"22" Music Video

Taylor Swift's new music video "22" is here!  And today is the start of her Red Tour!

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Mary's Song (Oh My My)

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Mary's Song (Oh My My)" from her Taylor Swift album.

Who is this song about?

It is about Taylor's neighbors in Nashville, Tennessee who she saw all the time and were a great example of a good relationship and marriage. In the song she starts out when the couple was just seven and nine.  Their "daddies used to joke about the two of us/Growing up and falling in love".  Then they got older and the girl was sixteen and their "daddies used to joke about the two of us" but "they never believed we'd really fall in love". The couple stared dating, had some fights, he proposed, they got married, they had babies and suddenly they are eighty seven and eighty-nine. After each verse the line "oh my my my" is repeated to symbolize the relationship.  Oh my my my, it is quite an achievement to be together like that for so long.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Mary's Song (Oh My My)"

Taylor said on her website, "I wrote this song about a couple who lived next door to us. They'd been married forever and they came over one night for dinner, and were just so cute. They were talking about how they fell in love and got married, and how they met when they were just little kids. I thought it was so sweet, because you can go to the grocery store and read the tabloids, and see who's breaking up and cheating on each other (or just listen to some of my songs, haha). But it was really comforting to know that all I had to do was go home and look next door to see a perfect example of forever."

I hope that Taylor can find love like this some day.

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Never Grow Up

Today's Taylor Swift song is "Never Grow Up" from her Speak Now album.

When I first heard this song I did not relate to it as well, but the more I hear it the more I understand.  It made me think of a little baby growing up and the mom not wanting the baby to grow up.  I think it is amazing Taylor has such great insight because she does not have kids, but she really sees how it is from the perspective of a parent.  

Who is this song about?

It is about Taylor! The secret hint is "MOVED OUT IN JULY".  She moved out from her parents house July 2010.

In the first verse she talks about a little baby, "Your little hand's wrapped around my finger".  The second verse, the child is 14, "You're in the car on the way to the movies/And you're mortified your mom's dropping you off/But don't make her drop you off around the block/Remember that she's getting older too".  She then starts talking about herself in the middle part of the song, "Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room/Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home".  She mentions her little brother, "remember the words said/And all your little brother's favorite songs".  And then mentions herself, "I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone".  The next verse she is "in my new apartment/In a big city, they just dropped me off/It's so much colder that I thought it would be/So I tuck myself in and turn my night light on".  She realizes it is not like home, it is scary, "Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up/I could still be little/Oh I don't wanna grow up, wish I'd never grown up It could still be simple".  Then she brings the song away from herself again.  "Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple/Won't let nobody hurt you/Won't let no one break your heart."

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Never Grow Up".

Taylor said on her website, "'Never Grow Up' is a song about the fact that I don't quite know how I feel about growing up. It's tricky. Growing up happens without you knowing it. Growing up is such a crazy concept because a lot of times when you were younger you wish you were older. I look out into a crowd every night and I see a lot of girls that are my age and going through exactly the same things as I'm going through. Every once in a while I look down and I see a little girl who is seven or eight, and I wish I could tell her all of this. There she is becoming who she is going to be and forming her thoughts and dreams and opinions. I wrote this song for those little girls."

What is her home like? 

Taylor told Rolling stone, "It's going to be my fantasy world. The ceiling of my living room is painted like the night sky. There's a pond in the living room ... The pond is a moat around the fireplace and may possibly have koi fish in it. You step on a stepping stone in the pond in order to get on a spiral staircase, which takes you up to the human-sized bird cage observatory. They're delivering a human-size birdcage, which I'll put a brass telescope in."

Rolling Stone was invited into her apartment in 2012 and described it in an article on her. "There is a pond, complete with koi fish, in the middle of Swift's astonishing, many-colored Nashville condo. It sits beneath a wrought-metal spiral staircase leading to a human-size birdcage that faces floor-to-ceiling windows, with a view stretching to the green mountains beyond downtown. ('It's the most comfortable place in the world,' she says of the wooden cage, built from a sketch she made. 'It's just, like, pillows and comfiness.')

Under the previous owner, this was an ultramodern bachelor pad. Over 18 months of remodeling, Swift gave the condo a sex change and a heavy dose of well-funded OCD whimsy. The ceiling is arranged in multiple motifs – billowing curtains here, a painted indigo night sky there. In one corner, under hanging crystalline stars, sits a giant bunny made of moss. He's wearing a hat. 'It's a whole Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland structure here,' she says, welcoming me the next morning. 'It's what the inside of my brain looks like, essentially.' "

She told Jay Leno November 23, 2010 all about her new life, living on her own.

"I moved in the beginning of the summer. I've been working on this condo in Nasvhille about a year, doing construction. When I walked in, it was really trendy, and I eventually fell in love with it. But the inside of it was like a dude's bachelor ... and I was like, we need to change this and make it cozy and pretty and mismatched! So we ripped out everything [and] put in like barn, hardwood floors, old reclaimed brick ... And the kitchen! Oh my God, I love my kitchen! It's got mismatched colored cabinets and mismatched knobs on cabinets and mismatched chairs ... but it's very girly, and they're well-matched mismatched! There's lots of pillows everywhere."

"I love cooking. It's one of my favorite things to do. And now I have my own kitchen -- so now I can! And I make my bed everyday! [laughs] I didn't used to do that, back when I lived at home. My mom comes over now, and she'll walk in and be like, 'Wow ... so you do this now? You didn't do this before, but you do this now. Great.' [laughs]"

"Because that would be dude-like ... so I was contemplating not having any TVs in my place at all. I was like, do I really need a TV? And then at the end, I realized I did. But I put it in this contraption that I found online, where you can have it hidden, and then have it come up when you want to see it. Because it's a very antique kind of apartment, so I thought, I can't have a big TV mounted on the wall! It would ruin everything. So I had to hide it ...and you push a button, so it comes up! Sometimes when I'm alone, I'll push up, down ... up, down! [laughs] You can do that when you're alone-- and nobody's gonna judge you! [laughs]"

Here's a peek inside her house.

It is scary to grow up and move out on your own.  I was 18 when I moved out and my aunt dropped me off at school.  It was for college.  I wondered how I would fit in, how it would be.  It ended up being one of the best experiences of my life.  Taylor's been moved out for a while now and I think she is enjoying it, even if it does come with heartbreak and loneliness sometimes, that's part of growing up.

*On a side note, I have now been to one of her houses, in NYC.  It was a amazing and she was a perfect host. Taylor thanks for being so nice and opening your homes to fans!

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Hey Stephen

Today's Taylor Swift song is "Hey Stephen" from her Fearless album.

Who is this song about?

Well it's not that hard to guess the first name of the guy, it's STEPHEN (which by the way is the first name of my charming husband, except he spells it with a v.)  His full name is Stephen Barker Liles and he plays in a country music band called, Love and Theft.

Taylor tells Philadelphia magazine November 2008, "This is a guy I had a crush on. I wrote about all these reasons he should be with me instead of other girls."  In the song she says, "Hey Stephen I could give you fifty reasons why I should be the one you choose/All those other girls, well they're beautiful but would they write a song for you".  But she is too shy to tell him how she feels, "Hey Stephen, I know looks can be deceiving but I know I saw a light in you/As we walked we were talking and I didn't say half the things I wanted to."  But she can tell him in the song, " 'cause I can't help it if you look like an angel/Can't help I if I wanna kiss you in the rain so/Come feel this magic I've been feeling since I met you/Can't help it if there's no one else/I'm waiting alone now so come on and come out and pull me near."

Click here for lyrics to the song: "Hey Stephen"

Taylor tells New York Times during "Screen Test:Taylor Swift" December 9, 2009, "When I write songs I don't hesitate to put names in the songs because that's how I deal with life. I had an awesome experience with this last record, with this song called 'Hey Stephen'.  This was a guy who opened up a couple shows for me on tour.  It was just you know, talked to him a couple times, we'd hang out at catering or whatever.  It was never anything, like he would ever know that I liked him.  I don't ever confess that sort in real life, but I really do like to confess it in this fantasy music life that I get to live.  So I wrote this song called 'Hey Stephen' and I sent Stephen a text message and I was like 'Hey, track 5'."

Stephen Barker Liles on left, Taylor Swift on right

What was his reaction to the song?

Stephen tells Planet Verge, “Taylor called me up and was like, ‘Hey I wrote a song about you,’  and I got a little nervous because I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, But after hearing the song, it was definitely one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.” 

That is not the end of the story, it seems Stephen had some reciprocal feelings for Taylor.  "You know what’s funny about that whole thing is that I actually wrote a song for Taylor at the same time that she wrote ‘Hey Stephen’ for me. So when Taylor called me [back in 2008] and told me about the song she wrote for me I actually was like ‘ That’s really funny because I wrote a song about you too,' It was a weird moment because I wasn't expecting her to say she wrote a song for me and I think it was a mutual thing on her end too, but she asked me what the words were so I only told her a little bit. I was like, ‘This world is goin’ crazy, but baby what do you say we try to make it anyway?’ And that was that.”

At first he wasn't going to release the song he wrote. He told Planet Verge, "No, but I probably should make one. It’s really one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. Taylor is such an awesome girl, and I’ve had a lot of family and friends tell me that they think I should put it out for people to hear, so I’ll have to get on that soon.” He finally released it, "Try to Make it Anyway" in 2011, he said, "Planet Verge has been good to us, this whole experience with the song was just fun too. I did the recording in the studio I have in my house and filmed the video in my backyard–in my barn actually, which my buddy Aaron Thomas helped me out with all of that. I really just love songwriting and this song has become one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.”

Click here to hear his song, "Try to Make it Anyway".

Nothing ever happened between the two, but what a cute story.  They both made songs for each other.

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Better Than Revenge

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Better Than Revenge" from her "Speak Now" album.

Taylor Swift, courtesy of taylorswift.com

This is a great revenge song.  What is worse than your boyfriend breaking up with you?  Your boyfriend breaking up with you because he's dating another girl!

Who is this song about?

Taylor tells the story in the song. "The story starts when it was hot and it was summer and.../I had it all, I had him right where I wanted him/She came along, got him alone and let's hear the applause/She took him faster than you could say 'sabotage' ".  Taylor started dating Joe Jonas in July 2008, but was in for a surprise   Camilla Belle unexpectedly pulled Joe Jonas out from under Taylor Swift's nose. They met when he was filming his music video for "Lovebug".  She "never saw it coming, wouldn't have suspected it/I underestimated just who I was dealing with". He broke up with her in October 2008 and started dating Camilla.  Joe broke it off with Taylor and she was confused and heartbroken, see the song "Forever and Always".

Joe Jonas and Camilla Belle

But Taylor has something to say to Ms Camilla Belle, "go stand in the corner and think about what you did". And to everyone else, "She's not a saint/And she's not what you think/She's an actress, whoa", "Stealing other people's toys/On the playground won't/Make you many friends", "Or pushing people down it gets you where you wanna go."  She is letting her know (and the whole world, ie the revenge part) she did not appreciate her for stealing him and is helping her learn her lesson.  "They wouldn't teach you that in prep school so it's up to me...There is nothing I do better than revenge"

It didn't last for Camilla and Joe, what does when you start it like that?  They broke up in July 2009.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "Better Than Revenge".

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Breathe

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Breathe" from her "Fearless" album.

Taylor collaborated with Colbie Caillat on this song. Colbie's voice blends perfectly with Taylor's and adds a lot to the song.

Taylor Swift and Colbie Caillat

Who is this song about?

Album art for "Breathe", photo courtesy of taylorswift.com

From the lyrics it would seem like it was a break up song about a boy, but it is not about a boy.

"And we know it's never simple/Never easy./Never a clean break, noone here to save me./You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand/And I can't/Breathe/Without you/But I have to."

It is about a good friend of Taylor's, Emily Poe, "It's two a.m./Feelin' like I just lost a friend./Hope you know it's not easy/Easy for me".   Emily toured with Taylor for two years as her fiddle player.  It is not exactly known why she left the band, but she left it in 2008 and went to law school at the University of Tennessee.  It was hard for Taylor to see her go.

Taylor and Emily Poe

In a conversation with Colbie Caillat in the "Making of Breathe" video Taylor says:

Taylor: "It was total therapy because I came in and I was like look you know one of my best friends, I'm going to not have to see anymore and is not going to be part of what I do and it's like the hardest thing to go through.  It's crazy listening to the song because you'd think it'd be about a relationship, but it's really about losing a friend and having a fallout, just the loss."

Colbie: "It can relate to anyone, anything."

Taylor: "It does, it's never specific as to why, that's my favorite thing about it, it doesn't talk about why or who's fault it was because sometimes the hardest time of when you say goodbye it's nobodies fault. It just has to stop."

While Taylor never says exactly why it didn't work out she says it couldn't be helped, there were too many obstacles. "Never wanted this, never wanna see you hurt./Every little bump in the road I tried to swerve./But people are people/And sometimes it doesn't work out."

I can relate to Taylor. It's a subject I've thought about, but not much is written on, how best friendships are really relationships at times.  When you date a boy you can just break up, but when things don't work out with a best girlfriend, you don't just end it in the same way. I've had some friendships that just turned toxic after a while and you just have to take a breather.  No one is right or wrong, the friendship just needs to "breathe" for a minute to work out the problems. Sometimes you can be friends with the person again and sometimes it just wouldn't work out if you tried again. You just have to say goodbye.

She apologizes at the end of the song in a string of "Sorry's" which also happens to be the hidden message in the song, IM SORRY IM SORRY IM SORRY.  It is hard to say goodbye to a best friend, but sometimes it is the best thing for everyone even though it's no one's fault.

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

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Red

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

This song is the title song from the album and does a good job describing what the album is about, a lot of intense emotion.  In her Good Morning America introduction she said, “I wrote this song about the fact that some things in life are just hard to forget… because the emotions that are involved with them can be so intense—and to me, intense emotion is red.”  She does a really good job at capturing the intensity of emotion felt when loving someone and the isolation and longing after losing someone you have loved so much. It is such a fun song.  A good mix of country and pop.  In the song Taylor describes as loving a certain guy as "Red" and losing him is like "Blue".  It has a fun and catchy tune.

Taylor also says, "Red is a song that I wrote halfway through making this album and it changed what this album became. This song is about correlating different emotions to different colors.  It hit me all of the sudden that most of the emotions I felt in this process of making this album were red emotions, all the intense ones, at the happy and angry end of the spectrum and it really changed my outlook on where this record was going because to me this song is very different, very descriptive.  It has an edge to it that to me kind of expanded what I wanted to do."

"Red" booklet picture, courtesy of taylorswift.com

Who is this song about?

I had a little doubt who this song was about and was waffling back and forth between two people.  I thought it could be Eddie Redmayne.  She was known to have a crush on him. "Come Back, Be Here" is about him. And his name has "Red" in it, and he was in a play called "Red" and a movie called "Powder Blue". But I didn't know if they actually dated.  He seemed to confirm it the other day when he said it was "absolute nonsense" that he and Taylor had dated.  Unless he is hiding a secret romance, I don't think this song is about him.  Then who is this song about?  It is about...well who have all the songs been about on this album?  Jake Gyllenhaal. She fell for him hard and this song describes what she felt like as she was trying to get over him.

I love the imagery in this song, "Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street/Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly".  Maserati's are racing cars, if you are driving one down a dead end street then it wouldn't be very fun. (Side note, my husband did say it would be fun if the street was very long). Taylor is saying, the romance was so fun and so promising, but all of the sudden it was over and your ride in the Maserati was done because you came to the end of the road.  Like the end of the racing road your relationship road has come to and end.

She then references the colors of autumn saying, "Like the colors in autumn so bright just before they lose it all".  Fall is so pretty, and the colors are amazing.  She dated Jake when she was in New York and they did go upstate to pick apples and probably drove through all the beautiful colors.  I've been in New York this fall/winter and the fall was amazing, the colors were beautiful, but then Hurricane Sandy came and took them away and it has been pretty bleak.  Her relationship was as beautiful as those colors, but like the autumn leaves, the colors faded and it was no more.

She then compares the relationship/breakup to certain colors.  "Loving him was red/Losing him was blue/Missing him was dark grey."  I can really imagine all those colors because I've been through it too.  Love is vibrant and wonderful, you absolutely love the person with all your being, breaking up is certainly blue, you look back and just wonder why, what went wrong, and being alone, missing him is very grey, you sit alone at your house remembering all the fun, red, vibrant things you did with him.  It must have been hard for Taylor, she broke up with him in the winter and the whole world was grey too, just like her.

This song illustrates the pain and regret that can come when you see how good love can be and then lose it. "Regretting him was like wishing you never found out that love could be that strong."  I hope Taylor finds this red intense love again and is able to hold on to it forever.

Click here for the lyrics to the song, "Red".
Click here to see the music video for "Red".

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Fearless

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Fearless" from her "Fearless" album.

This song is a perfect song for the beginning of a relationship, "Well you stood there with me in the doorway/My hands shake/I'm not usually this way but/You pull me in and I'm a little more brave/It's the first kiss/It's flawless/Really something/It's fearless."  You always want to remember those first moments, "You put your eyes on me/In this moment now capture it, remember it/Cause I don't know how it gets better than this."  This person makes you want to "dance in a storm in my best dress."

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

Who is this song about?

The lyric hint in the song is, "I LOVED YOU BEFORE I MET YOU."

Okay that was a trick question, it isn't about anyone, it's a song that Taylor wrote about what it would be like to be that in love.  Taylor says, "This is a song about the fearlessness of falling in love. No matter how many break up songs you write, no matter how many times you get hurt, you will always fall in love again. When I wrote “Fearless,” I wasn’t dating anyone. I wasn’t even in the beginning stages of dating anybody. I really was all by myself out on tour and I got this idea for a song about the best first date. I think sometimes when you’re writing love songs, you don’t write them about what you’re going through at the moment, you write about what you wish you had. So, this song is about the best first date I haven't had yet."

The lyric hint "I LOVED YOU BEFORE I MET YOU" refers to the future love of her life.  Taylor has met a lot of guys and always picks herself up again.  I had to go through a lot of duds before I found my prince charming.  Kudos to her for picking herself up again and being fearless about falling in love.  Some day you will find your prince charming Taylor!

Click here for the music video to the song, "Fearless".

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I Knew You Were Trouble

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "I Knew You Were Trouble" from her "Red" album.

This song is definitely a pop song.  It has a catchy chorus, a distinct beat and her voice is definitely in pop mode. I love it.

In her preview of the song on Good Morning America Taylor said, "The song we're releasing tonight ... it's a song that's one of my favorite songs on the album because it sounds just as chaotic as the feeling was when I wrote it. It's a song about kind of being frustrated with yourself because you have your heart broken and you knew when you first saw that person you saw all these red flags and you just went for it anyway, 'So, shame on me.' "

Who is this song about?  I had my suspicions when I first heard the song, but after watching the music video I definitely know who it is. It is about John Mayer!

Here are some of the clues from the lyrics. The first is, "Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago".  There are some rumblings that this is about Harry Styles, it is not, why not?  This line.  John Mayer was definitely a few mistakes ago.

She says that this guy "never loved me or her or anyone or anything."  And that as soon as she "fell hard" he "took a step back."  How many women has John Mayer tried to get just so he could dump them?  Taylor definitely knew he was "trouble when you walked in" and in the end "heard you moved on from whispers on the street" and she knew she was just "a new notch in your belt."  She sings about not really knowing the status of their relationship, just wanting to talk to him again when she saw him CMT awards in the song "The Story of Us".   John Mayer clearly never gave any closure to Taylor, boo John Mayer.

Click here for the lyrics to the song, "I Knew You Were Trouble".

The other clues come from the music video.  The guy in the music video has a lot of tattoos  as does John Mayer.  The guy in the music video plays the guitar and is a musician, John Mayer certainly is that.  The other may come from the necklace that is featured prominently in the video.  It seems to be one that is half of another necklace, and it appears that the guy in the video is wearing the other half at times.  He gives this necklace to her and is seen wearing it.  In the end she drops it on the ground to signify the end of their relationship.  Taylor and John sang "Half of My Heart" together for John's album "Continuum".  Taylor is also seen wearing a leather jacket, much like one that John Mayer wore while they were dating.

What is most important about this song though is Taylor communicating her feelings about how she lost herself in the whole relationship.  In the music video she has a voice narration introduction, she says "I think that the worst part of it all wasn't losing him, it was losing me".  She knew "his world moved too fast and burned too bright" but wondered how "the devil be pulling me towards someone who looks so much like and angel when he smiles at you?"  The video focuses on Taylor's confusion and loss of herself.  She wakes up in the ruins of a party, very disheveled.  The mood of the video is very melancholy and bleak, void of bright and vibrant colors. At the end of the video she says, "I don't know if you know who you are until you lose who you are".  Taylor has definitely moved on, is happy and dating again, and I am happy for her, because John Mayer definitely was trouble.

Click here for the music video for "I Knew You Were Trouble".

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"I Knew You Were Trouble" Music Video

Here's Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" music video, with the introduction narration and the ending narration.

Click here for the meaning of the song, "I Knew You Were Trouble".

Introduction:

"I think, I think when it's all over it just comes back in flashes you know
It's like a kaleidoscope of memories, but it just all comes back.
But he never does.

I think part of me knew the second I saw him that this would happen
It's not really anything he said or anything he did
It was the feeling that came along with it
And crazy thing is I don't know if I'm ever going to feel that way again.
But I don't know if I should.

I knew his world moved too fast and burned too bright, but I just thought,
How could the devil be pulling me towards someone who looks so much like and angel when he smiles at you?
Maybe he knew that when he saw me.
I guess I just lost my balance.

I think that the worst part of it all wasn't losing him, it was losing me."

Ending:

"I don't know if you know who you are until you lose who you are."




I Knew You Were Trouble Lyrics (Red Album)

Written by Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback

once upon a time, a feW mistakes ago
i was in your sigHts, you got mE aloNe
You found me, you fOund me, you foUnd me…
i gueSs you didn't cAre and i guess i liked that
and i When i fell hard, you took a step back
without Me, without mE, without me…
and he's long gone when he's next to me
and i realize the blame is on me, cause

CHORUS
i knew you were trouble when you walkeD in
so shAme on me Now
flew me to plaCes i’d never been till you put me down
oh I knew you were trouble when you walked iN
so shame on me now
flew me to places i’d never been
now i’m lyinG on the cold hard ground
oh oh trouble, trouble, trouble
oh oh trouble, trouble, trouble

no apologies, he'll never see you cry
pretends he doesn't know that he's the reason why
you're drowning, you’re drowning, you’re drowning…
and i heard you moved on from whispers on the street
a new notch in your belt is all i’ll ever be
and now i see, now i see, now i see…
he was long gone when he met me
and i realize the joke is on me
hey!

REPEAT CHORUS

and the saddest fear
comes creeping in
that you never loved me
or her...or anyone...or anything
yeah

REPEAT CHORUS

i knew you were trouble when you walked in
trouble, trouble, trouble
i knew you were trouble when you walked in
trouble, trouble, trouble

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A Place In This World

Today is Taylor's 23rd birthday!  Happy Birthday Taylor!  In honor of her birthday the meaning of today's song is "A Place In This World" from her "Taylor Swift" album.

Who is this song about?

It's about Taylor and her desire to find a place in this world through her music.

"I was thirteen when I wrote the song "A Place In This World" and I was just kind of looking around at all these big buildings and all these important people and wondering how I was going to fit in."

In the beginning of the song Taylor is doubtful and unsure of what she wants, "I don't know what I want, so don't ask me/Cause I'm still trying to figure it out."  In the middle of the song she knows that "I'm just a girl, trying to find a place is/This world/And tomorrow's just a mystery, oh yeah."  By the end of the song she is more confident and expresses this thought "Maybe I'm just a girl on a mission/But I'm ready to fly" knowing she needs to find her place in this world.

Click here for lyrics to the song, "A Place In This World". 

What was her place in this world?  What did she want more than anything?

In "A Place In This World" documentary Taylor says, "My big dream is to look out into a crowd of thousands of people and have them singing the words to my songs.  That to me would just be everything I've ever hoped for. I want to make people feel things when they hear my music. I want to give a song to someone who is going through a breakup.  I want to give a song to someone who loves someone and can't tell them, a song for someone who has just fallen in love, and a song for people who are just living their lives." ("A Place In This World" documentary)

Taylor's dream started when she was ten Taylor says, "I think I first realized I wanted to be in country music and to be an artist when I was ten and I started dragging my parents to festivals and fairs and karaoke contests and I did that for about a year before I came to Nashville for the first time." ("A Place In This World" documentary)

Taylor tells CMT Insider in 2008 "I first visited Nashville after I watched this TV program about Faith Hill. It said that she went to Nashville and that's how she made it in country music. So ever since I saw that TV program when I was about 10, I was obsessively, obnoxiously bugging my parents every day -- 'We've got to go to Nashville. Can we go to Nashville? Can we go on a trip to Nashville like now? Or maybe spring break, can we go to Nashville?' Everything led to that. It was like, 'So how was your day at school today, Taylor?" 'Great. Can we go to Nashville?' I would bug them every day about it until finally we planned a trip to Nashville."

 "I was eleven and I had this demo CD of me singing Dixie Chicks and Leann Rimes songs and walked into ever major record label and was like, 'Hey I'm Taylor, I'm eleven, I want a record deal. Call me."

"I think that was the trip that made me realize that I really needed to be different so I went back home to Pennsylvania where I grew up and I started writing songs and I picked up a 12 string guitar and started to play.  That's when I started writing every single day after school.  I would go into town after school and write until nine pm, come home do my homework and that's what I did for about 2.5 years straight." ("A Place In This World" documentary)

Taylor tells CMT Insider in 2008 "After the trip that we initially took and met with people on Music Row, I went home and decided that I needed to learn a few more things before I went back. I learned guitar and I learned songwriting, and I never put it down. I would play guitar for four hours a day, and my mom would make me stop, and we'd have to tape up my fingers. So instead of playing at karaoke bars and things like that where I needed to drag my little karaoke machine everywhere, I would go with my guitar and I would plug it in at coffee houses, and I would bring my little amplifier and plug it in at Boy Scout meetings. I would plug it in at all these different places, little random places where you could play. I now had a portable instrument, and I could go accompany myself, and I could play anywhere I wanted to. That really expanded the places where I could play and my abilities. I played so much that I came a long way in a short period of time."

She still tried to make it in Nashville, and did not give up. "When I was about 12, we started going to Nashville and taking trips every two months or so, going to Nashville for a week trying to meet songwriters, trying to get my foot in the door at different places. Eventually, we scored this meeting with RCA Records when I was 13. I went into RCA, and I pulled out my guitar and I played them a bunch of songs, maybe 20 songs. The A&R people there said, "We want to sign you to a development deal." And that was when I was 13. A development deal is not a full-on record deal. It's not 'All right, we're going to make an album. Let's go.' It's 'We're going to sponsor and pay for your demos that you do over this next year, and we're going to see how you grow as an artist. And then in a year, we're going to decide whether we want you or whether we want to develop you for more time or whether we want to drop you.' It's a non-committal commitment, but I was elated. I was just, 'Oh, my gosh! This huge record label wants to sign me to a development deal! I'm so excited!' So we started coming to Nashville more and more and more, and eventually we just decided to move." (CMT Insider)

Taylor moved to Nashville when she was fourteen and started attending Hendersonville High her freshman year. And finally when she was fifteen everything started to pay off, she got a record label and was able to start sharing her music with the world.  When she was sixteen she released her first album, a major victory in Nashville, a city that didn't see many young artists.  Everything skyrocketed after that.

"In this last year everything I've ever worked for has started to pay off. This last year has been absolutely amazing.  It's like everything I've ever wanted, everything I've ever worked for all this time is just happening because getting a record deal means being able to do what I want to do.  This is my chance, this is my chance to bring my music out of my bedroom where I'm writing it. I think it's definitely very surreal right now because there are so many firsts." ("A Place In This World" documentary)

In her lyric hints, capital letters in the lyric booklet Taylor says "FOUND IT".  I'm SO glad you found your place in this world Taylor!  Thanks for your music and Happy Birthday!

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Our Song

Today's Taylor Swift song is the meaning of "Our Song" from her album "Taylor Swift".

This song is a really fun song about a couple who doesn't have a song.  In the song Taylor describes all the fun things they do together and in essence it becomes their song.  This song would be a fun upbeat wedding song.

Who is this song about?

"Our Song" music video

It is about her boyfriend her freshman year of high school named Drew.

In November 2012 Taylor Swift during her VH1 storytellers concert Taylor said "This is a song that was off of my first album, and my first album came out when I was sixteen so the songs that I wrote on that album were songs I wrote when I was fourteen and fifteen. This was a song that I wrote actually to sing at the high school talent show. I was a freshman and I was, they had this talent show and I'd just moved there and I really wanted to like play for my friends the first time and I'd never told them really that I did this and I loved this and I write songs.  I had been dating this guy who was so nice.  So I wanted to write this song about us and play it for him and his friends and for me and for like all my friends and it was the high school talent show.  So I wrote this song and I included all these details about our relationship like how when we were on the phone really late at night my mom would patrol outside my room. She for real would just be like pacing outside my room like in figure eights and I'd be under the covers saying 'I like you so much too, I can't get off, I don't want to get off the phone, I just like you so much.'  My mom would be like 'Taylor get off the phone, you have to sleep, it's four in the morning you have to sleep, this is ridiculous, you will see Drew tomorrow, this is ridiculous.'  I wrote a song about like all the details of our relationship like when we were riding in cars and shotgun and like all those things.  So I go and I play it at the talent show and my friends loved it and like his friends loved it and people clapped a lot for it.  I went to my record label and I said to the guy at the record label, 'I think we should really put this song on the record because my friends at high school love it.' He was like, 'Now you can't just make all your decisions about a very serious thing like an album based on if your high school friends like it or not.' It ended up being our first number one at country radio so I guess you can."

It is such a happy and upbeat song and is definitely a Taylor classic.

Click here for the lyrics to "Our Song". 

Click here to watch the music video for "Our Song".

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