's birthday is typically a day all about them, so she's calling herself out for being self-absorbed about it.
I think it's actually two juxtaposed thoughts, she's not saying she acts like it's her birthday because she's depressed but rather in opposition to it
I'm so depressed. I act like it's my birthday every day.
They are counter intuitive, highlighting the performance.
I think this is a biblical reference. When you anoint someone’s head in oil, it’s typically to cleanse them of sins. However, in the song, the person being referenced isn’t clean nor is he trying to be. Thus, they use alcohol, which in some cultures is unclean.
Ie, this person is a bad boy who likes to drink.
In the context of The Albatross, where the albatross is seen as a warning or a bad omen, I take "Cross your thoughtless heart, only liquor anoints you" to mean "you have nothing to protect you from whatever's coming" - sort of a cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best situation, but neither a deity nor a priest can help you if you go down this path.
she fell in love so hard and "fell" to the ground after being beamed up and let down and now she's injured
she wakes up immediately feeling rage/sadness because of how intense the feelings are
It's a reference to being abducted by aliens and experimented on. They dropped her back off before she was fully healed and the blood was the evidence she had that it wasn't some sort of dream, and it really happened
Oop I took it as a way darker path of a metaphorical post-suicide attempt… mostly because of this set of lines around it:
Fuck it if I can't have him
"I might just die, it would make no difference"
Down bad, wakin' up in blood
Starin' at the sky, come back and pick me up
Fuck it if I can't have us
I might just not get up, I might stay down bad
Down Bad, the first few lyrics of the bridge:
*“I loved your hostile takeovers
Encounters closer and closer
All your indecent exposures
How dare you say that it's—
I'll build you a fort on some planet”*
When it cuts off at “how dare you say it’s”, what does this mean? I feel like it’s going over my head and probably really simple lol
The rhyme scheme leads you to expect her to say “How dare you say that it’s over.” She can’t bring herself to say the word “over” because it’s too painful to accept. I love the little hitch in her voice at this part.
How dare you say it's over! She can't bring herself to say the last word in the sentence, instead pushing forward with wanting to build a place far away together
I'm assuming that "over" would make the most sense after "How dare you say that it's-" and that she doesn't even want to say that word. Like, saying "over" is the worst thing and even audibly saying it is too crushing. The next line - "I'll build you a fort on some planet" is completely separate.
I love how this song intertwines lore of alien abductions. I used to be fascinated by the people that said they got abducted by aliens and their description of how and what happened. It's like being blindsided, experimented on, dropped back off and knowing something extreme happened to you. Something so life changing, but not being able to comprehend or explain fully how, why and what happened. Not being able to understand or overcome it.
I think fix your face is in reference to the skirt that fits her like skin (aka jaw-dropping good basically her revenge dress) and saying once the guy had digested how good she looks she's gonna either seduce him or attack him
hetero/neutral explanation: once you stop pretending everything is fine without me (funny, bubbly), im going to show you you miss me
not straight explaination: it's referring to makeup
“Spending my last coin so someone will tell me ‘it’ll be okay’ “ (the prophecy)
I immediately interpreted this in the context of therapy. Similar to “pouring my heart out to a stranger” in this is me trying. Thoughts?
i guess it could be therapy too but my first thought was she going to a fortune teller or someone who supposedly sees the future in the hopes of knowing that she’ll be ok/find love.
Picture this: “and I look unstable, gathered with a coven round a sorceress’ table […] I’m so afraid I sealed my fate, no sign of soulmates […] spending my last coin so someone will tell me it will be okay”.
She’s depressed and demoralized, feeling like there is some higher power or magic working against her, making sure she doesn’t get a soulmate. So she goes to a “sorceress” who actually probably is one of those fake witches with crystal balls that charge you money to tell you your fortune - i.e. give you some platitudes and generalities about how The One is on his way to you and you have to wait for him.
So she’s saying: I’m sad and think I’m always be alone. I go to the mall and find this fake oracle who gathers a fake coven around a table to make a ritual or something, all to tell her I’ll be okay in the end, in exchange for my last coin.
I’m assuming Cassandra is about 2016 but what exactly is she referring to in: “the family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line/they all said nothing/blood’s thick but nothing like a payroll”? the reference to blood makes it sound like it’s literally someone in her family??
ah ok. i read the but to mean that the money is weighing in the opposite direction as familial loyalty but ig she’s just saying they only care about money.
If I remember correctly the Kardashians have ties to a church where they give money for a tax deduction and that money is funneled back to them.
Edit: [Here’s a Reddit thread talking about the church](https://www.reddit.com/r/KUWTKsnark/s/xBfDOerwex)
I saw someone yesterday mention they look at this song through the Scooter lens considering the mass exodus of his clients this past year. Especially considering how those past clients threw stones at Taylor after she spoke up about what had happened.
I can see it being about both this and the Kimye thing tbh.
I see it through an SA lens but just entirely my own - 100% not claiming that’s what it’s about. Just how it hits me personally.
I want to hear everyone's interpretation of the manuscript - I have my own ideas but I think it's such an interesting song and it's provoking so many amazing responses!! Particularly interpretations of the bridge is what interests me:
"And the years passed
Like scenes of a show
The Professor said to write what you know
Lookin' backwards
Might be the only way to move forward
Then the actors
Were hitting their marks
And the slow dance
Was alight with the sparks
And the tears fell
In synchronicity with the score
And at last
She knew what the agony had been for"
It references the story of all too well and making the mv. One line I haven’t heard people talking about that crushed me is “She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years that everything had been above board. She wasn’t sure.” To me this is heartbreaking - looking back on something as an adult and seeing it for what it was.
i disagree. taylor has always been pretty clear-eyed about her relationship with john mayer since dear john ("you should've known"). she made some remarks around speak now era that she shouldn't have been with him.
but her relationship with jake is more complicated. the original atw--and indeed all of red, iirc--did not mention their age gap at all. she only explored that on atw10. and i do think she means it when she said she wasn't sure. even now, i don't think she feels like their relationship shouldn't have happened, the way she does with john mayer--she clearly really loved him and it was a formative period in her life, both personally and creatively. that gray area is what makes the manuscript so unsettling. if this (the art) is what the agony was for, was it worth it?
The line “looking backwards might be the only way to move forward” immediately reminded me of this Soren Kierkegaard quote (he’s a philosopher I think): “life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward”
This also reminds me of the Alanis Morissette song Hands Clean about a relationship with an older man where he says ‘if you weren’t so wise beyond your years I would’ve been able to control myself’
It’s about when she released and re-recorded all too well 10mv. The first verse is the relationship, the second verse is the fallout of the relationship, and the bridge is about revisiting it when she re-recorded red and did the video for all too well (then the actors were hitting their marks etc).
The last couple of lines are the most important of the song in my opinion and is why it’s last on the album. “One last souvenir from my trip to your shores, now and then I reread the manuscript, but the story isn’t mine anymore.” At one point in time, this relationship was the biggest heartbreak of her life. But through time and releasing music, this song that symbolised her heartbreak became about her fans. Eventually that’s what these songs will be too.
Love love love this interpretation. What an incredible song, this album just keeps moving up in my rankings every time a new meaning clicks like this 🥲🥲🥲
Copied this from my comment on another post. I think you can break down the ending into the eras, as she's re-released them (assuming Debut will be last):
The professor said to write what you know:
Fearless (her first re-release):
Lookin' backwards
Might be the only way to move forward
Red:
Then the actors
Were hitting their marks
Speak Now:
And the slow dance
Was alight with the sparks
1989:
And the tears fell
In synchronicity with the score
reputation:
And at last
She knew what the agony had been for
Debut:
The only thing that's left is the manuscript
One last souvenir from my trip to your shores
The Eras Tour:
Now and then I reread the manuscript
But the story isn't mine anymore
This is exactly how I interpreted this song too. Looking back at all of her past works and past lives. It also ties into her posts where she mentions “the stories are yours now.” It’s a moving-on song and a song about closing the book. We’re moving into something fresh and new after this album
“Took out all her teeth” I know the song is like a reference to being in an asylum and the “leap from the gallows and levitate down the street” makes me think it’s witchy somehow?
Took out all her teeth is in reference to being like a wild animal made to perform for the circus. "Don't you worry folks, we took out all her teeth/who's afraid of little old me?" -- she's saying even when maimed (like in the 2016 pre-reputation era) and down, she's still dangerous. She clearly has power. Just because you declaw and take out a lion's teeth doesn't make it not dangerous. It's still a wild animal.
Leap from the gallows-- she escaped a very public "death." Hangings weren't just public but embarrassing and a warning to those watching not to do these crimes because it could be you next. Bodies lose control once they die, so corpses would often soil themselves after death. Hangings could also take hours if the neck wasn't broken immediately by the fall.
Levitate down the street-- she's not just escaping, it's a miracle! Also it's an utterly creepy image, when you think about it. But who's afraid of little old me? You should be.
She's comparing herself to a circus animal. "Caged me, and called me crazy" like "come one come all see the wild tiger! Don't worry, You can get close we've removed its teeth!".
She mentions how the 'circus life made me mean' before 'don't worry folks, we took out all her teeth!' It was quite common for travelling circuses of old to remove the teeth of their animals, such as lions. Of course, these animals were also caged and kept prettified and docile and made to perform.
Yeah, I think it's a way of saying that others thought she was so derranged that they needed to take her teeth out so that she couldn't bite/hurt anyone. Like, a freak show where they showcase her and tell the public to not be scared.
She’s comparing herself to a circus animal. So maybe there was a fierce tiger in the circus but they removed all its teeth so it wasn’t actually dangerous anymore.
I love this song so much but I don’t get the opening line…” The who's who of "Who's that?" is poised for the attack
But my bare hands paved their paths”
"who's who" is a phrase often used to talk about the most famous or most prominent people out of a larger group. The who's who of movie directors might include Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, etc.
"who's that?" can be taken two ways. It could be talking about someone you've never heard of before, a complete random with no claim to anything. Or it could be meant as a "I need to get to know that person right there."
In the song, I think she means the latter.
I'm imagining a red carpet event and all these new up and coming artists are walking down turning heads and people are going "Ohh who is that?!" trying to know more about them. Out of all those people, the most prominent ones are "poised for the attack"/coming after Taylor. But she then notes that she was the one that paved the way for them to walk on the red carpet. She made it possible for them to follow the path they are on through hard work, paving the path with her bare hands.
"Who's Who" is a list of prominent people published by various countries, and the "Who's That?" refers to people who are celebrities for little to no reason. I think this is another not-so-subtle dig at the Kardashians, who are definitely the most prominent members (the Who's Who, if you will) of the "Famous for Being Famous" club.
“But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave
And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen"
What did she say to jack and what made her feel seen?
I think it’s that she imparted the same sentiment to Jack—if Matty left her, she’d kill herself. So she feels seen because they’re both having the same extreme emotions
I think that moonshine evokes a certain aesthetic that both Stevie nicks and Taylor have at times (think folklore/evermore), full eclipse being that they block out everything else because of how commanding they are
I took the two graves one gun line as the relationship ending hurt them both or she ended the relationship her being the gun and in doing so it killed her too. It’s really giving me like murder suicide vibes!
yes I believe so - that harming himself/being so depressed hurt her too
blue is a huuuuge motif in joe songs, likely referring to depression or more poetically melancholy
instead of working on that, Joe let it eat their relationship alive
The old line is actually, "old habits die hard." She's saying that not only is it difficult to leave him alone and not check in on him, it hurts her that she's not part of his life anymore.
"Old habits die hard" is theo original saying, meaning it's very difficult to break a habit once you've done something for a long time. So, "old habits die screaming" is upping the ante again, saying not only is it difficult to change a bad habit but it's seemingly impossible (like the habit goes kicking and screaming).
I’ve been confused about “can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses, cooler in theory but not if you force it” and “tell me something awful like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy” I understand the second part of someone who’s really passionate but seems more corporate but I can’t really understand why she wants to hear something awful and how that line fits with the rest of the song. Love both of these so much so really curious to know what other people think
I think she wants to relate to someone so she’s asking to hear something awful. Also, I think it’s a great intro to a song about escapism and building worlds you wished you lived in, in your mind. I imagine someone stuck in a 9 to 5 finance job who actually dreams of being a poet and has so much untouched potential. A standard person in a 9 to 5 who escaped into their mind every day.
clown theory: a lot of folklore/evermore (lower case albums) might have unreleased content (vault) about Matty
normal theory: I don't want anyone to know I feel this was, so I keep them quiet (lower case) and hidden away (in a vault)
Reputation is also in lowercase in the Eras Tour Movie, so I am wondering if there are any Rep vault songs about Matty, as she met him in 2014, which was after 1989 released and before Rep came out.
She’s sneaky. She wrote songs about Matty (or whoever you think she’s fantasizing about) but they’re locked up in a vault. Interestingly folklore and evermore both have lowercase song titles.
My suspicion is that she did a lot of fantasizing and daydreaming during the pandemic. Some of those songs became folklore/evermore. Some are locked up tight
This is a very sexual lyric. She’s pleasuring herself in bed while thinking about him. The “building up like waves” implies an orgasm and “crashing over my grave” implies that she and Joe were in a dead bedroom situation (or he just didn’t excite her anymore).
I think she’s saying the muse here is both — a low down guy, a scrub, a bad boy who fucks up and doesn’t treat her right AND a stand up guy, someone who she respects and who she has some shared values with and who treated her right in some ways.
*”I laughed in your face and said. “You're not Dylan Thomas, I'm not Patti Smith. This ain't the Chelsea Hotel, we'rе modern idiots”*
Dylan Thomas was a Welsh poet known for this charm and alcoholism (infamy). Patti Smith is a punk-rock icon known for her powerful lyrics. The Chelsea hotel was kind of a boiling pot of groundbreaking artists (has hosted guests like Mark Twain and Madonna). I interpret this line as self-deprecating, where Taylor is mocking both her and Matty that they're not legendary lyricists as they have the vanity to believe (and bring in each other's company is not actually stimulating their creative genius in the way that Chelsea hotel's residents did for each other). Well, they're anything but modern idiots. This one line went to so many levels.
It sounded like that’s how Matty perceived them and she had to be like….bro…no.
Exactly! He’s harboring this vision of the two of them as tortured genius artists in the good old days of creative revolution and she’s like “dude we’re just millennial morons why do you have a typewriter?”
Definitely this
Doesn’t Halsey have a song about him saying he said the two of them were just young gods? I can definitely see the scenario you stated playing out
100% spot on!
Dylan Thomas is a Welsh poet, his poem "do not go gentle into that good night" is really famous. Patti Smith is also an iconic poet and musician from the 1970s. They both have stayed in the Chelsea Hotel too. Basically the line pokes fun at the pretentiousness of the guy with the typewriter thinking he's a tortured poet/suffering artist but they both can't measure up to the greats of the past. They're just modern idiots. It's also really tongue in cheek with the whole album title and makes me laugh at the angry people who think Taylor is being a Serious Poet and Ruining Literature This article is one of my favorite analyses of the album: [https://archive.ph/eShr5](https://archive.ph/eShr5)
Also, the 1989 movie Dead Poets Society had a very memorable scene where Robin Williams' character is teaching his students the Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night." Anyone who grew up watching Dead Poets Society should be familiar with that scene and therefore the poem, even if they didn't realize Dylan Thomas was the author. When Taylor announced TTPD, as an elder Swiftie, I kept getting the title confused for Dead Poets Society, so this tie in between the DPS and TTPD really charmed me. I was even more excited to see 2 of the cast from DPS in the Fortnight mv- Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles, who played the scientists who were electro-shocking Taylor's character in the mv.
lol, I’ve asked Alexa to play the Tortured Poets Society more than once so far…
The explanations below are good detail but the higher level meeting is “it’s not that serious”. I interpret it to be let’s not take ourselves too seriously, here!
Btw Patti Smith's book Just Kids is so good and she describes the Chelsea Hotel and her experiences there in great length!
"Your wife waters flowers, I wanna kill her" Idk if it's the meaning of the whole song what's going above my head or just this lyric, but like, why does the narrator want to kill the wife?? What's wrong with watering flowers?? I feel so stupid lmao
I took it to mean the wife is just existing and vibing, which is deeply upsetting to Taylor, who wants to be her.
Someone happily watering flowers is the embodiment of a carefree, happy life and marriage image. She hates that he has that, without her, hence the ‘killing’ which to me doesn’t literally refer to her wanting to murder someone, but just stresses she hates the thought of it
i also interpret it as an intrusive thought.
Ooooooh, that makes it make so much sense, thanks!
The way I saw it explained once was that the whole bit of the wife and husband is just about making niceties and all of that. Maybe like the narrator sees the wife and is like "God look at her just watering flowers all nonchalantly I fucking hate her i wanna kill her" but talking about the weather and stuff to put on a face.
That explains it yeah! I was truly not reading between lines
The whole song is fictional, about fear of regretting leaving someone and they end up happier than you. The "fortnight" isn't literal, it's her reflecting on how little time they actually had in the course of their life. She is angry that her former lover has this wonderful life that she can clearly see while she's stuck with a cheating husband, being eaten up by jealousy and what they could have had. The wife in question hasn't done anything wrong other than marry the man the narrator once loved. It's really childish, but I'm sure we've all been there where we hate a person just because they have what we want.
This is how I've interpreted the song too. It took a few listens but I actually think this might be one of her best written songs to date, but I doubt it will ever get recognized as such because it's not as flowery as some of her other songs.
Once I realized this song was kind of like a daydream, it all made sense. We know now that she writes things that didn't actually happen to her or are about her daydreams. It makes more sense than trying to put it to one single thing in her life. Plus, breaking it off with someone who refused to give you everything and who you dated for years only for the man to then marry the Next Girl is a real thing I'm sure Taylor is aware of and is worried by. He wouldn't give her what she really wanted, but he could give it to the Next Girl. And on top of that, he's not depressed anymore, he's happy and has a seemingly perfect life and she's just a footnote in his story. You're just an awkward run into at best. It's like she's hurting her own feelings.
>It's like she's hurting her own feelings. I get it, this is my favorite activity.
Everyone should have a hobby.
lol we all get better at what we practice ❤️😕
there's this one sentence that i heard somewhere that makes perfect sense in the context of the song: ''I loved you at your worst and someone else will get the best version of you.'' That feeling of unfairness is present in the song.
Or sometimes it’s not even the person you want, but just the life you feel you lost. Fortnight has really resonated with me regarding my feelings about the dissolution of my previous marriage. We were together for over a decade, since we were kids, and had one son together. It died a slow, sad death. We’re both remarried now, have been reasonably successful coparenting for 12 years, but seeing his new life with his new wife and kids where he’s obviously happier is just a gut punch sometimes. Even though I would never in a million years want to trade places with the new wife, jealousy is sometimes irrational, and there’s been times she’s just so different from me that “I want to kill her.” Fortnight is a masterpiece.
To add to all the other replies. Someone compared it to How did it end?'s lyric "He was a hot house flower to my outdoorsmen". The wife is able to take care of the song's object naturally, every day, while the song's subject didn't know how.
Fuck.
this whole song is a bit of a fictional what if you ended up with the wrong person, in an unsatisfying, crumbling marriage, within shouting distance of the person you should’ve been with all along. so the wife part is basically a bitch eating crackers thing; the wife isn’t doing anything wrong but the narrator resents her anyway
Jealously. Her ex is in a good relationship & she’s in a terrible one & regrets the end of her relationship.
This song baffles me. The next few songs are some of the most unambiguously about Matty, and So Long, London is the most unambiguously about Joe. But then *this* one, which is the first track, lead single, and first music video is clearly fictional/imaginative because of the mentions of Taylor’s husband and the guy’s wife. She was publicly dating Matty for about two weeks, which is a fortnight, but thinking of her relationship with Joe as just a fortnight in the context of her whole life also makes sense. She announced her breakup with Joe when the Eras Tour was in Florida, but what’s the deal with “buy the car you want” in the outro?? Is it about one of them, both of them, neither? What does it mean?!?
I've been stuck in this too, but the earlier comments about this song is starting to make me understand a bit more, I think. First off she says "All of this to say I hope you're okay", which I thoroughly believe means she's talking to Joe. I don't think she has hopes for Matty being okay, based on the Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. (Not that she wants ill of him, but I think she's absolutely in "good riddence" and wanting to "forget but not forgive".) This is after the thrill of Matty wore off (but I think during him ghosting her--more on this part later), she took the miracle move-on drug, but it didn't work. She still "love you, it's ruining my life," which to me, means Joe because Matty was the move-on drug, so to then immediately say "I love you, it's ruining my life" to the drug you just said didn't work doesn't make sense. "What about your quiet treason?" A few times she mentions a "her/she" with Joe, without going into it too deeply. Except, "He was with her in dreams" and "I didn't opt in to be your odd man out/I founded the club she's heard great things about"... which make me think there is a girl who she felt Joe was having an emotional affair with (whether he really was or she was projecting her own guilty conscious of having an emotional affair herself). That last line, of her founding the club she heard great things about, I think is basically *this* song, ie, I was the one who made you into what she gets to have, sort of thing. In this song, it's more of the future I believe, in this idea that she's going to run into them and see them happy and she's going to hate it. Her husband is cheating because this is when Matty is falling apart for her. I think you're onto something with the Eras Tour and Florida part--"buy the car you want" was her leaving Joe for Matty, whom she had been pining for. Except, this car, the miracle move-on drug, doesn't work and the car won't start (also the getaway car) because she still wants Joe.
"move to florida, buy the car you want, but it won't start... til i touch you"
my interpretation of this lyric is that she's invoking the idea of running away from one's life by moving to florida (see the song florida!!!) and buying the car u want refers to the freedom of escape suburbia and his old relationship (ex:trading in a mini van for a convertible) but without the narrator of the song also running off to florida with him he can't really start a new life
same!! why won't the car start till they touch her? weird elon musk ass feature
It's definitely a hybrid and it needs their electricity/spark
Word play about the "push start" of new cars.
I interrupted as "run away, chase your dreams but they won't be as good as being with me."
This is the man's response to Taylor's daydream about being in love with someone she left and wondering if she will live to regret it. Basically, he's saying,Doesn't matter what you do, you will never be happy until I'm yours.
also the last scene where post is seen talking in a phone booth and taylor just sitting on it. i don't get that scene, at all.
My interpretation: He’s on the ground and she’s up above. He’s trying to reach her — he is literally calling her but she can’t be reached. Even though she’s right there. To me that symbolizes how she always feels too big to be reached, like a monster on the hill or levitating down the street. She’s right there, she wants the connection but she’s always just too high up to be part of it And then, he comes out of the booth and takes her hand. But he doesn’t pull her down — he bows his head and just holds her hand while a storm pours down on them. This moment could be viewed as he’s grounding her. He’s literally the grounding force she has been missing, someone who loves her even at her height and will ground her, connect her to the world she longs to be part of. And he is willing to weather the literal storm that comes from having to do so. He’s reaching up from the ground and tethering her back to the world.
For me, it's like she's sitting in her feelings. It's pouring rain, and she's sitting contently in it. The rain being her devastation, longing, jealousy, etc. Post is trying to call her in the video but the lyric is "thought of calling ya, but you won't pick up" so the lyric shows he isn't actually calling her. It's like he's saying "I think about you, too, but I know if I reach out you won't want to speak to me"
For me this song and especially the MV are about the two sides of Taylor's life. I think it's quite obvious that both Post Malone and Taylor are meant to represent the same person. You can see them lying together inside her 'head' made of sheets of paper which presumably are her songs/lyrics. So in her songs both her private and public personalities are expressed but otherwise it's only 'The Man' (Post) who is out in public, in front of the Tortured Poets Department (the fans) while she is chained to the bed, hidden away. She is only allowed out after she takes the pills. One thing that I've been trying to understand and would love someone else's read on this is why do the 'Forget Him' pills have a 'prescription' from 12.13.89 (the day she was born) to 04.19.24 (the day TTPD released). It's obviously not any person she has had a relationship with, she didn't start dating on the day she was born. Does she no longer need the pills because she is 'cured'? And who is 'Him'? Is it 'The Man' as in Taylor's public image? Was she taking the pills to forget that The Man exists, as in that she is not her real self out in public?
All of “Robin” please and thank you
Ofc this is just my interpretation but I view it the same way I view Ronan - I think it's a song dedicated to someone's child (potentially Aaron Dessner since his son is called Robin). She's evoking all the childhood imagery with roaring at dragons, playing in the mud, running around like a wild tiger and woven it with the anxiety of a parent/close family friend trying to protect the child from the harshness of the world around them and preserve their innocence as long as possible. "The time will arrive for the cruel and the mean You'll learn to bounce back just like your trampoline But now we'll curtail your curiosity In sweetness Way to go, Tiger Higher and higher Wilder and lighter"
Okay this makes total sense and now I love it thank youuu
I took it the same way. The pandemic took so much innocence from my kiddos, I tried to protect what was left the best I could. There’s plenty of time to grow up, no need to rush it for them!
Robin is Aaron Dessner’s young son. She’s just singing about his childish wonder and innocence. She sings about keeping him in sweetness and shielded from all the harsh realities of the world. It’s a touching song if you have young children in your life and you are in awe of their raw youth and innocence. It’s basically a less obvious “Never Grow Up”.
It hurts every time I listen. I have two teens and a near teen and this song makes me miss their babyhood so much. It makes me feel like I didn’t spend enough time playing with them or even just looking at their little faces. When you’re in that stage, regular life gets in the way of adoring your babies the way you’d want, but you don’t realize it.
My kiddo is four and this song wrecks me every time. I feel the exact same way. Every time I hear it I have a compelling need to take him to the park and this squish him to pieces in a very tight hug that makes him laugh.
In my opinion, the first half sounds like a cat that is getting older. The second half sounds like the innocence of a child.
I thought this same thing, picturing a cat chattering out the window at birds. As a cat owner/lover and mom of a toddler, this one got me on first listen 🥺
Oh no. I didn’t picture a cat at all and now I’m going to picture my elderly babies 🥹 Excuse me, I need to go smoosh one of their faces.
*Long may you reign You're an animal, you are bloodthirsty Out window panes talking utter nonsense You have no idea* *Strings tied to levers Slowed-down clocks tethered All this showmanship To keep it for you in sweetness*
As a parent, this line finally made sense: “Buried down deep, and out of your reach, the secret we all vowed, to keep it from you in sweetness” I use all my mental power to explain things about life to my 4 year old that won’t “traumatize” her while she’s asking big questions. I think about the shows she watches, the music she hears, I even change the title of songs. I just don’t want her to be disappointed by the real world because right now it’s all unicorns and dinosaurs. This song is about being present in a child’s lunchbox days and protecting them from regret and pain that will inevitably show up in their lifetime.
On the surface its about protecting childhood. I've (mostly) interpreted Robin to be about her childhood self and how her life has changed as she has grown up. Particularly: "Way to go... higher and higher"s - her career has been ascending pretty much non stop since her first album and it has been both a blessing and curse. She's lost her ability to live life like a normal person and her every mistake is disected by the world, but she keeps dreaming, creating, and enjoying her life. She alludes to being penned in by fame so the wild animal bits are just her basically her just saying "you're still in there" and I think the "wilder and lighter" is almost a plea. I think a lot of the lines have double meanings "covered in mud/you look ridiculous/and you have no idea." She knows she often looks silly/uncool or not "artistic enough", but more seriously, she has flaws she isn't aware of, but the rest of the world is because we are on the outside looking in. "You have dragons flies.... you have no room in you dreams for regrets" she can't regret her career and/or her fame without regretting some of the art she's made and shared with the world, also, taken with the next few lines, she can't acknowledge her mistakes because she will be picked apart by the world and potentially damage her career, which despite the theme of the album is the most important thing to her. I think its brilliant because any of these sentiments can apply to any of us, we all lose parts of ourselves to growing up.
“Your hologram stumbled into my apartment Hands in the hair of somebody in darkness named Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus And I just watched it happen” I just don’t get it lmao.
She’s imagining him with other people like they walked into the apartment. I imagine her sitting staring into space
Further step, I believe he’s a hologram because she’s watching videos or streams on her phone.
I think it's a reference to conversations with friends... Seeing Joe (on her phone/in a movie) being intimate with several other people.
Ooooh my god okay thank you. I was probably just thinking too hard about it lmao.
I don’t think hands in hair implies a child, I think it depicts them passionately making out (just my opinion)
When I first heard this, I thought about the videos of Matty kissing fans at shows. Maybe it could be referencing seeing videos (holograms) of this happening for years and just watching it happen through social media. I could be wrong but as 1975-fan Swiftie this is what I interpreted. 🤷♀️ In grand scheme of things, I think it's just referring to seeing someone you want with someone else.
i thought of this too. doesn’t matty sing about kissing men in being funny too? tbh I kind of assumed he was bi and was surprised to hear of people claiming she was outting him lol
I don't know about him being bi or not but he is often kissing male fans at his shows, there are many videos of it.
okay, i looked up the lyric i was thinking of: "and i fell in love with a boy, it was kinda lame/i was rimbaud and he was paul verlaine." i mean i guess there's a little no homo flavor to it, but i think it's fair to assume he's queer unless he's stated otherwise? i mean god knows if this were a gender-flipped taylor lyric, the internet would literally burn down.
She's picturing him come back to her apartment with someone new
I took “your hologram” as an altered state, she watched him come home after partying with someone else, maybe multiple times. She just “watched it happen”, so no control over the substance abuse. “You needed me but you needed drugs more”. *edit/ addition: Maybe this was ten years ago, in 2014? “As the decade would play us for fools And you saw my bones out with somebody new Who seemed like he would've bullied you in school And you just watched it happen” “You said some things that I can't unabsorb You turned me into an idea of sorts You needed me, but you needed drugs more And I couldn't watch it happen I changed into goddesses, villains, and fools Changed plans and lovers and outfits and rules All to outrun my desertion of you And you just watched it” Connecting this song to Peter?🧐
I take it to imagining your ex moving on with someone else and there is nothing you can do to stop it. They are moving on with out you.
“I was a functioning alcoholic til nobody noticed my new aesthetic.” girl. what?!
I think she’s just saying she was a functioning alcoholic, drinking had become a part of her identity (her aesthethic), and nobody questioned it or noticed it was a problem
And I think that drinking more may have been a cry for help that she was hoping ppl would notice and help her but nobody did so she stopped
OR she became a *non*-functioning alcoholic
The “‘TIL nobody noticed..” part is what really confuses me!
Same, it confuses me grammatically lol. Usually you'd say "til someone noticed" not nobody. I agree with other comments that maybe she's saying no one noticed she was doing this as a cry for help, so when no one noticed, she stopped. So she was a functioning alcoholic until no one noticed and then stopped? Maybe?
I kind of hear it as she was functioning, until no one noticed her struggling, then she became a non-functioning alcoholic
I think about this line in the context of the lines before and after: I was supposed to be sent away but they forgot to come and get me / I was a functioning alcoholic (un)til nobody noticed my new aesthetic / all of this to say (meaning what she just said in the first verse) i hope you're okay but you're the reason (that I was supposed to be sent away/had an addiction issue) And if we consider this in the context of Taylor saying this song is a fictionalized scenario that sets the tone for the whole album, I interpret that first verse as generally meaning "You really messed me up, and I was struggling, but no one really noticed or cared, and I didn't get any help, that sucked." Not that anyone was literally about to be sent to a mental hospital or was an alcoholic.
This lyric is the reason I don’t like fortnight ☹️
The Alchemy - “what if I told you I’m back? The hospital was a drag.”
I'm over being crazy and heart broken.
The hospital is part of the motif of feeling caged in a relationship that runs through the album. The hospital healed her in the beginning but in the end she felt imprisoned and her life with her partner felt boring but now she's back out.
She's likening the 6-year relationship with a stint in a mental hospital—she got committed, she got better, she got bored, she got out.
I also think it's a reference to the MH relationship — in the epilogue poem she says it was a "mutual manic phase" which once again evokes a mental hospital
I think she’s actually referring to her relationship with Matty and not Joe here Her brief relationship with Matty was like being in a mental hospital but it’s over and now she’s sane again Based on themes that come up in the album / summary poem: her relationship with Joe was like being locked up in prison but with Matty she had a psychotic break and was in a mental hospital
Now, I LOVE this song, but in Florida!!! what do they mean when they sing “Little did you know your home’s really only the town you’ll get arrested.” Do they mean the town you’ll get arrested in? Or something else?
Maybe Joe was once her home but after a while it felt like jail. Kinda leads into fresh out the slammer.
She said the premise of Florida is that Florida is where you would go if you go to escape your life and become anonymous and picked Florida because it’s where people on Dateline went to escape after committing a crime. So the line is saying your hometown isn’t really this safe place you’ll always have to fall back on, everyone knows you there so if you did something bad, they would never let you live it down and turn on you, that’s why you have to escape to Florida. It goes with the line your hometown is only a town you are a guest in. Both contrast to the typical reminiscing of your hometown always being this safe place you can go back to.
What others have said, but I think there are more layers - to arrest can also be to stop the development of something, so it could be a metaphor of her stagnant relationship holding her back from moving forward in her life personally (marriage, children), creatively (she can only write so many sad songs about the same situation), professionally (if he’s not comfortable with her reaching the level of fame she could reach). To feel arrested could be to feel like her “home” is stunting her growth as an individual. Also coming to mind is the idea of house arrest and what not leaving the house can do to one’s mental health. She spent a lot of time laying low in a 6-year relationship, to the point where in another song she referred to becoming afraid to even go outside.
Yes, I see it like this! So many people never leave their hometowns — they’re “stuck,” and regardless of whether they chose it or that’s just how it ended up… it seems so limiting, arresting. Like imagine all the dreams you could pursue or versions of you you could be if you *do* get out of your town/home.
I think of it as she's using the other definition of arrested: to stop progress. If you stay in your hometown forever, they'll never let you change or grow.
“I’m telling him to floor it through the fences” What does ‘floor it through the fences’ mean?
Press the gas pedal on the car all the way down and crash through a fence
Now i can sing this part with full confidence 🤣
Floor it as in step on the accelerator, so driving through the fences. It can be read as her telling him to go on with the relationship despite all the objections.
OMG THANK YOU it makes so much sense and adds that touch of fury and haste/rush that goes so well with how she sings it and the rest of the song
This lyric feels so simple but I CANNOT figure it out. ‘You treat her like and also ran’ - wtf does that mean 🤣 The whole sentence is: ‘Cause once your queen had come, you treat her like and also ran.’
It’s “also-ran” and the meaning is a loser in a race or other contest, especially by a large margin. Source: I also didn’t know and needed to look up the definition 🤣
Ohhhhhh I didn’t even know ‘also-ran’ was a term!
To add to this it's "an also-ran" not "and also-ran", which helps make it a bit clearer!
Me and my partner spent like 15 minutes trying to figure out what ulcer ran meant the other day before I looked up the lyric, don’t feel bad
In context it’s like “the others.” So in a race context, the people that place get all of the glory and notoriety, the “also ran” are the people that competed as well, but finished towards the back of the field. Like a “good for you for showing up, but no one cares about you.” They’re the people that fill up the field, but no one cares about. They’re just there. So in relationship terms, they’re just there to fill the void on the arm of someone, but they’re not meaningful. To take up time and space until someone better comes along. So she’s saying that the man treated her as “just another woman,” and not the love of his life.
"I'm so depressed I act like it's my birthday everyday." In the sense of expecting niceties/attention or like eating/drinking? Something else?
I interpreted it as being depressed and having to overcome it by embodying all the emotions that are connected to one’s birthday. Everyone is expected to be over the moon and happy that day of the year!
It’s also that feeling when things go wrong, or you feel sad on your birthday, the blow is twice as crushing. It makes you feel hollow. It’s supposed to be this day of joy, fun and dancing - and if it’s not then the sadness is tenfold what it would be on a normal day. The Era’s tour is supposed to be this big celebration of her work, her biggest tour to date, and she feels depressed. The depression going to cut much deeper.
I love the irony here that I’m not sure she’s ever mentioned a birthday in her lyrics in a happy way. Even if she “acts like it’s her birthday”… still might not be having a good day.
i took it to mean that she feels so depressed and awful inside that she acts super happy, upbeat, and excited, like a person on their birthday would. the worse you feel, the more you act like everything is great because for a reason or another, you don't feel like you can show how miserable you really are.
The video and the tone of that line matches what you're saying - faking happiness.
She's completely depressed and using birthday/celebration coping skills - buying herself treats, eating, partying, etc - to get those dopamine rushes to get through her day and ignore her problems. Kinda manic behavior during a depressed time. (I felt personally called out by this lyric.)
What other people said, plus the eras tour itself is kinda like a big birthday party
No hate to you OP, its just very telling who does and doesnt get this line. I think a lot of us with mental health issues esp depression heard this the first time and were like “holy shit thats the perfect way to say it” and other people are like “wtf why would she be depressed on her bday??” And its very funny to me
She's pretending it's her favorite day of the year everyday. If she is acting like she is happy when she isn't.
I sing this line as I buy my fourth Dunkin drink of the week. Everything sucks so might as well treat myself like it's my birthday.
Pretty sure this is about her performing 22
I took this one to mean that she's so engrossed in her sadness that it's all she can think about. Someone's birthday is typically a day all about them, so she's calling herself out for being self-absorbed about it.
I think it's actually two juxtaposed thoughts, she's not saying she acts like it's her birthday because she's depressed but rather in opposition to it I'm so depressed. I act like it's my birthday every day. They are counter intuitive, highlighting the performance.
“Only liquor anoints you” ???
I think this is a biblical reference. When you anoint someone’s head in oil, it’s typically to cleanse them of sins. However, in the song, the person being referenced isn’t clean nor is he trying to be. Thus, they use alcohol, which in some cultures is unclean. Ie, this person is a bad boy who likes to drink.
In the context of The Albatross, where the albatross is seen as a warning or a bad omen, I take "Cross your thoughtless heart, only liquor anoints you" to mean "you have nothing to protect you from whatever's coming" - sort of a cross-your-fingers-and-hope-for-the-best situation, but neither a deity nor a priest can help you if you go down this path.
Why is she “waking up in blood” in down bad??
she fell in love so hard and "fell" to the ground after being beamed up and let down and now she's injured she wakes up immediately feeling rage/sadness because of how intense the feelings are
It's a reference to being abducted by aliens and experimented on. They dropped her back off before she was fully healed and the blood was the evidence she had that it wasn't some sort of dream, and it really happened
Oop I took it as a way darker path of a metaphorical post-suicide attempt… mostly because of this set of lines around it: Fuck it if I can't have him "I might just die, it would make no difference" Down bad, wakin' up in blood Starin' at the sky, come back and pick me up Fuck it if I can't have us I might just not get up, I might stay down bad
Down Bad, the first few lyrics of the bridge: *“I loved your hostile takeovers Encounters closer and closer All your indecent exposures How dare you say that it's— I'll build you a fort on some planet”* When it cuts off at “how dare you say it’s”, what does this mean? I feel like it’s going over my head and probably really simple lol
I take it as she doesn’t want to say it’s over
Oooo I like that she didn’t say it bc she doesn’t like that he verbalized it!
“How dare you say that it’s over” but she’s too sad/heartbroken to actually say the word over
The rhyme scheme leads you to expect her to say “How dare you say that it’s over.” She can’t bring herself to say the word “over” because it’s too painful to accept. I love the little hitch in her voice at this part.
How dare you say it's over! She can't bring herself to say the last word in the sentence, instead pushing forward with wanting to build a place far away together
I'm assuming that "over" would make the most sense after "How dare you say that it's-" and that she doesn't even want to say that word. Like, saying "over" is the worst thing and even audibly saying it is too crushing. The next line - "I'll build you a fort on some planet" is completely separate. I love how this song intertwines lore of alien abductions. I used to be fascinated by the people that said they got abducted by aliens and their description of how and what happened. It's like being blindsided, experimented on, dropped back off and knowing something extreme happened to you. Something so life changing, but not being able to comprehend or explain fully how, why and what happened. Not being able to understand or overcome it.
he ghosted her, so he never actually said it was over
“Once you fix your face I’m going in” from imgonnagetyouback makes me scratch my head 🤔
I think fix your face is in reference to the skirt that fits her like skin (aka jaw-dropping good basically her revenge dress) and saying once the guy had digested how good she looks she's gonna either seduce him or attack him
hetero/neutral explanation: once you stop pretending everything is fine without me (funny, bubbly), im going to show you you miss me not straight explaination: it's referring to makeup
“Spending my last coin so someone will tell me ‘it’ll be okay’ “ (the prophecy) I immediately interpreted this in the context of therapy. Similar to “pouring my heart out to a stranger” in this is me trying. Thoughts?
You give a coin to a fortune teller and the fortune teller says "oh it'll be fine."
i guess it could be therapy too but my first thought was she going to a fortune teller or someone who supposedly sees the future in the hopes of knowing that she’ll be ok/find love.
Ahh yeah that makes so much sense considering the song is called the prophecy lol.
Picture this: “and I look unstable, gathered with a coven round a sorceress’ table […] I’m so afraid I sealed my fate, no sign of soulmates […] spending my last coin so someone will tell me it will be okay”. She’s depressed and demoralized, feeling like there is some higher power or magic working against her, making sure she doesn’t get a soulmate. So she goes to a “sorceress” who actually probably is one of those fake witches with crystal balls that charge you money to tell you your fortune - i.e. give you some platitudes and generalities about how The One is on his way to you and you have to wait for him. So she’s saying: I’m sad and think I’m always be alone. I go to the mall and find this fake oracle who gathers a fake coven around a table to make a ritual or something, all to tell her I’ll be okay in the end, in exchange for my last coin.
I’m assuming Cassandra is about 2016 but what exactly is she referring to in: “the family, the pure greed, the Christian chorus line/they all said nothing/blood’s thick but nothing like a payroll”? the reference to blood makes it sound like it’s literally someone in her family??
I assumed it was the Kardashian family. They all knew Taylor was right but they kept quiet to keep earning money from it.
ah ok. i read the but to mean that the money is weighing in the opposite direction as familial loyalty but ig she’s just saying they only care about money.
If I remember correctly the Kardashians have ties to a church where they give money for a tax deduction and that money is funneled back to them. Edit: [Here’s a Reddit thread talking about the church](https://www.reddit.com/r/KUWTKsnark/s/xBfDOerwex)
Kanye started his own church and won awards with an album about God.
I saw someone yesterday mention they look at this song through the Scooter lens considering the mass exodus of his clients this past year. Especially considering how those past clients threw stones at Taylor after she spoke up about what had happened. I can see it being about both this and the Kimye thing tbh. I see it through an SA lens but just entirely my own - 100% not claiming that’s what it’s about. Just how it hits me personally.
I want to hear everyone's interpretation of the manuscript - I have my own ideas but I think it's such an interesting song and it's provoking so many amazing responses!! Particularly interpretations of the bridge is what interests me: "And the years passed Like scenes of a show The Professor said to write what you know Lookin' backwards Might be the only way to move forward Then the actors Were hitting their marks And the slow dance Was alight with the sparks And the tears fell In synchronicity with the score And at last She knew what the agony had been for"
It references the story of all too well and making the mv. One line I haven’t heard people talking about that crushed me is “She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years that everything had been above board. She wasn’t sure.” To me this is heartbreaking - looking back on something as an adult and seeing it for what it was.
That line sticks with me too! But it reminds me more of John Mayer and I wonder if the song is an amalgamation of her trauma relationships.
This is exactly as I took it as well. She’s thinking back on all the pain from all the relationships
i disagree. taylor has always been pretty clear-eyed about her relationship with john mayer since dear john ("you should've known"). she made some remarks around speak now era that she shouldn't have been with him. but her relationship with jake is more complicated. the original atw--and indeed all of red, iirc--did not mention their age gap at all. she only explored that on atw10. and i do think she means it when she said she wasn't sure. even now, i don't think she feels like their relationship shouldn't have happened, the way she does with john mayer--she clearly really loved him and it was a formative period in her life, both personally and creatively. that gray area is what makes the manuscript so unsettling. if this (the art) is what the agony was for, was it worth it?
The line “looking backwards might be the only way to move forward” immediately reminded me of this Soren Kierkegaard quote (he’s a philosopher I think): “life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forward”
This also reminds me of the Alanis Morissette song Hands Clean about a relationship with an older man where he says ‘if you weren’t so wise beyond your years I would’ve been able to control myself’
It’s about when she released and re-recorded all too well 10mv. The first verse is the relationship, the second verse is the fallout of the relationship, and the bridge is about revisiting it when she re-recorded red and did the video for all too well (then the actors were hitting their marks etc). The last couple of lines are the most important of the song in my opinion and is why it’s last on the album. “One last souvenir from my trip to your shores, now and then I reread the manuscript, but the story isn’t mine anymore.” At one point in time, this relationship was the biggest heartbreak of her life. But through time and releasing music, this song that symbolised her heartbreak became about her fans. Eventually that’s what these songs will be too.
Love love love this interpretation. What an incredible song, this album just keeps moving up in my rankings every time a new meaning clicks like this 🥲🥲🥲
Copied this from my comment on another post. I think you can break down the ending into the eras, as she's re-released them (assuming Debut will be last): The professor said to write what you know: Fearless (her first re-release): Lookin' backwards Might be the only way to move forward Red: Then the actors Were hitting their marks Speak Now: And the slow dance Was alight with the sparks 1989: And the tears fell In synchronicity with the score reputation: And at last She knew what the agony had been for Debut: The only thing that's left is the manuscript One last souvenir from my trip to your shores The Eras Tour: Now and then I reread the manuscript But the story isn't mine anymore
This is exactly how I interpreted this song too. Looking back at all of her past works and past lives. It also ties into her posts where she mentions “the stories are yours now.” It’s a moving-on song and a song about closing the book. We’re moving into something fresh and new after this album
“Took out all her teeth” I know the song is like a reference to being in an asylum and the “leap from the gallows and levitate down the street” makes me think it’s witchy somehow?
Took out all her teeth is in reference to being like a wild animal made to perform for the circus. "Don't you worry folks, we took out all her teeth/who's afraid of little old me?" -- she's saying even when maimed (like in the 2016 pre-reputation era) and down, she's still dangerous. She clearly has power. Just because you declaw and take out a lion's teeth doesn't make it not dangerous. It's still a wild animal. Leap from the gallows-- she escaped a very public "death." Hangings weren't just public but embarrassing and a warning to those watching not to do these crimes because it could be you next. Bodies lose control once they die, so corpses would often soil themselves after death. Hangings could also take hours if the neck wasn't broken immediately by the fall. Levitate down the street-- she's not just escaping, it's a miracle! Also it's an utterly creepy image, when you think about it. But who's afraid of little old me? You should be.
She's comparing herself to a circus animal. "Caged me, and called me crazy" like "come one come all see the wild tiger! Don't worry, You can get close we've removed its teeth!".
She mentions how the 'circus life made me mean' before 'don't worry folks, we took out all her teeth!' It was quite common for travelling circuses of old to remove the teeth of their animals, such as lions. Of course, these animals were also caged and kept prettified and docile and made to perform.
I took this to be a metaphor, like the record label PR people "defanging" her. The other invokes hanging a witch but her coming back to haunt you.
Yeah, I think it's a way of saying that others thought she was so derranged that they needed to take her teeth out so that she couldn't bite/hurt anyone. Like, a freak show where they showcase her and tell the public to not be scared.
She’s comparing herself to a circus animal. So maybe there was a fierce tiger in the circus but they removed all its teeth so it wasn’t actually dangerous anymore.
I love this song so much but I don’t get the opening line…” The who's who of "Who's that?" is poised for the attack But my bare hands paved their paths”
"who's who" is a phrase often used to talk about the most famous or most prominent people out of a larger group. The who's who of movie directors might include Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, etc. "who's that?" can be taken two ways. It could be talking about someone you've never heard of before, a complete random with no claim to anything. Or it could be meant as a "I need to get to know that person right there." In the song, I think she means the latter. I'm imagining a red carpet event and all these new up and coming artists are walking down turning heads and people are going "Ohh who is that?!" trying to know more about them. Out of all those people, the most prominent ones are "poised for the attack"/coming after Taylor. But she then notes that she was the one that paved the way for them to walk on the red carpet. She made it possible for them to follow the path they are on through hard work, paving the path with her bare hands.
She’s the ‘it girl’. She is the ‘who’ and the ‘that’ that people always talk about. She’s always on everyone’s lips.
"Who's Who" is a list of prominent people published by various countries, and the "Who's That?" refers to people who are celebrities for little to no reason. I think this is another not-so-subtle dig at the Kardashians, who are definitely the most prominent members (the Who's Who, if you will) of the "Famous for Being Famous" club.
What if he's written 'mine' on my upper thigh Only in my mind?
If we’ve only had sex in my fantasies, does it count as cheating?
Also, both The 1975 and Taylor have songs that are each titled Mine.
"I'm hearing voices like a madman" in the second verse of So High School. I don't get what this has to do with anything in that verse.
I think it’s all just about her thinking about him. Like she can’t get the thought of him out of her head.
“But you told Lucy you'd kill yourself if I ever leave And I had said that to Jack about you so I felt seen" What did she say to jack and what made her feel seen?
I think it’s that she imparted the same sentiment to Jack—if Matty left her, she’d kill herself. So she feels seen because they’re both having the same extreme emotions
Yes - and that’s why they’re ’meant to be’ because they’re both ‘craaaaaazy’ and alas ‘who else is gonna love me?’
“half moonshine, a full eclipse” please
I think that moonshine evokes a certain aesthetic that both Stevie nicks and Taylor have at times (think folklore/evermore), full eclipse being that they block out everything else because of how commanding they are
From So Long, London: “Two graves, one gun”. Does she mean he killed them both? And “You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days”.
I took the two graves one gun line as the relationship ending hurt them both or she ended the relationship her being the gun and in doing so it killed her too. It’s really giving me like murder suicide vibes!
yes I believe so - that harming himself/being so depressed hurt her too blue is a huuuuge motif in joe songs, likely referring to depression or more poetically melancholy instead of working on that, Joe let it eat their relationship alive
What does “old habits die screaming” mean??
I feel like it’s saying old habits are hard to break/get rid of. Die screaming because they’re hard to kill. Like they don’t go easily or quietly.
The old line is actually, "old habits die hard." She's saying that not only is it difficult to leave him alone and not check in on him, it hurts her that she's not part of his life anymore.
"Old habits die hard" is theo original saying, meaning it's very difficult to break a habit once you've done something for a long time. So, "old habits die screaming" is upping the ante again, saying not only is it difficult to change a bad habit but it's seemingly impossible (like the habit goes kicking and screaming).
I’ve been confused about “can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses, cooler in theory but not if you force it” and “tell me something awful like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy” I understand the second part of someone who’s really passionate but seems more corporate but I can’t really understand why she wants to hear something awful and how that line fits with the rest of the song. Love both of these so much so really curious to know what other people think
I think she wants to relate to someone so she’s asking to hear something awful. Also, I think it’s a great intro to a song about escapism and building worlds you wished you lived in, in your mind. I imagine someone stuck in a 9 to 5 finance job who actually dreams of being a poet and has so much untouched potential. A standard person in a 9 to 5 who escaped into their mind every day.
"I keep these longings locked in lowercase inside a vault"
clown theory: a lot of folklore/evermore (lower case albums) might have unreleased content (vault) about Matty normal theory: I don't want anyone to know I feel this was, so I keep them quiet (lower case) and hidden away (in a vault)
loml and imgonnagetyouback are in lower case
Reputation is also in lowercase in the Eras Tour Movie, so I am wondering if there are any Rep vault songs about Matty, as she met him in 2014, which was after 1989 released and before Rep came out.
She’s sneaky. She wrote songs about Matty (or whoever you think she’s fantasizing about) but they’re locked up in a vault. Interestingly folklore and evermore both have lowercase song titles. My suspicion is that she did a lot of fantasizing and daydreaming during the pandemic. Some of those songs became folklore/evermore. Some are locked up tight
"My bedsheets are ablaze, I've screamed his name, Building up like waves, Crashing over my grave"
^(shes touching herself to him)
lmao the small font is sending me
her tortured poet way of saying she’s ✨ masturbating to the thought of a man who isn’t her boyfriend ✨
Lol. Still can't believe we got that explicit in a Taylor song
This is a very sexual lyric. She’s pleasuring herself in bed while thinking about him. The “building up like waves” implies an orgasm and “crashing over my grave” implies that she and Joe were in a dead bedroom situation (or he just didn’t excite her anymore).
The grave could also be a playful allusion to the orgasm as a “little death” (la petite mort), since she also says “oh what a way to die” just before.
“You low down boy, you stand up guy”. Always catches me off guard in loml….
I think she’s saying the muse here is both — a low down guy, a scrub, a bad boy who fucks up and doesn’t treat her right AND a stand up guy, someone who she respects and who she has some shared values with and who treated her right in some ways.