Girl At Home

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Girl At Home" from her deluxe Target Red album.

I so relate to Taylor in this song.  I have known plenty of guys in my lifetime that were dating someone else and flirting incessantly with other girls or weren't dating anyone specifically, but flirted with every girl they knew.

Taylor tells Yahoo music, "And there's a song called 'Girl at Home,' which was about a guy who had a girlfriend, and I just felt like it was disgusting that he was flirting with other girls."

Who is the guy that was flirting with other girls?

Taylor Swift and Harry Styles, Central Park 2012

I thought about it long and hard, and decided on Harry Styles!  They met at the 2012 Nickelodeon's 25th Annual Kids' Choice Awards introduced to each other by Justin Bieber and while he was nice, he flirted with tonz of girls.  He even kissed Emma Ostilly after he met Taylor.

Taylor shows that she has interest in him, "it would be a fine preposition" but she would only go along with it "If I was a stupid girl/And yeah I might go with it/If I hadn't once been just like her." He's "the kind of man who makes me sad/While she waits up/You chase down the newest thing/And take for granted what you have."  She has had this happen a few times to her, one of the biggest ones being Joe Jonas, which she sings about in "Better Than Revenge".

I am proud of Taylor for not going along with this flirtatious guy.  I know from experience that they can be very charming to you and to every other girl they meet, and it only ends in heartbreak.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Girl At Home".

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Come Back, Be Here

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Come Back, Be Here" from her deluxe Target Red album.

Taylor tells Yahoo Music "There's a song I wrote with Dan Wilson called 'Come Back... Be Here,' which I wrote about falling for someone and then they have to go away for work.  They're traveling, you're traveling, and you're thinking about them, but you're wondering how it's gonna work when there's so much distance between you."

Who is it about?  Who lives far away from Taylor?

Walgreen's Meet and Greet

I thought about this long and hard. I thought it could be Jake Gyllenhaal because they had to travel during their romance and he was in London while they were dating, but I don't think he had to travel very soon in their relationship and Taylor lived in New York at the time.  Why would she say "You're in New York today" twice in the song?

This song is about Eddie Redmayne!  

Eddie Redmayne

Taylor met him when she was being considered for a role in Les Miserables in October 2011.  (BTW, I am very sad that she is not in that movie.  It is one of my favorite musicals, I know all the words and I am so excited for the movie production and I thought Taylor would have been perfect for the role of Eponine.  But either she turned it down because of her album, or they chose someone else.  I have a feeling she turned it down because of the album) But she had to say goodbye after they met.  "You said it in a simple way 4am, the second day/How strange that I don’t know you at all/I stumble through the long goodbye/One last kiss then you catch your flight/Right when I was just about to fall." She had to say goodbye to him just as she was falling for him.  Eddie also lives in London, "I guess you are in London today". It also mentions him being in New York and her being in New York with "taxi cabs and busy streets".  They were both traveling during this time.  She was finishing her Speak Now tour and he was promoting "My Week With Marilyn". Eddie was in New York for the premiere of "My Week With Marilyn" and Taylor was in New York Madison Square Gardens for her tour, but not at the same time.

There was just no time for them to get to know one another.  Too bad they were never in the same city and given a chance to date.

Click here for the lyrics to the song, "Come Back, Be Here".

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Untouchable

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Untouchable" from her Platinum edition of "Fearless".

Taylor performing "Untouchable" at Stripped performance.

Who is this song about?

Well it's not really about anyone, it is a cover from Luna Halo and Taylor did an amazing job with it.  There is a little story behind it though best told by Scott Borchetta at the CMA Festival 2012.

Click here to hear the original song by Luna Halo.

"We were doing somethng to set up the Fearless record, a Clear Channel online (event). The hardcore Taylor fans know what I'm talking about. There was this beautiful acoustic setting, and she was doing a few new songs, but she had to do a cover song... So a couple weeks out, I'm like 'Taylor, I need to know what cover song you're going to do because we need to clear the publishing.' 'All right.' 'You got a title for me?' 'No.' A week before: 'Hey pal!' 'Hi!' 'This Clear Channel thing's coming up next week.' 'I know, it's gonna be great.' 'You know you have to do a cover song, right?' 'Yeah!' 'Any hints?' 'I'm working on it, I'll get back to you.' Click. So the day of... she's getting her hair done and playing around with the guitar, and I'm like 'All right ,what song are you gonna do?' She doesn't say anything, she just flips her computer open. And she knows that I love this rock band, Luna Halo, that I helped to get signed out of Nashville. They're friends of mine. And she starts playing 'Untouchable'—[and] if you've heard the original, it's this crunching rock song, and she turned it into this extraordinarily beautiful, touching piece of music. That's what she gives to me, those kind of moments. She knew that I loved that band and she took that song and said 'I'm doing this one for you.' "

She surprised Scott and played a song for him from a band he loved.  Luna Halo didn't mind either. Nathan Barlowe of Luna Halo told Dave Paulson November 24, 2009 "She could have chosen any cover in the world, but that’s what she chose. And we had heard from other people that she was a fan of Luna Halo, so I think it was a combination of those things. We lucked out, really. She covered the song and it sounded amazing, so from there, there were so many YouTube hits on it, and so many people watching it and doing imitations of it, that’s when the label decided that they should put it on the record."

I like this song a lot, it has a great melody and message.  It is basically about a person that is untouchable, that can't be reached, but the person singing wants to be with them so bad.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Untouchable".

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The Lucky One

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "The Lucky One" from her "Red" album.

Who is this song about?

"The Lucky One" cover art, courtesy of taylorswift.com

It is about Taylor's fears and stories of people she has been inspired by. She doesn't explicitly say who is the main person in the song.  (*When I met Taylor I asked her how many people this song was about, she said three and there are three verses, Coincidence? I think not.)  I think it is about many people.  It could be about Joni Mitchell, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn etc.  Who do you think it is about specifically?

The subject of the song starts out being "The Lucky One", The camera flashes make it "look like a dream/You had it figured out since you were in school/So overnight, you look like a 60s queen/Another name goes up in lights/Like diamonds in the sky..."  But end up not being happy even though "they tell you that you're lucky but you're so confused/cause you don't feel pretty, you just feel used." She talks about how they have known when to disappear, to enjoy their life more.  Then she talks about how she has become "The Lucky One".

Click here for the lyrics to the song, "The Lucky One." 

Taylor says in her Paint the World Red website, "The 'Lucky One' is a song I wrote while I was in Australia.  It kind of talks about some of my fears through telling the story of other people that I was inspired by.  More than their stories being told, I'm pretty much singing about what I'm scared of in that song, ending up kind of caught up in this whole thing and lonely and feeling misunderstood and feeling like when people think you're lucky that you're really not.  It kind of expresses my greatest fear of having this not end up being fun anymore, having it end up being a scary place. Some people get there, some people end up there. It's a story song and its something I'm really proud of because it kind of goes to a place that I'm terrified of."

Being famous can be fun at first, but people have ended up in a scary place over time. Taylor says, "Everybody's got their way of dealing with it. And for me, sometimes it's surrounding myself with my friends and venting, sometimes it's staying up at the piano until four o'clock in the morning, sometimes it's watching TV and forgetting about all of it, sometimes it's calling my mother up and crying. Sometimes you have a really bad day."

Your life is constantly also analyzed.  Taylor said, "There's a lot of trade-offs. There's the microscope that's always on you. The camera flashes, the fear that something you say will be taken the wrong way and you'll let your fans down. There's the fear that you'll be walking down the street and your skirt will blow up and you'll be in the news for three months."

Right now it's worth it for her, right now. Taylor says,  "You're scared of a lot of things for a lot of the time, but the trade-off of being able to get on a big stage and sing your songs — it's worth it."  She hasn't ended up like the girls in the song and she knows when her time is up she is going to leave.

She is wise to know when to get out of it, when it's not fun anymore.  She has a very good head on her shoulders.

Taylor told Katie Couric on the Katie show October 26, 2012 "I just feel like there will be a time when I'll probably kind of step a bit backwards from it.  I think that it's important to really live in the moment while you're here, but I also think it's important to know when it's time to walk off stage."

I for one hope it is not anytime soon, but I'm glad that Taylor has a good head on her shoulders and can see that she needs to be happy to keep doing what she does and not get caught up in it.

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The Story of Us

Today's Taylor Swift song is "The Story of Us" from her "Speak Now" album.

I can really relate to this song.  I have definitely fallen hard for someone and thought there was going to be this huge romantic story of "How we met and the sparks flew instantly", but it just seemed to fizzle. I am usually forced to see them again and it is super awkward.  I stand there "alone in a crowded room and/nervously pulling at my clothes and trying to look busy" while they do their "best to avoid me".   You don't know if you should say something or wait for him to say something.  That is the way Taylor feels in this song.  She knows "The battle's in your hands now/But I would lay my armor down/If you said you'd rather love than fight."

Click here for lyrics to the song, "The Story of Us."

Who is the guy that made Taylor feel so alone?

"The Story of Us" album art, courtesy of taylorswift.com

Taylor told Brian Mansfield of USA Today "The Story of Us is about running into someone I had been in a relationship with at an awards show, and we were seated a few seats away from each other. I just wanted to say to him, 'Is this killing you? Because it's killing me.' But I didn't. Because I couldn't. Because we both had these silent shields up.

I went home and I sat there at the kitchen table and I said to my mom, 'I felt like I was standing alone in a crowded room.' Then I got up and ran into my bedroom, as she's seen me do many times. And she probably assumed I had come up with a line in the song. And I had. And that was actually the last song I wrote on the album, and after I finished that one, I knew I was done."

What was the awards show.  Taylor revels it in her hidden lyrics message, "CMT AWARDS".  And who was there at the June 9, 2010 awards show?  John Mayer! 

He didn't end things properly with Taylor, he probably just quit calling or responding to her, like so many guys do when they are not interested in a girl.  Why can't they just say something and be polite and let the girl know how they feel instead of leading them on and not letting them know "page you're on"?

Click here for the music video to the song, "The Story of Us".

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Ours

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Ours" from her deluxe Target "Speak Now" album.

This song is about people judging relationships. It's kind of like "Love Story" where people didn't like a guy she had a crush on, but this time she goes for it and doesn't listen to them.  I can not even imagine what it is like to be Taylor and have all her dates splashed across the news.  I went on lots of dates with people only once, twice or three times, it didn't  work out, but the whole world didn't know about it.  That is why you date so you can see if you get along with that person and have that special spark.  Taylor doesn't have that luxury.   If she is spotted with a guy it is front page news, and when there are no follow up dates, the news stands make up all sorts of reasons why it didn't.  And when she starts to date a guy they instantly analyze the relationship with harsh opinions.

But Taylor is strong and stands up to the media/friends/family and lets her suitors know,

"Seems like there's always someone who disapproves/They'll judge it like they know about me and you/The jury's out, my choice is you."  It doesn't matter what other people think, she will do what she wants when it comes to love and follow her heart.

In VH1's storytellers 2012 Taylor said, "Its a song about someone that I really liked at the time.  What's kind of happened with my life, which has been interesting is there are like a lot of opinions about who you fall in love with which happens in everybody's life.  You fall in love with someone and all of the sudden your friends start chiming in and in my case its like, 'they don't look cute together', 'he's got tattoos',  'he's too tall for her', 'he's too short for her', 'he's too young for her', 'he's too old for her'.  I think that when two people fall in love it should just be about those two people. When I was dating someone that people didn't think I should've been dating, because I shouldn't have been dating him. When I was dating a guy that people didn't have too much of a good opinion about me dating I wrote this song to let him know that I didn't care what anyone else thought and it's called 'Ours'."

Who is this song about? Who was the guy that Taylor liked at the time?

The hint is in the lines,

"Ghosts from your past gonna jump out at me/Lurking in the shadows with their lip gloss smiles/Cause I love the gap between your teeth/And I love the riddles that you speak/And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored".

Click here for the lyrics to the song, "Ours".

Who has ghosts from his past with lip gloss smiles, ie other women, a gap between his teeth, speaks in riddles, and tattoos?

John Mayer!  If you look at the following picture you can see the gap in his bottom teeth. Too bad it didn't last because Taylor was definitely smitten.

*As a side note, I especially love the music video to the song, I can totally relate to it.  In the video the main character is going to work and works in a cubicle.  She is constantly bored throughout the day and thinking about her boyfriend the whole time. She has a sticky note from her boyfriend with "I love you" on it.  I totally worked in a cubicle and was bored all day and got sticky notes from hubby.  I can also relate to the broken printer, annoying coworkers, the water cooler, and eating lunch alone.  How does she know what it's like, she's never worked in a cubicle?  It's amazing how she can just relate to ordinary people.  At the end of the video we find out he is a service member and my husband is a service member!  I showed this video to my husband and he loved it too.

Click here for the music video, "Ours."

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I Almost Do

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "I Almost Do" from her "Red" album.

In this song Taylor addresses a former flame, one that she wants to get back with, she "dreams you're touching my face."  He tries to get in touch with her, but every time he does "there's no reply".  She can't get back with him, she can't pick up the phone and "say hello to you and risk another goodbye." She has been hurt by this guy before and she doesn't want to get hurt by this guy again.

Taylor says in her Paint the World Red website secret clues, "The song 'I Almost Do' is a song I wrote about the conflict that you feel when you want to take someone back and you want to give it another try, but you know you can't. You can't because it's hurt you so deeply that you know that you couldn't bear to go through that again. So you're sitting there and wondering where they are and hope that they think about you  and that you're almost picking up the phone call, but you just can't. I think I needed to write this song in order to not call that person actually.  I think that writing the song was what I did instead of picking up the phone."

Who is this song about?

 It is about Jake Gyllenhaal!  This song is very similar to "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together".  That song is clearly about Jake.  In "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" she asserts herself and says they are not getting back together because she has finally stopped caring what she thought about him.  "I Almost Do" was probably written before "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", when she still cared what he thought, and she cared about him.  She references him being in the "city" after a "long hard week".  Jake has homes in LA and in New York City.

But in her mind she still hopes that "sometimes you wonder about me".  She still has a piece of her heart connected to him and hope that he does too.

Click here for the lyrics to the song, "I Almost Do."

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Begin Again

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Begin Again" from her "Red" album.

On the Good Morning America preview of the song, Taylor said “It’s actually a song about when you've gotten through a really bad relationship and you finally dust yourself off and go on that first date after a horrible break-up, and the vulnerability that goes along with all of that.”

This song talks about two relationships.  The first one is an ex boyfriend who "didn't like it when I wore high heels", "didn't get this song", and never thought she was funny. The second relationship is her new interest.  It is the first date she goes on after 8 months of getting over her ex-boyfriend. He is very sweet to her "But you got here early/You pulled my chair out and helped me in."

Who are these two guys?

Taylor told Randy Lewis of LA Times, "There were a few track list choices I knew I was going to make way in advance. I knew I wanted to bookend the album with 'State of Grace' and 'Begin Again' because they're inspired by the same person who inspired a few songs on the record. I wanted to start and end the album with the first and last song I ever wrote about that relationship."

We know that "State of Grace" is about Jake Gyllenhaal, so this song must be about him too!  He is the first guy, the exboyfriend, and the second guys is Will Anderson the lead singer of Parachute.  They started hanging out at the end of 2011 and were spotted together in December.  Jake and Taylor's relationship got over sometime in February 2011 (after they had broken up and gotten back together a few times) and her first date with Will must have happened sometime in November 2011, "I've been spending the last 8 months thinking all love ever does/Is break and burn and end." This would fit the time frame of 8 months.

Taylor Swift and Will Anderson, December 2011.  

For whatever reason things didn't work out or progress further with Will, but I'm glad "on a Wednesday in a cafe [Taylor] watched it begin again" and she was finally able to get over Jake and "what's passed is past".

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Begin Again".

Click here for the music video to the song, "Begin Again".

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The Last Time

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "The Last Time" from her new "Red" album.

She wrote this song with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol.  It is a duet, he starts off by telling his side of the story and Taylor then tells hers.

Who is it about?

courtesy of taylorswift.com

The first clue is a door.  It is a focus of the song.  Taylor says in her Paint the World Red website " 'The Last Song' is a song that I wrote with Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol. This was a song I wrote about something I had been going through where you've got.  I picture a door and you've got on the outside of the door standing outside in the cold is this guy who's left his girlfriend over and over again and come back and asked for a second chance over and over and over again. And on the other side of the door you have this girl standing there with tears in her eyes wondering how she could possibly turn him away when she loves him this much, but she can't get hurt again. It's both of these people swearing that this will be the last time.  She is swearing this is the last time she is going to take him back, he swears its the last time he's going to leave her and hurt her.  It's a really intense song and I'm so proud to have Gary on the record."

It is interesting she uses the word "swear" here too, a word she used in "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" to describe "Then you come around again and say 
'baby, i miss you and i swear i'm gonna change'".  The two are connected.

And we have already established,  "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" is about Jake Gyllenhaal! Further hints come in the music video.

This is a screen shot from "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". The guy appears twice in the video at her door, one time he is leaving and looking confused at the door, the next he is knocking at the door wanting to come back. In this song the guy "find[s] myself at your door/Just like all those times before." He then implies he wants to get back together by saying, "This is the last time i’m asking you this/Put my name at the top of your list."  But it is very hard for Taylor, "You find yourself at my door/Just like all those times before/You wear your best apology/But I was there to watch you leave/And all the times I let you in/Just for you to go again."  He comes to the door, apologizes, but then leaves, breaks up with her, and then asks to come back again.  The use of the word again means he has done this before and what word is in WANEGBT?  The word again,
 "Then you come around again and say
'baby, i miss you and i swear i'm gonna change'".

Click here for lyrics to the song, "The Last Time."

The last hint may be one specifically for Jake to let him know what caused her so much pain, LA ON YOUR BREAK.  In between promoting his film "Love and Other Drugs" he went to his house in LA in December 2010.  Taylor joined him for a while and then went back to New York.  She had a party for her birthday, but he stayed in LA.  From the song The Moment I Knew Taylor says, "You said you’d be here, you said you’d be here".  But her never came for her and she was crushed.  This was the last straw, "the moment I knew".  It was her 21st birthday, a big deal birthday and he wasn't there.

(This is probably my least favorite song on the album.  I like it, but I do not love it like I love the other songs.  I think it is Gary Lightbody's influence.  She wrote it with him and to me it sounds like a Snow Patrol song, not a Taylor Swift song.  I like some Snow Patrol songs, just not their slow songs.)

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