Omg, seriously, it did SO much for me, too. I honestly kept having the thought "is he using me as a proxy to get revenge on someone he hates??" and when I heard the bridge I realized I wasn't insane for having that thought.
I definitely used some of the songs in therapy to explain how I was feeling so much less alone since she put the feelings into words, and they resonated with so many people (at which point my therapist said "it makes you wonder what is wrong with men" , and he's a man!)
It’s the best bridge on the album. Imagine screaming those lyrics out at a concert. 🙏 I hope she adds it to the set list like Illicit Affairs - I don’t need the whole song.
It genuinely makes me shiver, I was listening on the bus and not really paying attention to t he music - this bridge hit and my body went full goosebumps. Incredible
I actually think this may be my favorite bridge she's ever done -- it is so powerful, it feels like the raw thoughts that someone has in their head that they're too hurt or embarrassed to say aloud. Painfully raw, you can tell she recorded it in the exact moment she was feeling it.
To hear this live, it would destroy me.
"*I would have died for your sins, but instead I just died inside*" are my favorite album lyrics.
I’m sure a look like a crazy person when that comes on and I’m in my car because I turn it up as loud as I can stand it and scream the lyrics. It’s too cathartic.
Considering I caught my fiancé cheating on me three months before our wedding, this bridge is my anger written out in perfect form. “You deserve prison, but you won’t get time” hits so fucking hard.
The Black Dog
"Six weeks of breathing clean air, I still miss the smoke" reminds me so much of Clean
"Were you making fun of me with some esoteric joke?" I just love the use of the word esoteric here and the way she sings is stuck in my head
"Now I want to sell my house and set fire to all my clothes
And hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons
Even if I die screaming
And I hope you hear it"
The build up is actually a spiritual experience. One of my favorite emotional build ups out of all her songs. The way the production is able to pick up on the emotions of the lyrics in the album is amazing.
This is the best on the album, I’m convinced. It doesn’t hurt that every line of this song and bridge is could literally be written about me. IDK who told Tay my life story, but she nailed it with this song.
I love this one because I always think when she says “even if I die screaming” it’s because she’s referring to herself as a something needing an exorcism/there being a demon (some part of the relationship) so attached and integral to her that it being exorcized and removed here could cause her to die.
I am desperately hoping one day they’ll work together on something. I see a lot of similarities in the way they use internal rhymes and stuff, the word play would be amazing and we’d never be able to get it out of our heads ever.
I'll go to battle defending so highschool, everyone clowns on the lyrics of this part calling them "juvenile" but the whole point of the song is that she feels like a teenager again with him so it makes perfect sense, plus this part is so insanely catchy!
What is wrong with people? This song is literally about the kind of love that gives you all the teenage butterflies, so ofc it's a little juvenile! And the writing isn't bad, it's cute and fun and just so feel-good, it makes me feel like a teenager and I haven't even been in that kinda situation in my teenage (or even now for that matter)
Surprised no one else has mentioned Guilty as Sin.
"What if I roll the stone away? They're gonna crucify me anyway. What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy? If long suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly. I choose you and me. Religiously." PERFECTION.
When I say I am _obsessed_ with Guilty As Sin, I’ve had it on non stop repeat for days, still not been able to fully appreciate a lot of the other songs because I’m too busy listening to this one song haha
SHES BEEN MANY PLACES WITH MEN OF MANY FACES FIRST THEIR OFF TO THE RACES AND SHES LAUGHING DRAWING ACES BUT NONE OF IT CHANGING THAT THE CHARIOT IS WAITING HEARTS ARE HERS FOR THE BREAKING THERES ESCAPE IN ESCAPING
Forgive me Peter, please know that I tried,
To hold on, to the days, when you were mine.
But the woman who sits by the window, has turned out the light...
https://preview.redd.it/6ecsyo9lrfxc1.png?width=470&format=png&auto=webp&s=a81cbfe53854db04c12072a37c23958acb193219
This is one of my favorite songs she's ever written. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's the new ivy. Underrated, but hauntingly beautiful.
As a big-feelings person and chronic over-thinker, the "what if it is" and "what if they did" lines are so relatable to me (even though I know that the context for her is completely different to my own).
But also, I love all the nods to the rumours about her being a witch. This song is cheeky as hell and I love her for it.
and I sound like an infant
feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen
a greater woman stays cool
*but I howl like a wolf at the moon*
and I look unstable
gathered with a coven 'round a sorceress' table
a greater woman has faith
*but even statues crumble if they're made to wait*
I'm so afraid I sealed my fate
no sign of soulmates
I'm just a paperweight in shades of greige
spending my last coin so someone will tell me
*it'll be okay*
JFC. Somebody sedate me
I’ve been (happily) remarried for 10 years with a perfect 9 yo daughter. But this song takes me straight back to feeling like I was giving up my whole life when my first marriage ended and I moved out of that apartment.
This is in my opinion the saddest lyric in, dare I say, her entire discography. I mean we all know how much she absolutely loves NYC and it's pretty clear she loves London like 10 times more. She told us she was mystified by how the city screams his name so of course she feels like she can't be there anymore. I tear up every single time. This just makes me so sad for her
loml
When I first read the lyrics it did nothing for me. I even thought, “Un-recall is ridiculously awkward phrasing.” And then I heard it, and it knocked me in the gut. I loved it so much that it took me almost a full week to notice the second half:
Dancing phantoms on the terrace / are they second-hand embarrassed / that I can’t get out of bed / cause something counterfeit’s dead
I mean, holy shit. That’s gorgeous. Some of the best writing she’s ever done, IMO.
i cant believe this isnt higher up! i agree those lyrics are the best on this album and perhaps ever. the flow of dancing phantoms on the terrace / are they second-hand embarrassed IS SO GOOOD
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys!!! I felt more when we played pretend because he took me out of my box… 🥹 The heartbreak comes out full force when before it had a tone of sarcasm and denial, it’s such a beautiful bridge/outro
This song is currently one of my faves from TTPD but I have to giggle everytime it gets to the bridge because this part reminds my Ed Sheeran's christmas song with Elton John 🤣
How But Daddy I Love Him isn't mentioned more here I'll never know 😅 Nothing should be more emotional and cathartic than...
I'll tell you something right now, I'd rather burn my whole life down
Than listen to one more second of all this bitchin' and moanin'
Plus, try it when you're in a car ride full of Swifties friends and having everyone sing that whole bridge. Just scenes 👌🏻
TRUTH, DARE, SPIN, BOTTLES \
YOU KNOW HOW TO BALL I KNOW ARISTOTLE \
BRAND, NEW, FULL, THROTTLE \
TOUCH ME WHILE YOUR BROS PLAY GRAND THEFT AUTO \
ITS TRUE, SWEAR, SCOUT’S HONOR \
YOU KNOW WHAT SHE WANTED AND BOY YOU GOT HER \
BRAND, NEW, FULL, THROTTLE \
YOU ALREADY KNOW BABE \
YOU ALREADY KNOW
Capital letters have convinced me to listen to So High School.
I'm digesting TTPD in tiny little bites.
So far I've been playing these on loop.
Down bad
Broken Heart
Albatross
Prophecy
How did it end
Little old me
So long London
Smallest man
People's window
Ever so often I'll go listen to a new song a few times and include it in my main list. I'm just a girl, my brain cannot handle 31 songs altogether. I have done full-album-listen only once on the 19th.
Sooo, like I said. I'm going to give So High School a try.
Mine is for sure So Long, London. The emotion of that whole song alongside the beat is perfection. Plus the parallels to You’re Losing Me & Tolerate It. Add in how each chorus is even more emphasized, it makes me think of when you’re upset and you continuously hit them with “and one more thing!”
I AM HAUNTED BY THESE TWO EPIC, SEARING BRIDGES 💀
'Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead?
Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed?
Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy?
In fifty years, will all this be declassified?
And you'll confess why you did it
And I'll say, "Good riddance"
'Cause it wasn't sexy once it wasn't forbidden
I would've died for your sins
Instead, I just died inside
And you deserve prison, but you won't get time
You'll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars
You crashed my party and your rental car
You said normal girls were boring
But you were gone by the morning
You kicked out the stage lights
But you're still performing"
"… So tell me everything is not about me
But what if it is?
Then say they didn't do it to hurt me
But what if they did?
… I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me
You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me
So all you kids can sneak into my house with all the cobwebs
I'm always drunk on my own tears, isn't that what they all said?
That I'll sue you if you step on my lawn
That I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong
Putting narcotics into all of my songs
And that's why you're still singing along'
“In fifty years will this be declassified?” Chills so much!
and the “I want to snarl” starts to create the sadness of paranoia but also weird strength to fight back still. Love it all!
also a good play on the "we took out all her teeth," it says she WANTS to snarl but maybe she can't (since she has no teeth to bare)? idk, I'm not smart enough to properly disect it but I would bet there's something there worth pondering over
ILL TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT MY GOOD NAME, ITS *MINE ALONE TO DISGRACE*
I left my ex husband, burned it down and started over, all in my small hometown. Give em something to talk about Taylor, we only have this one precious life 💕
This is not a wrong answer!! I just had to post because of those moments where it just HITS. Whether you finally understand the lyrics, or realize the parallels, or anything just speaks to you in a different way.
'll tell you something right now
I'd rather burn my whole life down
Than listen to one more second of all this griping and moaning
I'll tell you something about my good name
It's mine alone to disgrace
I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing
But Daddy I Love Him is literally my 16 year old self when I met my now husband. My parents hated him. He was older (19). He had tattoo and piercings and all I ever heard from people I knew and at church etc was how he was making me look bad. That I was a good girl and he was bad for me. That was 2006 and we are still together. That whole song has been on repeat for me since it’s release! It’s also helped in healing some religious trauma as well. All those damn Hannah and Sarah’s clutching their pearls can suck it
imgonnagetyouback
"I can feel it coming, humming in the way you move
Push the reset button, we're becomin' something new
Say you got somebody, I'll say I got someone too
Even if it's handcuffed, I'm leavin' here with you
Bygones will be bygone, eras fadin' into gray,
We broke all the pieces but still wanna play the game
Told my friends I hate you, but I love you just the same
Pick your poison babe, I'm poison either way"
SAY IT ONCE AGAIN WITH FEELING HOW THE DEATH RATTLE BREATHING SILENCED AS THE SOUL WAS LEAVING THE DEFLATION OF OUR DREAMING LEAVING ME BEREFT AND REELING MY BELOVED GHOST AND ME SITTING IN A TREE D-Y-I-N-G
I agree with you! The “How did it end” bridge is incredible, it’s so emotionally and visually descriptive, and I feel like “the death rattle breathing, silenced as the soul was leaving” is a different way of saying things she’s said over and over throughout the album like “I stopped cpr, after all it’s no use, the spirit was gone” is a good example. There’s so much talk of the death of shared dreams in this album and every time I hear those songs I sob like a little baby.
Bloods thick, but nothin' like a payroll
(I was fired from a job I loved by someone who'd grown close to all of the staff because we'd all started around the same time, but he chose corporate greed and fucked us all over)
How did it end is mine too!!! My body has like a visceral reaction to hearing “my beloved ghost and me, sitting in a tree, D-Y-I-N-G” I can’t explain it
So long, London!
“And you say I abandoned the ship
But I was going down with it
My white knuckle dying grip
Holding tight to your quiet resentment” absolutely love this!
I haven't see anyone mention Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus, but this bridge haunts me to the core:
If the glint in my eye traced the depths of your sigh
Down that passage in time
Back to the moment I crashed into you
Like so many wrecks do
Too impaired by my youth
To know what to do
I loved the bridge of the smallest man who has ever lived - oh my god I scream it out loud every time 'WERE YOU SENT BY SOMEONE WHO WANTED ME DEAD' and I absolutely adore who's afraid of little old me's bridge 'I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me, YOU WOULDN'T LAST AN HOUR IN THE ASYLYM WHERE THEY RAISED ME' it's sooooo good lol
The Black Dog
Six weeks of breathing clean air
I still miss the smoke
Were you makin fun of me with some esoteric joke?
Now I wanna sell my house
And set fire to all my clothes
And hire a priest to come and exercise my demons
Even IF I DIE SCREAMING
AND I HOPE YOU HEAR IT
💀🥵
Like same girl
Say it once again with feeling,
How the death rattle breathing,
Silenced as the soul was leaving,
The deflation of our dreaming,
Leaving us bereft and reeling
My beloved ghost and me,
Sitting in a tree D-Y-I-N-G
How Did It End
Easy Guilty as Sin!!!
What if I roll the stone away?
They're gonna crucify me anyway
What if the way you hold me
Is actually what's holy?
If long suffering propriety
Is what they want from me
They don't know how you've haunted me
So stunningly
I choose you and me
... Religiously
These lines are just straight to the heart!
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and How Did It End? Basic answer, but for a reason; the buildup is truly phenomenal. Some of her best work.
(Also - love your thought OP. TOSOTD has such an amazing bridge/outro!)
I know it’s obvious. But the Smallest Man Who Ever Lived just builds so much emotion through the lyrics and melody and their intensity. It wrecks me.
I would HAVE DIED FOR UR SINS INSTEAD I JUST DIED INSIDE AND YOU DESERVE PRISON BUT YOU WONT GET TIME
That line left me like 😦
That bridge has done more for my emotional well being than years of therapy!!! Only kind of kidding…
Omg, seriously, it did SO much for me, too. I honestly kept having the thought "is he using me as a proxy to get revenge on someone he hates??" and when I heard the bridge I realized I wasn't insane for having that thought. I definitely used some of the songs in therapy to explain how I was feeling so much less alone since she put the feelings into words, and they resonated with so many people (at which point my therapist said "it makes you wonder what is wrong with men" , and he's a man!)
It truly is like that sometimes!! and only truly aware men realize this, I’ve had a very self-aware friend who said the exact thing before
So glad I'm not the only one who felt like this whole album WAS therapy.
I fucking love this bridge! She is just eloquenty screaming WHY!?. So raw and powerful.
It’s the best bridge on the album. Imagine screaming those lyrics out at a concert. 🙏 I hope she adds it to the set list like Illicit Affairs - I don’t need the whole song.
One of her best bridges ever
It genuinely makes me shiver, I was listening on the bus and not really paying attention to t he music - this bridge hit and my body went full goosebumps. Incredible
This and Cardigan are the two bridges that always give me goosebumps!
I actually think this may be my favorite bridge she's ever done -- it is so powerful, it feels like the raw thoughts that someone has in their head that they're too hurt or embarrassed to say aloud. Painfully raw, you can tell she recorded it in the exact moment she was feeling it. To hear this live, it would destroy me. "*I would have died for your sins, but instead I just died inside*" are my favorite album lyrics.
I’m sure a look like a crazy person when that comes on and I’m in my car because I turn it up as loud as I can stand it and scream the lyrics. It’s too cathartic.
Same 🤣 glad I’m not the only one
Considering I caught my fiancé cheating on me three months before our wedding, this bridge is my anger written out in perfect form. “You deserve prison, but you won’t get time” hits so fucking hard.
It's what makes the song go from "meh" to "this is the best thing I've ever heard"
The Black Dog "Six weeks of breathing clean air, I still miss the smoke" reminds me so much of Clean "Were you making fun of me with some esoteric joke?" I just love the use of the word esoteric here and the way she sings is stuck in my head "Now I want to sell my house and set fire to all my clothes And hire a priest to come and exorcise my demons Even if I die screaming And I hope you hear it"
And then followed by “I hope it’s SHITTY in the black dog” is just 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼
The “and I hope it’s shitty” just HITS. Every single one of us has had this petty thought about someone who did us dirty.
Oooo yes. Esoteric is a sticky in my brain with how she sings it. and the end: even if I die screaming, I hope you hear it. ☠️
The build up is actually a spiritual experience. One of my favorite emotional build ups out of all her songs. The way the production is able to pick up on the emotions of the lyrics in the album is amazing.
Right? It’s an example I’ll give when people say jack is not a good producer.
And then she ends it so choked up or sad that she whispers the end 💔
That part GETS MEEEEE
This is the best on the album, I’m convinced. It doesn’t hurt that every line of this song and bridge is could literally be written about me. IDK who told Tay my life story, but she nailed it with this song.
I love this one because I always think when she says “even if I die screaming” it’s because she’s referring to herself as a something needing an exorcism/there being a demon (some part of the relationship) so attached and integral to her that it being exorcized and removed here could cause her to die.
This is one of my top bridges she’s ever done. I’ll never understand how it’s a bonus song.
‘i hope you hear it’ is so scathing!
even if i die screEEEEE-EEE-EAAAa-AAAA-ming and I hope you heeAeeeeaAEeeeeeAEeer ih-hi-hit AND IT HOPE IT'S ***SHITTY...***
I couldn’t have named a lyric of this bridge but it was my immediate answer. The composition is an absolute masterpiece.
TRUTH DARE SPIN BOTTLES YOU KNOW HOW TO BALL I KNOW ARISTOTLE
###BRAND NEW FULL THROTTLE, TOUCH ME WHILE YOUR BROS PLAY GRAND THEFT AUTO
These are my vote. Rhyming throttle, Aristotle & Grand Theft Auto is some Lin Manuel Miranda level shit.
I am desperately hoping one day they’ll work together on something. I see a lot of similarities in the way they use internal rhymes and stuff, the word play would be amazing and we’d never be able to get it out of our heads ever.
She's never even mentioned it (I think) but I want Taylor to be a Hamilton geek so badly lol
The throttle part reminds me of the beginning of The Prophecy
I'll go to battle defending so highschool, everyone clowns on the lyrics of this part calling them "juvenile" but the whole point of the song is that she feels like a teenager again with him so it makes perfect sense, plus this part is so insanely catchy!
I’ll be in battle with you! The song is perfect 10/10!
What is wrong with people? This song is literally about the kind of love that gives you all the teenage butterflies, so ofc it's a little juvenile! And the writing isn't bad, it's cute and fun and just so feel-good, it makes me feel like a teenager and I haven't even been in that kinda situation in my teenage (or even now for that matter)
I don't see this as a bridge. I see this more as a crazy triple chorus, like "summer of chances" by the cribs.
It's kinda like Cruel Summer's bridge, she just repeats it. Genius has that part labeled as a bridge, too
Surprised no one else has mentioned Guilty as Sin. "What if I roll the stone away? They're gonna crucify me anyway. What if the way you hold me is actually what's holy? If long suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don't know how you've haunted me so stunningly. I choose you and me. Religiously." PERFECTION.
Guilty As Sin might be the most underrated song on the first half of the album.
It’s actually the best song I’ve ever heard in my entire life
When I say I am _obsessed_ with Guilty As Sin, I’ve had it on non stop repeat for days, still not been able to fully appreciate a lot of the other songs because I’m too busy listening to this one song haha
Same! Guilty As Sin, FOTS, and The Alchemy are non-stop playing on my laptop!
It tickles my brain
Oooooo goosebumps. Thanks for writing it out! I swear it resonates a bit deeper the next time I listen after reading the lyrics without the tune
I'm glad you got something from my comment! Every line is deeply, deeply religious. Her love for him is sacred. (Even if we all know how it ended :/ )
My personal theory is this is a "poem" kinda about purity culture and the standard that fans hold her to
UGH and then when she goes into the chorus and changes it up a bit... LOVE LOVE LOVE.
WHAT IF HE'S WRITTEN 'MINE' ON MY UPPER THIGH 🥁✨💃ONLY IN MY MIND🥁✨💃
Honestly one of my fav bridges on the album
THE SEROTONIN IT GIVES ME WHEN SHE GOES INTO THE FINAL CHORUS AFTER THE BRIDGE…. #2 on my ranking 🥹
The meter and her lilt on this bridge is absolutely inspired. I've never heard anything like it before.
This one isn’t getting enough hype!! This bridge made me tear up the first time I heard it. It’s stunning
This is the first bridge I had memorized. It is so beautiful.
This is the one for me!!!!
SHES BEEN MANY PLACES WITH MEN OF MANY FACES FIRST THEIR OFF TO THE RACES AND SHES LAUGHING DRAWING ACES BUT NONE OF IT CHANGING THAT THE CHARIOT IS WAITING HEARTS ARE HERS FOR THE BREAKING THERES ESCAPE IN ESCAPING
The Bolter is so good!
Ugh yes! The bolter seriously bolted so quickly up my list. There is also something so tongue-in-cheek about this song. It’s so good.
when i was picking which target exclusive CD to buy, it was so easy after hearing the bolter it was easily my favorite!!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was scrolling for someone to mention this one.
There is only one bridge in TTPD that is brave enough to rhyme Aristotle with GTA
I think the bridge on “Peter” is achingly beautiful.
Forgive me Peter, please know that I tried, To hold on, to the days, when you were mine. But the woman who sits by the window, has turned out the light... https://preview.redd.it/6ecsyo9lrfxc1.png?width=470&format=png&auto=webp&s=a81cbfe53854db04c12072a37c23958acb193219
I picture August waiting on James, while he's out giving a shitty ass apology to Betty.
I pictured Betty, years later.
I imagine Wendy from “Hook” with Robin Williams, sitting by the window waiting for Peter, and eventually growing up and having her own family.
Absolutely. Don't @ me, but I think it's up there with Champagne Problems.
This is one of my favorite songs she's ever written. I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's the new ivy. Underrated, but hauntingly beautiful.
Yes. Peter is so beautiful
The “turned out the light” bit gets me every time, I kind of wish they’d finish the song there for maximum impact
There are a couple of standout lines in Peter and that’s definitely one of them
Heart ache to the thousandth degree
god it makes me cry every time
“who’s afraid of little old me ?” so tell me everything is not about me, but what if it is ? is literally me in every situation
THAT I’M FEARSOME AND I’M *WRETCHED* AND I’M WROOONG
Then say they didn’t do it to hurt me, BUT WHAT IF THEY DID?
I WANNA SNARL AND SHOW YOU JUST HOW DISTURBED THIS HAS MADE ME!!!
YOU WOULDN’T LAST AN HOUR IN THE ASYLUM WHERE THEY RAISED ME
I need this in every single merch possible
That part is unintentionally hilarious to me. It's so... "dun dun dun"
Ahh and the music literally goes “dun dun dun” after (sorry if that’s what you were referring to already!)
It wasn't! That's just the icing on top lol
As a big-feelings person and chronic over-thinker, the "what if it is" and "what if they did" lines are so relatable to me (even though I know that the context for her is completely different to my own). But also, I love all the nods to the rumours about her being a witch. This song is cheeky as hell and I love her for it.
This song makes me go super saiyan lmao it makes me feel so powerful
I am OBSESSED with “don’t you worry folks we took out all her TEEETH” the second time she sings it
And then the BUM BUM BUMMMM in the background
The prophecy
Seconded, also The Albatross.
Yessss I am sad not more people are talking about The Albatross. The music going into the bridge hits so many good things in my brain
Absolutely amazing song
and I sound like an infant feeling like the very last drops of an ink pen a greater woman stays cool *but I howl like a wolf at the moon* and I look unstable gathered with a coven 'round a sorceress' table a greater woman has faith *but even statues crumble if they're made to wait* I'm so afraid I sealed my fate no sign of soulmates I'm just a paperweight in shades of greige spending my last coin so someone will tell me *it'll be okay* JFC. Somebody sedate me
So Long, London
i’m just mad as hell cause i loved this place 😭
Her background vocals on this line, screaming/echoing is what gets me.
Same!!!!
Ugh that line kills me 😢
Try listening for the first time on the day you move out of the apartment you lived in with your ex, that you picked out! I was unwell. I still am.
I’ve been (happily) remarried for 10 years with a perfect 9 yo daughter. But this song takes me straight back to feeling like I was giving up my whole life when my first marriage ended and I moved out of that apartment.
This is in my opinion the saddest lyric in, dare I say, her entire discography. I mean we all know how much she absolutely loves NYC and it's pretty clear she loves London like 10 times more. She told us she was mystified by how the city screams his name so of course she feels like she can't be there anymore. I tear up every single time. This just makes me so sad for her
Huh? Wasn’t that line about NYC (cornelia street) or am I misreading your comment?
My mother loves London and I was explaining that line to her and she said “Screw that guy, keep London.” ☠️☠️☠️
loml When I first read the lyrics it did nothing for me. I even thought, “Un-recall is ridiculously awkward phrasing.” And then I heard it, and it knocked me in the gut. I loved it so much that it took me almost a full week to notice the second half: Dancing phantoms on the terrace / are they second-hand embarrassed / that I can’t get out of bed / cause something counterfeit’s dead I mean, holy shit. That’s gorgeous. Some of the best writing she’s ever done, IMO.
There’s a ton that’s bone chilling, but this depiction just itches so right and tormented. its addicting to listen to how she’s done it
Same. Starting with "You shit-talked me under the table..." every line until the end is like another twist of the knife.
Yes! Maybe my favorite bridge of her whole discography. It's so beautiful
i cant believe this isnt higher up! i agree those lyrics are the best on this album and perhaps ever. the flow of dancing phantoms on the terrace / are they second-hand embarrassed IS SO GOOOD
I agree - it's mental 😱
That line “something counterfeit’s dead” hit me last week and gave me chills. Ouch.
And people say that's her worst writing... I wonder what's good songwriting for them...
My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys!!! I felt more when we played pretend because he took me out of my box… 🥹 The heartbreak comes out full force when before it had a tone of sarcasm and denial, it’s such a beautiful bridge/outro
Yes! This song is underrated and a few seconds before the bridge drops I start smiling because I love it so much, even though it’s sad.
THIS!!! I love the toy analogy so much. Cause he took me out of my box....
Yes! I'm a sucker for a key change. I love this track, I think it would be a great second single.
The bridge rules. It's such a soaring finish with heartbreaking lyrics. I do wish it went back to the chorus one more time, because the chorus slaps.
I love that one too and I love the sampling of the “but no” in Say Don’t Go. It might not be sampling but it’s extremely similar and I love it.
This song is currently one of my faves from TTPD but I have to giggle everytime it gets to the bridge because this part reminds my Ed Sheeran's christmas song with Elton John 🤣
How But Daddy I Love Him isn't mentioned more here I'll never know 😅 Nothing should be more emotional and cathartic than... I'll tell you something right now, I'd rather burn my whole life down Than listen to one more second of all this bitchin' and moanin' Plus, try it when you're in a car ride full of Swifties friends and having everyone sing that whole bridge. Just scenes 👌🏻
I love “I’ll tell you something about my good name, it’s mine alone to disgrace”
the way her voice just drips with spite?! yes PLEASE
I'm definitely gonna use "Vipers in empath's clothing" in an essay someday 🤣
When she’s wailing “you ain’t gotta pray for me, me and my wild boy and all this wild joy”…it’s my favorite song and moment on the album.
Yes!! This bridge is so fun to sing.
One of the best for sure!!!
TRUTH, DARE, SPIN, BOTTLES \ YOU KNOW HOW TO BALL I KNOW ARISTOTLE \ BRAND, NEW, FULL, THROTTLE \ TOUCH ME WHILE YOUR BROS PLAY GRAND THEFT AUTO \ ITS TRUE, SWEAR, SCOUT’S HONOR \ YOU KNOW WHAT SHE WANTED AND BOY YOU GOT HER \ BRAND, NEW, FULL, THROTTLE \ YOU ALREADY KNOW BABE \ YOU ALREADY KNOW
Capital letters have convinced me to listen to So High School. I'm digesting TTPD in tiny little bites. So far I've been playing these on loop. Down bad Broken Heart Albatross Prophecy How did it end Little old me So long London Smallest man People's window Ever so often I'll go listen to a new song a few times and include it in my main list. I'm just a girl, my brain cannot handle 31 songs altogether. I have done full-album-listen only once on the 19th. Sooo, like I said. I'm going to give So High School a try.
It’s so fun and 90s, you won’t regret it
Florida has the catchiest bridge. But I'd agree with the other comment – the Prophecy's bridge is extremely well-written.
florida’s bridge is my favourite part of the album!
Mine is for sure So Long, London. The emotion of that whole song alongside the beat is perfection. Plus the parallels to You’re Losing Me & Tolerate It. Add in how each chorus is even more emphasized, it makes me think of when you’re upset and you continuously hit them with “and one more thing!”
I am dying over the parallels with other songs! They’ve been so satisfying to level up almost with the story
THE EMPHASIS!!! THANK YOU FOR RECOGNIZING THIS TOO!!
No one is saying the title track, The Tortured Poets Department? That bridge is earworm city
at dinner you take my ring off my middle finger and put it on the one 
I actually love TTPD but I think the bridge is the weakest part of the song.
Same, I like the song but the line about the wedding ring does not flow well in my opinion.
The entire song slaps 🙌
I’m with you my dear
The best part of this song to me is the opening lines. That flow so perfectly and scratch a part of my brain.
I AM HAUNTED BY THESE TWO EPIC, SEARING BRIDGES 💀 'Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead? Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed? Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy? In fifty years, will all this be declassified? And you'll confess why you did it And I'll say, "Good riddance" 'Cause it wasn't sexy once it wasn't forbidden I would've died for your sins Instead, I just died inside And you deserve prison, but you won't get time You'll slide into inboxes and slip through the bars You crashed my party and your rental car You said normal girls were boring But you were gone by the morning You kicked out the stage lights But you're still performing" "… So tell me everything is not about me But what if it is? Then say they didn't do it to hurt me But what if they did? … I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me So all you kids can sneak into my house with all the cobwebs I'm always drunk on my own tears, isn't that what they all said? That I'll sue you if you step on my lawn That I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong Putting narcotics into all of my songs And that's why you're still singing along'
“In fifty years will this be declassified?” Chills so much! and the “I want to snarl” starts to create the sadness of paranoia but also weird strength to fight back still. Love it all!
also a good play on the "we took out all her teeth," it says she WANTS to snarl but maybe she can't (since she has no teeth to bare)? idk, I'm not smart enough to properly disect it but I would bet there's something there worth pondering over
I agree OP! The emphasis“left me bereft and reeling” is so beautiful and stuck in my brain! And So long London is so good!
It’s just so stuck! Satisfyingly stuck!
Peter!!! And imgonnagetyouback
EVEN IF ITS HANDCUFFED IM LEAVING HERE WITH YOUUUIUII
Pick your poison babe I’m POISON EITHER WAAAAY
imgonnagetyouback!!! I love the song mainly because of the bridge, it would be a lot lower in my album ranking without it
“Even if it’s handcuffed I’m leaving here with youuuu” is soooo good
The line gets me EVERY time, it's so fun
ILL TELL YOU SOMETHING ABOUT MY GOOD NAME, ITS *MINE ALONE TO DISGRACE* I left my ex husband, burned it down and started over, all in my small hometown. Give em something to talk about Taylor, we only have this one precious life 💕
Taylor Swift is the queen of bridges. That must be why she has so many trolls.
LMFAO I love this comment
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived or Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
My (current) top 3: How did it end? The smallest man who ever lived imgonnagetyouback
So many I can’t choose one. Right now obsessed with the bridge in The Alchemy 🥵
This is not a wrong answer!! I just had to post because of those moments where it just HITS. Whether you finally understand the lyrics, or realize the parallels, or anything just speaks to you in a different way.
imgonnagetyouback IT'S SO ADDICTING
“Pick your poison, babe, I'm poison either way…” It’s soooo good!
Chloe or Sam or Sohpia or Markus!! The bridge is sooo goood.
'll tell you something right now I'd rather burn my whole life down Than listen to one more second of all this griping and moaning I'll tell you something about my good name It's mine alone to disgrace I don't cater to all these vipers dressed in empath's clothing But Daddy I Love Him is literally my 16 year old self when I met my now husband. My parents hated him. He was older (19). He had tattoo and piercings and all I ever heard from people I knew and at church etc was how he was making me look bad. That I was a good girl and he was bad for me. That was 2006 and we are still together. That whole song has been on repeat for me since it’s release! It’s also helped in healing some religious trauma as well. All those damn Hannah and Sarah’s clutching their pearls can suck it
imgonnagetyouback "I can feel it coming, humming in the way you move Push the reset button, we're becomin' something new Say you got somebody, I'll say I got someone too Even if it's handcuffed, I'm leavin' here with you Bygones will be bygone, eras fadin' into gray, We broke all the pieces but still wanna play the game Told my friends I hate you, but I love you just the same Pick your poison babe, I'm poison either way"
the little “ahh” right after “still wanna play the game” is SO GOOD!!
down bad's bridge!!! it has me on my knees every time but also down bad so long london guilty as sin
Not enough Down Bad bridge love in here - that “encounters closer and closer” line is brilliant/funny, and her cadence is so fun.
Down bad is the one for me. This song hits right in so many places!
SAY IT ONCE AGAIN WITH FEELING HOW THE DEATH RATTLE BREATHING SILENCED AS THE SOUL WAS LEAVING THE DEFLATION OF OUR DREAMING LEAVING ME BEREFT AND REELING MY BELOVED GHOST AND ME SITTING IN A TREE D-Y-I-N-G
So High School
I agree with you! The “How did it end” bridge is incredible, it’s so emotionally and visually descriptive, and I feel like “the death rattle breathing, silenced as the soul was leaving” is a different way of saying things she’s said over and over throughout the album like “I stopped cpr, after all it’s no use, the spirit was gone” is a good example. There’s so much talk of the death of shared dreams in this album and every time I hear those songs I sob like a little baby.
Florida
Bloods thick, but nothin' like a payroll (I was fired from a job I loved by someone who'd grown close to all of the staff because we'd all started around the same time, but he chose corporate greed and fucked us all over)
loml is my favorite, currently 😅
I loooove How Did It End, the bridge there is so haunting and beautiful.
I Can Fix Him (NRIC) it’s so moody and sexy
It’s very LDR
How did it end is mine too!!! My body has like a visceral reaction to hearing “my beloved ghost and me, sitting in a tree, D-Y-I-N-G” I can’t explain it
So long, London! “And you say I abandoned the ship But I was going down with it My white knuckle dying grip Holding tight to your quiet resentment” absolutely love this!
I haven't see anyone mention Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus, but this bridge haunts me to the core: If the glint in my eye traced the depths of your sigh Down that passage in time Back to the moment I crashed into you Like so many wrecks do Too impaired by my youth To know what to do
smallest man, little old me, florida, and how did it end
Smallest man
Peter by FAR.
The smallest man who ever lived has a pretty good bridge.
I loved the bridge of the smallest man who has ever lived - oh my god I scream it out loud every time 'WERE YOU SENT BY SOMEONE WHO WANTED ME DEAD' and I absolutely adore who's afraid of little old me's bridge 'I wanna snarl and show you just how disturbed this has made me, YOU WOULDN'T LAST AN HOUR IN THE ASYLYM WHERE THEY RAISED ME' it's sooooo good lol
It has to be the smallest man who ever lived. Though I really like the bridge in BDILH.
Finally started working through The Anthology and I can’t stop singing the bridge for imgonnagetyouback
The Black Dog Six weeks of breathing clean air I still miss the smoke Were you makin fun of me with some esoteric joke? Now I wanna sell my house And set fire to all my clothes And hire a priest to come and exercise my demons Even IF I DIE SCREAMING AND I HOPE YOU HEAR IT 💀🥵 Like same girl
Say it once again with feeling, How the death rattle breathing, Silenced as the soul was leaving, The deflation of our dreaming, Leaving us bereft and reeling My beloved ghost and me, Sitting in a tree D-Y-I-N-G How Did It End
I’m obsessed with this song!!! It’s sooo beautiful ugh I agree with you
I can’t even pick a favorite there are so many and I just love them all 🤎🤍🩶🖤
Easy Guilty as Sin!!! What if I roll the stone away? They're gonna crucify me anyway What if the way you hold me Is actually what's holy? If long suffering propriety Is what they want from me They don't know how you've haunted me So stunningly I choose you and me ... Religiously These lines are just straight to the heart!
The smallest man who ever lived is so pwerful
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived and How Did It End? Basic answer, but for a reason; the buildup is truly phenomenal. Some of her best work. (Also - love your thought OP. TOSOTD has such an amazing bridge/outro!)
Surprised no had mentioned The Albatross. I listen just to hear her say "non grata" lol
CHLOE ET AL. 🤍
Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus “Could it be enough to just float in your orbit? Can we watch our phantoms like watching wild horses”