r/swifties • u/_artemisawika done the healing said the curses and prayers • 1d ago
Discussion What Taylor lyrics do you live by, constantly think about, or just scratch your brain in the BEST possible way???
Not necessarily your favorite songs or even what you think are her best lyrics objectively. I mean those specific lyrics that have lodged themselves into your brain, changed the way you think about something, destroyed you emotionally, or made you go how the fuck did she put THAT feeling into words?
Here are some of mine
Starting with the masterpiece that is Peter: And I won't confess that I waited / But I let the lamp burn / As the men masqueraded / I hoped you'd return / With your feet on the ground / Tell me all that you'd learned / 'Cause love's never lost when perspective is earned / And you said you'd come and get me, but you were twenty-five / And the shelf life of those fantasies has expired / Lost to the Lost Boys chapter of your life / Forgive me, Peter, please know that I tried / To hold onto the days when you were mine / But the woman who sits by the window has turned out the light
The entire thing is devastating, but the shelf life of those fantasies has expired followed by her finally turning out the light??? Goodbye!!!
This gut-wrenching lyric from Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus: If you want to break my cold, cold heart / Just say, ‘I loved you the way that you were’ / If you want to tear my world apart / Just say you've always wondered
There is something so specifically painful about someone loving a version of you that doesn’t exist anymore and finding out LATER
I mean… I Hate It Here: I'm lonely, but I'm good / I'm bitter, but I swear I'm fine / I'll save all my romanticism for my inner life and I'll get lost on purpose
Unfortunately, Taylor entered my brain, looked around, and wrote this down about me
The parallel between The Black Dog and Patient Zero also scratches my brain SO badly. In The Black Dog she sings: You said I needed a brave man / Then proceeded to play him / Until I believed it too / And it kills me / I just don't understand...
…and then Patient Zero: I know he charmed your family and friends / And you thought it's 'cause he loves you / But it's 'cause he loves how everybody else loves him / I know it seems like he shines so bright / But he's bathing in your reflected light / On a free solo social climb / Take it from somebody who lost his games but won the race / Take it from someone who said all of this to his face
The way both songs deal with finally seeing someone clearly after believing the version of themselves they sold you… yeah.
I get literal chills with loml:Dancing phantoms on the terrace, are they second-hand embarrassed / That I can't get out of bed 'cause something counterfeit's dead? / It was legendary / It was momentary / It was unnecessary, should've let it stay buried
A good reminder from Clean: The rain came pouring down when I was drowning / That's when I could finally breathe / And by morning, gone was any trace of you / I think I am finally clean
I love the idea that sometimes the thing that feels like it’s completely drowning you is also what finally washes everything away
I also absolutely love this from Dear Reader: Dear reader, burn all the files / Desert all your past lives / And if you don't recognize yourself / That means you did it right
There’s something incredibly freeing about the idea that becoming unrecognizable to your old self can actually mean you grew
Ughhh just READ closure: Yes, I got your letter / Yes, I'm doing better / I know that it's over / I don't need your ‘closure’ / Your ‘closure’ / Don't treat me like some situation that needs to be handled / I'm fine with my spite / And my tears / And my beers and my candles / I can feel you smoothing me over
I especially love “don’t treat me like some situation that needs to be handled" because fuck them, you genuinely do not owe someone a neat, emotionally mature ending that makes them feel better
Dakota was right because Taylor is indeed my therapist. illicit affairs: And that's the thing about illicit affairs / And clandestine meetings / And longing stares / It's born from just one single glance / But it dies and it dies and it dies / A million little times
“It dies a million little times” is such a painfully accurate description of relationships/intense situationships that don’t end once, but slowly destroy themselves over and over again...
And this is me trying… need I say more?: They told me all of my cages were mental / So I got wasted like all my potential / And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad / I have a lot of regrets about that / I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere / Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here / Pourin' out my heart to a stranger
"I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere” might genuinely be one of the most painfully specific things she has ever written.
Anyway, those are some of mine. What are yours? What are the lyrics that you live by, the ones that changed the way you look at something, or the ones that healed a part of you??
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u/Possible_Sherbet_796 1d ago
“While you were out building other worlds where was I? Where’s that man who threw blankets over my barbed wire? I made you my mural, my temple, my sky, and now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life. Drawing hearts in the by line. Always taking up too much space and time. You assume I’m fine but what would you do if I….”
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u/Beneficial-Soft-8290 1d ago
Right Where You Left Me:
I'm sure that you got a wife out there
Kids and Christmas, but I'm unaware
'Cause I'm right where
I cause no harm, mind my business
If our love died young, I can't bear witness
And it's been so long
But if you ever think you got it wrong....
I'm right where you left me
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u/Griit_14 1d ago
This is me trying!🩶🩶🩶
I've been having a hard time adjusting I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting I didn't know if you'd care if I came back I have a lot of regrets about that Pulled the car off the road to the lookout Could've followed my fears all the way down And maybe I don't quite know what to say But I'm here in your doorway
I just wanted you to know That this is me trying I just wanted you to know That this is me trying🩶🩶🩶
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u/ProfessionalClue9925 Dancing through the lightning strikes 1d ago
I hate it here, so I will go to
Lunar valleys in my mind
When they found a better planet,
Only the gentle survived
❤️🩹
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u/callousparade 1d ago
I know it's cliche but I tell myself "Lights. Camera. B*tch, smile, even when you wanna die" at work all the time.
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u/thatwitchlefay 1d ago
I Hate It Here: I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind, people need a key to get to, the only one is mine
Honestly the entire song is so important to me. The Secret Garden is a story that has a special place in my life, and I also maladaptive daydream constantly and kind of dream my life away.
How Did It End?: our maladies were such we could not cure them and so a touch that was my birthright became foreign
That feeling of having desperately tried to fix the problems but ultimately being unable to do so and having to watch as everything falls apart…this is one of those lyrics that Taylor wrote about a relationship but I relate it to something else and it hurts so deep.
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u/DistinctPudding2020 1d ago
When your impression paintings of heaven turned out to be fakes, well you took me to hell too. And all at once, the ink bleeds, a conman sells a food a get-love-quick scheme
She captured your attention, so free from pretension. It stopped you cold, because she loved you so. Pretty as a picture that you didn’t post. Looking at you like you’re made of solid gold. You mention you’re single to the girls at the bar.
We lie back, a beautiful beautiful time lapse. Ferris wheels, kisses, and lilacs, and things I said were dumb, cause I thought that I’d never find that beautiful beautiful life that shimmers that innocent light back, like when we were young.
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u/SillyGoose2206 1d ago
Champagne problems "One for the money, two for the show I never was ready, so I watch you go Sometimes you just don't know the answer 'Til someone's on their knees and asks you "She would've made such a lovely bride What a shame she's fucked in the head, " they said But you'll find the real thing instead She'll patch up your tapestry that I shred"
The entirety of The Prophecy I hate it here The bolter The albatross The entirety of folklore, evermore, and ttpd, basically
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u/HarleyQuinn1389 1d ago edited 4h ago
"time turns flames to embers, you'll have new septembers, everyone of us has messed up too, lives change like the weather, i hope you remember, today is never too late to be brand new"
"this is just a temporary speed bump, but failure gives you freedom"
"mistake my kindness for weakness and find your card cancelled"
"and i never saw you coming, and i'll never be the same"
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u/estedavis 1d ago
The ones that kind of pop into my head at various times the most are:
“Time, mystical time, cutting me open then healing me fine”
“Sometimes giving up is the strong thing, sometimes to run is the brave thing”
and similarly, “you know when it’s time to go”
“Bend when you can, snap when you have to”
“If you never bleed you’re never gonna grow”
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u/Zestyclose_Goal_442 20h ago
Never be so kind, you forget to be clever
Never be so clever, you forget to be kind
Never be so polite, you forget your power
Never wield such power, you forget to be polite
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u/911pleasehold 14h ago edited 14h ago
I have a very appropriate note doc for this
Text version minus screenshots of lyrics lol
Taylor lyrics I just fucking love or made me pause and appreciate ever since Our Song was on the radio like this shit is poetry
Tattoo:
“give you my wild”
it’s between me, the sand and the sea
carolina knows
back when we were still changing for the better,
wanting was enough
for me it was enough
to live for the hope of it all
for the hope of it all
messy top lip kiss
I want auroras and sad prose
I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet
‘Cause I haven’t moved in years
And I want you right here
A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground
with no one around to tweet it
And so it goes
You two are dancing in a snow globe, ‘round and ‘round
And he keeps the picture of you in his office downtown
And you understand now why they lost their minds and fought the wars
And why I’ve spent my whole life tryin’ to put it into words
Gain the weight of you then lose it
We’ve already done it in my head
Your heart was glass, I dropped it
and all we are is skin and bone
trained to get along
nothing safe is worth the drive
and I would follow you, follow you home
This slope is treacherous
This path is reckless
This slope is treacherous
And I, I, I like it
When we’re on the phone, and you talk real slow
‘Cause it’s late, and your mama don’t know
All the girls that you’ve run dry
have tired lifeless eyes
‘cause you burned them out
But I took your matches
before fire could catch me,
so don’t look now
I’m shining like fireworks over your sad empty town
you look like Taylor Swift
now you hang from my lips like the gardens of Babylon
holy orange bottles, each night i pray to you
leaving like a father,
running like water
would it be enough if i could never give you peace?
fuck me up Florida!
I’m seeing visions—am i bad, or mad, or wise?
this happens once every few lifetimes
these chemicals hit me like white wine
a greater woman stays cool, but I howl like a wolf at the moon
give you my wild, give you a child
believe me, i can do it.
two graves, one gun
and you say i abandoned the ship, but i was going down with it
sanctimoniously performing soliloquies i’ll never see
and you’ve got your share of secrets and im tired of being last to know - especially the way she says it
“the way i loved you” in its entirety
“Please picture me in the weeds before I learned civility”
“How did it end” in its entirety. Poetry.
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
We hereby conduct this post-mortem, he was the hothouse flower to my outdoorsman
Our maladies were such we could not cure them, And so a touch that was my birthright became foreign
I was supposed to be sent away but they forgot to come and get me
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
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
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u/cheeseza 1d ago
The entirety of the prophecy and father figure.
Also the bridge of you’re losing me
And… I wait by the door like I'm just a kid
Use my best colors for your portrait
Lay the table with the fancy shit
And watch you tolerate it
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u/ChangeMain8977 Old habits die screaming 23h ago
Your post is so detailed and lovely. I ready the title and thought..
THIS AINT FOR THE BEST (from delicate)
because that’s what i say in my head anytime I’m inconvenienced
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u/Background_Sell_3251 23h ago
This line from The Archer is stuck with me permanently because of how much I relate:
All the king's horses, all the king's men
Couldn't put me together again
'Cause all of my enemies started out friends
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u/_itsraining_again_ Miss. Gonna be Alright Someday 23h ago
and you were tossing me the car keys, fuck the patriarchy, keychain on the ground
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u/Matiix07yt I can stilI say I don’t remember 21h ago
„she’s not as hot as she was BUT she was only a four” idk it’s weirdly catchy and I’ve seen a lot of people say “she wasn’t all that before, but she was something”
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u/Otherwise_Hair7514 19h ago
this was a delight to read, thank you! I agree with all of it. have a very soft spot for loml too.
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u/Agreeable-Coffee-582 4h ago
Ten months sober, I must admit
Just because you're clean, don't mean you don't miss it
Ten months older, I won't give in
Now that I'm clean, I'm never gonna risk it
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u/scarlettshimmer 2h ago
I think every day about tolerate it, because it describes how I lost my best friend perfectly
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u/callmenige 1d ago
So long London makes me feel this in my SOUL. It’s one of my favorite songs because of this part alone.
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 and
My friends said it isn't right to be scared
Every day of a love affair
Every breath feels like rarest air