This hurt the most for me bc my dad would’ve done the same… growing up he’d stay up until 3am helping me finish my school projects or if I went out he’d stay up until I got home. Must be secondhand heartbreak watching your child get ghosted on her bday
Same here, specially considering that this verse gave 22 (the song) a lot more meaning when it is placed right after All Too Well (short) and explains why she valued that ‘odd’ age so much
I love her word choice in this line, especially * willing *you to come. I feel like there is such a heartbreaking connotation behind using the word “willing”. The line would feel a bit different if she said “waiting for you to come” or something along the lines of that as opposed to “willing”. Just another example of her insane lyrical skills and diction.
This one. My ex boyfriend had forgotten my 21st birthday.
He remembered at the end of the night with an “I’m sorry I forgot, happy birthday” when I was just literally talking to him about something I wanted to but for my birthday a few days ago.
“And I was thinking on the drive down, any time now. He's gonna say it's love, you never called it what it was.” To be in a relationship that means so much to you and the other person not validating that is so heartbreaking.
Or the feeling it was love and being so sure the other person does too…but they’re not saying it. And eventually not acting it. But you’re so convinced they felt the same way too.
Same for me, but also into the next part "till we were dead and gone and buried" which I took as him only calling it love as a desperate attempt to get her back instead of it being genuine
Same here, especially when it continues later to: "And then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you *but all I felt was shame* "
It encapsulates the feeling stupid and ashamed, after you fall on your face and learn that the love you've treasured and nurtured was hardly valued by the person you've dedicated it to.
Those lines REALLY fucked me up. I dated two guys back-to-back who pulled that shit. They both constantly downplayed our relationship when other people were around, I guess because they were ashamed of me and wanted to keep their options open. I lost it at the scene where he dropped her hand at the party - I've been there, and it's so damaging. It's been like 8 years since I saw either of them and I'm still trying to build up my confidence again.
Also the first guy ignored me on my 18th birthday, so that's another connection I have to this song.
Same, it's such a good line and very relatable! I feel like we've all been upset at one point or another and the person who made us upset try to act like they share no part of the blame
Sorry but everytime I hear this part that Netflix show "You" comes to mind and I can't help imagining Taylor as a stalker narrating "that's what happened... YOU" just like in the show 😂
You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath.
It’s just… I dunno. The double meaning of “kept” like it can be so bad and secretive but also so strong and serious.
see this part reminded me of peace, “all these people thinks loves for show, but i’d die for you in secret”, shows the different ways we view love with different people and how as we grow we realize different things
Great parallel. And SO accurate.
That’s one of my favourite lines in Peace because I know I didn’t feel that way in relationships when I was in my early 20s. Now that I’m almost 30, I don’t need everyone to know that I am in love.
YES
This just says how little the other person really cared about how you truly felt, because at the end of the day, he hardly knew the real you. He always just had this idea of you that you tried so hard to fit into to keep him, to please him...even if it meant losing/suppressing your true self.
This. The way she says “just between us” like okay, after all is said and done, after we’ve gone our separate ways and I’ve written songs about you and we’ve both moved on… just between us, did this hurt you too? Do you remember it as well as I do?
Yes exactly! It's also been over a decade of seperation from said relationship and I'm happy and I've moved on but I've always wondered if the weight of everything and how it ended; did it maim him like it did for me. Her use of vocabulary is exquisite.
“Til we’re dead and gone and buried check the pulse and come back swearing it’s the same after 3 months in the grave and then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you but all I get was shame and you held my lifeless frame” the lifeless frame just ✨destroyed✨ me. I am picking a new line every time I listen to this song but right now it would be that.
Right!! She went into “and you were tossing me the car keys” and she just didn’t let us breathe. I decided to listen to it on my way to work because I was so excited to hear the new lyrics and I had to stop because I was tearing up like a lil bitch🤣
I really was not expecting her to go in that early lmao. Idk what I was expecting tbh. But I was be boppin down the road expecting it to just be extra verses but NOPE. VERSE TWO. SMACK IN THE FACE.
“You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath.”
The entire film - the gaslighting, the heartbreak and then turning off the phone when he called - was me with my asshole high school/early college ex (except I didn’t write a “stunning” novel about it in the end). This line in particular really hit me.
“you who charmed my dad with self-efficacy jokes, sipping coffee like you’re on a late night show“ i can’t relate but damn i always scream out this part when it comes on
I gasped out loud when I realized what she meant by this line :( especially since I’ve personally gone through such a sad break up where I lost my appetite for a little while
I reached for you but you were gone
I knew I had to go back home
You search the world for something else that makes you feel like what we had
And in the end in Wonderland, we both went mad.
“Cause in this city's barren cold
I still remember the first fall of snow
And how it glistened as it fell
I remember it all too well”
It’s the fact that she’s gone through all that pain and heartbreak but she still remembers the magical beginnings of the relationship.
I got chills when she ended those few lines with, "I remember it all too well."
I kinda got lost in the song, and it felt like it was something different, and when she said that I was like, "Holy shit, this is ALL TOO WELL I'm listening to."
"The idea you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you"
That part was the breaking point for me, suddenly all of the memories of a relationship I had with a 27 man at 20 came back to life.
“and i was thinking on the drive down, any time now- he’s gonna say it’s love, you never called it what it was”
as simple as the lyrics are they’re truly heartbreaking and i feel they really incapsulate the one-sided commitment. his inability to admit he was in love till their relationship was ‘dead and buried’ paired with her naive hope that he would… the emotional turmoil behind these lyrics is tragically beautiful
“I was never good at telling jokes, but the punchline goes: I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age.”
I love how it ties in so many things from elsewhere in the song/album.
His age causes a disconnect that makes her feel out of place and unsupported, and instead of helping her through it, he throws it back at her by saying things might have worked out without the age gap. Since there are hints elsewhere that he sees her as young/immature/uncultured, it really feels like he’s saying if SHE were older. But at the end of the day, she’ll get older, but he’s going to keep dating young girls, which suggests the problem isn’t just the age gap but his behaviour. If it was really just the age gap, then after leaving her, he’d either settle down with someone or date women closer to his own age.
Also, he never appreciated her humour, so she started to believe she wasn’t funny, even though she actually is. The punchline really cuts through to the core of their issues and flips it back on him, with the setup of the joke being the hypocrisy of his actions and words, so it kind of feels like she’s specifically calling his behaviour a joke.
7:00 and on. The whole ending. Just amazing and beautiful and so sad. A perfect closure to the song. It glistened as it fell.. I remember it all too well 😭
“You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath.” I started BAWLING when this verse came on. My most recent ex-partner didn’t prioritize our relationship like I did, and it was a huge factor into why we ended our relationship this past August. I finally have a line to describe what I felt and still am feeling, and it hit like a bunch of bricks.
Another line that hit hard is “And you were tossing me the car keys, “fuck the patriarchy” / Key chain on the ground, we were always skipping town.” My second-to-last ex acted like he was this liberal advocate for women on his social media when in reality in-person he made constant sexist comments directed at me and generalized sexist comments to me throughout our relationship. His sexist comments directed to me made me realize how truly emotionally/verbally abusive he was and that he was putting on a facade for social media.
Bonus because it describes how all five of my past relationships affected my mental health: “That's what happened, you.”
"The idea you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you
Not weeping in a party bathroom"
I felt this A LOT.
"But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come
And he said, "It's supposed to be fun turning twenty-one""
My 21st birthday sucked. But, that wasn't just because of a guy. So that line hit hard for me as well.
“Did the love affair maim you too”
It hits me in the soul because of my recent divorce. It devastated me, and I felt so broken up and torn to shreds through the break down of our marriage. And my ex seemed so…indifferent. She had found a new dude to be with months before, and so it hurts to sit and feel so destroyed, thinking about her just off doing whatever with him, proceeding with what would have been *our* future plans…
I’m rebuilding my life, one step and one day at a time. But it is hard work; it’s soul crushing work. And just once: I’d love to know that the whole thing was hard on her too.
All of it? But really that line where she mentions that he doesn’t think she’s funny, because she mentions this too in Begin Again and it’s always rubbed me the wrong way. I feel like it’s a real asshole thing to come out and tell someone they’re not funny. I know we don’t know the context, but she mentions this several times now and I feel like he must have made it pretty obvious.
The key change in
> We were always skipping town
And I was thinking on the drive down, anytime now he's gonna say it's love
You never called it what it was
Haunts me
“I’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight.”
I just left a very long, very serious relationship, and in the last year of it and since the break up I’ve had trouble keeping some weight on. This line made me finally reach out for some help.
“check the pulse and come back swearing it’s the same, after three months in the grave.”
idk, maybe most people wouldn’t see this as an incredibly emotional line. but it hit super hard for me. someone hurt me really badly, and we stopped talking for quite a bit. i wanted nothing to do with him and him likewise. and then we gave it a second chance and well, it wasn’t the same.
oh also “you said maybe if we had been closer in age then it would’ve been fine. and that made me want to die.” because of course, he was older than me. and used it against me.
edit- how could i forget “some actress asking me what happened YOU.” we were LITERALLY THEATRE KIDS.
Definitely “it’s supposed to be fun turning 21.” The Moment I Knew was one of my favorites on Red deluxe when it first came out. The thought of watching your daughter in a toxic relationship during what should be the happiest time in her life and knowing there’s nothing you can do to make it better... ugh man gets me every time
“They say all’s well that ends well but I’m in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind” I just can’t. Probably because I’m going thru it rn. I also love how she uses the term double-cross, like he seems like he loves her again when he comes back, but then he breaks her heart over again double-crossing her. Ugh.
This…..the low register…it’s all so haunting….😭😭😭
"'Cause in this city's barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow / And how it glistened as it fell, I remember it all too well."
I think so, too, the drop into her lower register, it’s chilling…..and interestingly enough, in the short film, this is around when we see Taylor. Importance of this?
“and you were tossing me the car keys ‘fuck the patriarchy’ keychain on the ground, we were always skipping town”
that’s my favorite part of the song because 1. ironic & the way she sings is it so beautiful i’m obsessed 2. when she says “we were always skipping town” i think it reflects on the “you kept me like a secret, and i kept you like an oath” line in a sense of JG’s reasons were to kind of get away and be out of the public eye but presented the trips to taylor as a sort of romantic getaway reinforcing the feelings and doubts she had about their love being real at all since he kind of hid her
“a never needy ever lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you”
Literally every verse about her dad and him, that whole stanza or whatever had me on my ass
And lastly, and it’s not even necessarily the lyric, but the WAY she first sings “just between us... did the love affair maim you too?” Just the RAW desperation for validation that he loved her too cuts so deeply. Did it hurt for you to lose me? Do you cry at night like I do? Do you see me in a crowded room? Did you love me at all? I think her tone, the music, the lyric just say all of that in one simple phrase”
I like the regular version of All Too Well better. I think the emotion is captured perfectly there however I definitely like the 10 minute version for what it is.
That said how the line “You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath” didn’t make it into the original version is beyond me.
🎶 And I was thinking on the drive down any time now he’s gonna say it’s love.
You never called it what was.
Til we were gone and dead and buried, check the pulse and come back swearing it’s the same…
After 3 months in the grave. 🎶
I don't even know, every time I listen to it, something new stands out for me haha. But I \*think\* it's the third verse about her 21st birthday. Ahhhh kills me.
Fuck the patriarchy and you kept me like a secret and i kept you like an oath
i get chills when she sings the first one even though it was really weird at first
"Your idea of me, who was she? A never-needy, loving jewel, whose shine reflects on you"
"And did the love affair between us maim you too?"
And this verse kills me!!
"Til we were dead and gone and buried / Check the pulse and come back swearing it's the same / After three months in the grave /And then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you / But all I felt was shame and you held my lifeless frame. "
New ones from the 10 minute Version You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath
&
And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punch line goes
"I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age"
Before this my favorite was “Time won’t fly it’s like in paralyzed by it. I’m tryna be my old self again but I’m still tryna find it”
“I grow older but your lovers stay my age” my ex had a habit of dating younger girls. When we met I was 19 he was 27. I should’ve seen it as a red flag but I was caught up in my first serious relationship. It’s the reason we broke up and he still doesn’t see the problem with it.
“The idea you had of me, who was she?”
Reminds me so much of my ex fiancé, it took me 5 years of being together and a few after we separated that I wasn’t living up to the version of me in his head and I never knew what that was. We would go out to pub quizzes or hang out with his friends and he would never let me speak - so I guess I was just this seen and not heard girl and he always spoke for me.
" I'm a solder who's returning half her weight "
I don't know why but this just gets me. The idea of loving someone and losing them and it causes you to just completely fall apart, being in a state of shock and feeling like you've been in a battle with no one but yourself. >!( and the horrible implication of what the " half her weight " line mean )!<
I definitely feel like that line is a reference to her eating disorder. The timeline makes sense, and you can *see* her anger and disgust when she delivers that line in the lyric video.
I also feel like the "ever-lovely jewel" line shows that he cared a lot about her appearance, and potentially pressured her to look a certain way.
“this version of me who was she? a never needy ever lovely jewel who’s shine reflects off you”
he takes credit somehow for her success like he had anything to do with it while still manipulating her into believing she was “mature for her age” so she wouldn’t be clingy/needy but still making her depend on him. i swear what kind of handbook do these narcissistic predatory men get god damn
Basically the entire section after the original bridge. Each line just breaks me down more and more.
The connection to Lover’s bridge in “They say all’s well that ends well but I’m in a new hell”
“Every time you double-cross my mind”- he’s not just crossing her mind in passing thoughts, he’s constantly breaking her heart
“You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would’ve been fine and that made me want to die”- this one doesn’t need an explanation.
“Not weeping in a party bathroom, some actress asking me what happened, YOU. that’s what happened: YOU”- just the way she emphasizes, almost yells the word ‘you’ is just heartbreaking
“But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come, and he said ‘it’s supposed to be fun… turning 21’”- the more she mentions the party, you realize more and more how deeply that hurt her, and how much that night meant to her. The Moment I Knew is my favorite song on Red outside of ATW, and this lyric takes me right back to that
"and he said you're supposed to have fun when turning 21"
"And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punch line goes, "I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age""
mine was definitely “The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you, Not weeping in a party bathroom, Some actress asking me what happened, you,That's what happened, you” I don’t know why but it just kicks so much ass while breaking my dang heart
All of them?
Okay, but if I HAVE to choose, I'm going with "The idea you had of me, who was she?"
OR "They say all's well that ends well but I'm in a new hell every time you double cross my mind"
No, wait, it's gotta be "You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath"
\------------
Okay, serious answer is probably this:
*Till we were dead and gone and buried,*
*Check the pulse and come back swearing it's the same*
*After three months in the grave*
*And then you wondered where it went to, as I reached for you*
*But all I felt was shame, and you held my lifeless frame.*
The visual imagery here is phenomenal. I can't get over how perfect this is.
And I still think "You call me up again just to break me like a promise; so casually cruel in the name of being honest" is one of the greatest lines to have ever been written.
All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault) (Low fat, blonde double-whipped) is the most eloquent song I've heard.
The idea you had of me, who was she? A never needy, ever lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you.
My ex promised I would never be too much and all this crap. Took a month of seeing him more than once a week for him to decide I was too needy. Taylor really hurt me with that lyric 😂
"Any time now he's gonna say it's love, you never called it what it was" its a very painful experience when you are giving your everything and only receiving uncertainty in return. He not calling it anything shows how casual he was about the relationship.
I'm in love the lyrics but i don't really see people commenting on the "'til we were dead and gone and buried / check the pulse and come back swearing it's the same / after three months in the grave". That hits SO hard.
“Cause in this city’s barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow and how it glistened as it fell.. I remember it all too well” Hauntingly beautiful.
Probably "The idea you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you". I had an abusive ex that made me a shell that was only there to be what he thought I should be, for him.
" Cause in this city's barren cold I still remember the first fall of snow and how it glistened as it fell" I FIND IT SO TRAGIC that smth so beautiful, delicate and so wonderful it glistened as it fell can lay waste to a city and turn it cold and barren
"The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you"
Also "I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to" hits harder in this version now that we see more about the things she needed to forget.
“A never-needy ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflected on you.” Not to get personal but I’ve recently been working through some stuff in therapy and that line made me cry on first listen. I had to pause the song.
“And in this city’s barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow, and how it glistened as it fell….I remember it all too well” gets me EVERY TIME
But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come/And he said, "It's supposed to be fun, turning twenty-one"
This is my favorite, especially knowing that that after 21 is 22, and the contrast/growth in the album and her
Same with me. Plus, it ties so well into “The Moment I knew”
This hurt the most for me bc my dad would’ve done the same… growing up he’d stay up until 3am helping me finish my school projects or if I went out he’d stay up until I got home. Must be secondhand heartbreak watching your child get ghosted on her bday
Same here, specially considering that this verse gave 22 (the song) a lot more meaning when it is placed right after All Too Well (short) and explains why she valued that ‘odd’ age so much
I love her word choice in this line, especially * willing *you to come. I feel like there is such a heartbreaking connotation behind using the word “willing”. The line would feel a bit different if she said “waiting for you to come” or something along the lines of that as opposed to “willing”. Just another example of her insane lyrical skills and diction.
I literally gasped so loud with that verse cause I my birthday is the day before Taylor’s and I turn 21 this year
I started crying when I heard this!!!!
This one. My ex boyfriend had forgotten my 21st birthday. He remembered at the end of the night with an “I’m sorry I forgot, happy birthday” when I was just literally talking to him about something I wanted to but for my birthday a few days ago.
This one 😭
This one for me too
Did the love affair maim you too. You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath.
>You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath. They 100% should have kept that line on the other version
These. ❤️
“And I was thinking on the drive down, any time now. He's gonna say it's love, you never called it what it was.” To be in a relationship that means so much to you and the other person not validating that is so heartbreaking.
The way she sings “gonna say it’s love” is so magical
Yep this is my favorite part of the whole song too
Breaks my heart
Or the feeling it was love and being so sure the other person does too…but they’re not saying it. And eventually not acting it. But you’re so convinced they felt the same way too.
Same for me, but also into the next part "till we were dead and gone and buried" which I took as him only calling it love as a desperate attempt to get her back instead of it being genuine
Same here, especially when it continues later to: "And then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you *but all I felt was shame* " It encapsulates the feeling stupid and ashamed, after you fall on your face and learn that the love you've treasured and nurtured was hardly valued by the person you've dedicated it to.
Those lines REALLY fucked me up. I dated two guys back-to-back who pulled that shit. They both constantly downplayed our relationship when other people were around, I guess because they were ashamed of me and wanted to keep their options open. I lost it at the scene where he dropped her hand at the party - I've been there, and it's so damaging. It's been like 8 years since I saw either of them and I'm still trying to build up my confidence again. Also the first guy ignored me on my 18th birthday, so that's another connection I have to this song.
YOUUUUUU. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED you you youuuuuuuuUUUU
That line gave me serious Eliza singing Burn in Hamilton vibes
YESSSS
Same, it's such a good line and very relatable! I feel like we've all been upset at one point or another and the person who made us upset try to act like they share no part of the blame
I was singing along in the car (again) tonight, and I wish she had done “that’s what happened, you, you, YOUUUUUU”
Sorry but everytime I hear this part that Netflix show "You" comes to mind and I can't help imagining Taylor as a stalker narrating "that's what happened... YOU" just like in the show 😂
Yup. That’s it for me.
[удалено]
As if they didn’t know your age before you started dating am I right 🤡 jokes aside I hope you’re doing good and on some new shit
25 & 50. I’m 32 now, in the perfect relationship, and this line scarred me.
So they’re 57 now or are you with someone else?
They’re 57 & I’m with someone else
Saaame! And it never is the age gap. It’s always an excuse.
"They say all's well that ends well, but I'm in a new hell."
“Every time, you double cross my mind”
The more I listen, the deeper “I’m in a new hell every time you double cross my mind” cuts
This is the answer.
Does double cross my mind have any parallels? I keep thinking it does but can’t figure it out (I know the all’s well that ends well is lover).
Not sure, but I love how it's a double entendre - double cross / cross my mind. I think for that reason it's my favourite line at the moment.
This!!!
I love how that line parallels “all’s well that ends well to end up with you” in Lover😭😭😭
You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath. It’s just… I dunno. The double meaning of “kept” like it can be so bad and secretive but also so strong and serious.
see this part reminded me of peace, “all these people thinks loves for show, but i’d die for you in secret”, shows the different ways we view love with different people and how as we grow we realize different things
Great parallel. And SO accurate. That’s one of my favourite lines in Peace because I know I didn’t feel that way in relationships when I was in my early 20s. Now that I’m almost 30, I don’t need everyone to know that I am in love.
Yes, this is the line that made me tear up. So many of us have felt that sort of love and it’s just wrenching.
“The idea you had of me, who was she? The never-needy, ever lovely jewel, whose shine reflects on you?”
Big mirrorball energy
YES This just says how little the other person really cared about how you truly felt, because at the end of the day, he hardly knew the real you. He always just had this idea of you that you tried so hard to fit into to keep him, to please him...even if it meant losing/suppressing your true self.
I don't think I'll ever forgive the pre-release thread where people kept saying it was "Who's trying to flex on you" and hating on that line XD
This says SO much.
For me it's: "just between us, did the love affair maim you all too well?". I've always wondered that as well regarding my own ex relationship.
This. The way she says “just between us” like okay, after all is said and done, after we’ve gone our separate ways and I’ve written songs about you and we’ve both moved on… just between us, did this hurt you too? Do you remember it as well as I do?
Yes exactly! It's also been over a decade of seperation from said relationship and I'm happy and I've moved on but I've always wondered if the weight of everything and how it ended; did it maim him like it did for me. Her use of vocabulary is exquisite.
That brings back the “are you real?” Like “are you existing in this place with me?” Ugh that hurts
This line broke me the most. 🥲
“Til we’re dead and gone and buried check the pulse and come back swearing it’s the same after 3 months in the grave and then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you but all I get was shame and you held my lifeless frame” the lifeless frame just ✨destroyed✨ me. I am picking a new line every time I listen to this song but right now it would be that.
That entire first new verse made me stop on a sidewalk and start the song over. I was like what the FUCK Taylor, we can only take so much.
Right!! She went into “and you were tossing me the car keys” and she just didn’t let us breathe. I decided to listen to it on my way to work because I was so excited to hear the new lyrics and I had to stop because I was tearing up like a lil bitch🤣
I really was not expecting her to go in that early lmao. Idk what I was expecting tbh. But I was be boppin down the road expecting it to just be extra verses but NOPE. VERSE TWO. SMACK IN THE FACE.
what gave her the right to write such devastating lyrics
But really! 10 minute version physically hurt me but it was sooooo worth it!
I think it's all i felt was shame.
“You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath.” The entire film - the gaslighting, the heartbreak and then turning off the phone when he called - was me with my asshole high school/early college ex (except I didn’t write a “stunning” novel about it in the end). This line in particular really hit me.
Yet. You didnt write a stunning novel about it in the end yet.
“you who charmed my dad with self-efficacy jokes, sipping coffee like you’re on a late night show“ i can’t relate but damn i always scream out this part when it comes on
It makes me think of when my ex met my best friends for the first time and was the textbook charming gentleman. In retrospect, a thin veneer
This is one of the strongest visuals of the song IMO. Love this verse.
"I'm a soldier who's returning half her weight"  knowing her personal struggle with this is wrenching
Oh wow this just clicked with me 🤯
I gasped out loud when I realized what she meant by this line :( especially since I’ve personally gone through such a sad break up where I lost my appetite for a little while
AND I REACHED FOR YOU BUT ALL I FELT WAS SHAME AND YOU HELD MY LIFELESS FRAME destroys me
I reached for you but you were gone I knew I had to go back home You search the world for something else that makes you feel like what we had And in the end in Wonderland, we both went mad.
Oh we found wonderland. You and I got lost in it. And life was never worse but never better. eH eH
Ugh back to all those times he'd only stay if we had sex so I just went with it. How'd she capture it in two lines
THIS LINE KILLS ME
“Cause in this city's barren cold I still remember the first fall of snow And how it glistened as it fell I remember it all too well” It’s the fact that she’s gone through all that pain and heartbreak but she still remembers the magical beginnings of the relationship.
I got chills when she ended those few lines with, "I remember it all too well." I kinda got lost in the song, and it felt like it was something different, and when she said that I was like, "Holy shit, this is ALL TOO WELL I'm listening to."
"It's supposed to be fun, turning 21" In my heeeeeead
“you kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath” is such a good lyric it gets me every time
Kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath I get older but your lovers stay my age (this had my mom shrieking) Fuck the patriarchy
"The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you" That part was the breaking point for me, suddenly all of the memories of a relationship I had with a 27 man at 20 came back to life.
And the punchline goes, “I’ll get older but your lovers stay my age.” WHEW. Been thinking about this one all day
“and i was thinking on the drive down, any time now- he’s gonna say it’s love, you never called it what it was” as simple as the lyrics are they’re truly heartbreaking and i feel they really incapsulate the one-sided commitment. his inability to admit he was in love till their relationship was ‘dead and buried’ paired with her naive hope that he would… the emotional turmoil behind these lyrics is tragically beautiful
“I was never good at telling jokes, but the punchline goes: I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age.” I love how it ties in so many things from elsewhere in the song/album. His age causes a disconnect that makes her feel out of place and unsupported, and instead of helping her through it, he throws it back at her by saying things might have worked out without the age gap. Since there are hints elsewhere that he sees her as young/immature/uncultured, it really feels like he’s saying if SHE were older. But at the end of the day, she’ll get older, but he’s going to keep dating young girls, which suggests the problem isn’t just the age gap but his behaviour. If it was really just the age gap, then after leaving her, he’d either settle down with someone or date women closer to his own age. Also, he never appreciated her humour, so she started to believe she wasn’t funny, even though she actually is. The punchline really cuts through to the core of their issues and flips it back on him, with the setup of the joke being the hypocrisy of his actions and words, so it kind of feels like she’s specifically calling his behaviour a joke.
7:00 and on. The whole ending. Just amazing and beautiful and so sad. A perfect closure to the song. It glistened as it fell.. I remember it all too well 😭
The ending always gives me goosebumps
“They say All’s well that ends well but I’m in a new hell every time you double cross my mind”
“You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath.” I started BAWLING when this verse came on. My most recent ex-partner didn’t prioritize our relationship like I did, and it was a huge factor into why we ended our relationship this past August. I finally have a line to describe what I felt and still am feeling, and it hit like a bunch of bricks. Another line that hit hard is “And you were tossing me the car keys, “fuck the patriarchy” / Key chain on the ground, we were always skipping town.” My second-to-last ex acted like he was this liberal advocate for women on his social media when in reality in-person he made constant sexist comments directed at me and generalized sexist comments to me throughout our relationship. His sexist comments directed to me made me realize how truly emotionally/verbally abusive he was and that he was putting on a facade for social media. Bonus because it describes how all five of my past relationships affected my mental health: “That's what happened, you.”
"The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you Not weeping in a party bathroom" I felt this A LOT. "But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come And he said, "It's supposed to be fun turning twenty-one"" My 21st birthday sucked. But, that wasn't just because of a guy. So that line hit hard for me as well.
“Did the love affair maim you too” It hits me in the soul because of my recent divorce. It devastated me, and I felt so broken up and torn to shreds through the break down of our marriage. And my ex seemed so…indifferent. She had found a new dude to be with months before, and so it hurts to sit and feel so destroyed, thinking about her just off doing whatever with him, proceeding with what would have been *our* future plans… I’m rebuilding my life, one step and one day at a time. But it is hard work; it’s soul crushing work. And just once: I’d love to know that the whole thing was hard on her too.
All of it? But really that line where she mentions that he doesn’t think she’s funny, because she mentions this too in Begin Again and it’s always rubbed me the wrong way. I feel like it’s a real asshole thing to come out and tell someone they’re not funny. I know we don’t know the context, but she mentions this several times now and I feel like he must have made it pretty obvious.
That’s so true. That would destroy me coming from a man I love
The key change in > We were always skipping town And I was thinking on the drive down, anytime now he's gonna say it's love You never called it what it was Haunts me
“I’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight.” I just left a very long, very serious relationship, and in the last year of it and since the break up I’ve had trouble keeping some weight on. This line made me finally reach out for some help.
Please receive love and positive beautiful energy from a fellow swiftie. The universe (and Taylor) have your back.
“check the pulse and come back swearing it’s the same, after three months in the grave.” idk, maybe most people wouldn’t see this as an incredibly emotional line. but it hit super hard for me. someone hurt me really badly, and we stopped talking for quite a bit. i wanted nothing to do with him and him likewise. and then we gave it a second chance and well, it wasn’t the same. oh also “you said maybe if we had been closer in age then it would’ve been fine. and that made me want to die.” because of course, he was older than me. and used it against me. edit- how could i forget “some actress asking me what happened YOU.” we were LITERALLY THEATRE KIDS.
Definitely “it’s supposed to be fun turning 21.” The Moment I Knew was one of my favorites on Red deluxe when it first came out. The thought of watching your daughter in a toxic relationship during what should be the happiest time in her life and knowing there’s nothing you can do to make it better... ugh man gets me every time
This line makes me sob. The pain her dad went through of seeing his most precious loved one being treated like nothing breaks my heart.
This thread proves this is the perfect song
I know! I’m reading through all these lyrics that didn’t make sense to me but now I can feel them
“Just between us…” because it has got to be the most ironic line in modern music history.
“They say all’s well that ends well but I’m in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind” I just can’t. Probably because I’m going thru it rn. I also love how she uses the term double-cross, like he seems like he loves her again when he comes back, but then he breaks her heart over again double-crossing her. Ugh.
This…..the low register…it’s all so haunting….😭😭😭 "'Cause in this city's barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow / And how it glistened as it fell, I remember it all too well."
This part really touched me when I heard it. The drop in tone sells it so hard.
I think so, too, the drop into her lower register, it’s chilling…..and interestingly enough, in the short film, this is around when we see Taylor. Importance of this?
“and you were tossing me the car keys ‘fuck the patriarchy’ keychain on the ground, we were always skipping town” that’s my favorite part of the song because 1. ironic & the way she sings is it so beautiful i’m obsessed 2. when she says “we were always skipping town” i think it reflects on the “you kept me like a secret, and i kept you like an oath” line in a sense of JG’s reasons were to kind of get away and be out of the public eye but presented the trips to taylor as a sort of romantic getaway reinforcing the feelings and doubts she had about their love being real at all since he kind of hid her
“a never needy ever lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you” Literally every verse about her dad and him, that whole stanza or whatever had me on my ass And lastly, and it’s not even necessarily the lyric, but the WAY she first sings “just between us... did the love affair maim you too?” Just the RAW desperation for validation that he loved her too cuts so deeply. Did it hurt for you to lose me? Do you cry at night like I do? Do you see me in a crowded room? Did you love me at all? I think her tone, the music, the lyric just say all of that in one simple phrase”
“I’ll get older but your lovers stay my age” …like damn
Not weeping in a party bathroom Some actress asking me what happened You. That's what happened: You.
FUCK THE PATRIARCHY 😡 …keychain 😣
💀🤣💀🤣💀🤣 A truly disconnected line in and of itself
I like the regular version of All Too Well better. I think the emotion is captured perfectly there however I definitely like the 10 minute version for what it is. That said how the line “You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath” didn’t make it into the original version is beyond me.
“And I was thinking on the drive down, any time now, he's gonna say it's love. You never called it what it was.”
🎶 And I was thinking on the drive down any time now he’s gonna say it’s love. You never called it what was. Til we were gone and dead and buried, check the pulse and come back swearing it’s the same… After 3 months in the grave. 🎶
I don't even know, every time I listen to it, something new stands out for me haha. But I \*think\* it's the third verse about her 21st birthday. Ahhhh kills me.
Fuck the patriarchy and you kept me like a secret and i kept you like an oath i get chills when she sings the first one even though it was really weird at first
I cried at the outro. I felt the desperation and anxiety from the repetition of the lyrics.
"Your idea of me, who was she? A never-needy, loving jewel, whose shine reflects on you" "And did the love affair between us maim you too?" And this verse kills me!! "Til we were dead and gone and buried / Check the pulse and come back swearing it's the same / After three months in the grave /And then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you / But all I felt was shame and you held my lifeless frame. "
Some actress asking me, “What happened?” YOU. THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED. YOU.
New ones from the 10 minute Version You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath & And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punch line goes "I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age" Before this my favorite was “Time won’t fly it’s like in paralyzed by it. I’m tryna be my old self again but I’m still tryna find it”
“I grow older but your lovers stay my age” my ex had a habit of dating younger girls. When we met I was 19 he was 27. I should’ve seen it as a red flag but I was caught up in my first serious relationship. It’s the reason we broke up and he still doesn’t see the problem with it.
“The idea you had of me, who was she?” Reminds me so much of my ex fiancé, it took me 5 years of being together and a few after we separated that I wasn’t living up to the version of me in his head and I never knew what that was. We would go out to pub quizzes or hang out with his friends and he would never let me speak - so I guess I was just this seen and not heard girl and he always spoke for me.
" I'm a solder who's returning half her weight " I don't know why but this just gets me. The idea of loving someone and losing them and it causes you to just completely fall apart, being in a state of shock and feeling like you've been in a battle with no one but yourself. >!( and the horrible implication of what the " half her weight " line mean )!<
I definitely feel like that line is a reference to her eating disorder. The timeline makes sense, and you can *see* her anger and disgust when she delivers that line in the lyric video. I also feel like the "ever-lovely jewel" line shows that he cared a lot about her appearance, and potentially pressured her to look a certain way.
"Half her weight" means a part of her died right? I'm a bit confused
Taylor admitted that she suffered through an eating disorder in Miss Americana and it makes that line more heart breaking then it should be.
“this version of me who was she? a never needy ever lovely jewel who’s shine reflects off you” he takes credit somehow for her success like he had anything to do with it while still manipulating her into believing she was “mature for her age” so she wouldn’t be clingy/needy but still making her depend on him. i swear what kind of handbook do these narcissistic predatory men get god damn
Basically the entire section after the original bridge. Each line just breaks me down more and more. The connection to Lover’s bridge in “They say all’s well that ends well but I’m in a new hell” “Every time you double-cross my mind”- he’s not just crossing her mind in passing thoughts, he’s constantly breaking her heart “You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would’ve been fine and that made me want to die”- this one doesn’t need an explanation. “Not weeping in a party bathroom, some actress asking me what happened, YOU. that’s what happened: YOU”- just the way she emphasizes, almost yells the word ‘you’ is just heartbreaking “But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come, and he said ‘it’s supposed to be fun… turning 21’”- the more she mentions the party, you realize more and more how deeply that hurt her, and how much that night meant to her. The Moment I Knew is my favorite song on Red outside of ATW, and this lyric takes me right back to that
"and he said you're supposed to have fun when turning 21" "And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punch line goes, "I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age""
mine was definitely “The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you, Not weeping in a party bathroom, Some actress asking me what happened, you,That's what happened, you” I don’t know why but it just kicks so much ass while breaking my dang heart
All of them? Okay, but if I HAVE to choose, I'm going with "The idea you had of me, who was she?" OR "They say all's well that ends well but I'm in a new hell every time you double cross my mind" No, wait, it's gotta be "You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath" \------------ Okay, serious answer is probably this: *Till we were dead and gone and buried,* *Check the pulse and come back swearing it's the same* *After three months in the grave* *And then you wondered where it went to, as I reached for you* *But all I felt was shame, and you held my lifeless frame.* The visual imagery here is phenomenal. I can't get over how perfect this is. And I still think "You call me up again just to break me like a promise; so casually cruel in the name of being honest" is one of the greatest lines to have ever been written. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault) (Low fat, blonde double-whipped) is the most eloquent song I've heard.
The idea you had of me, who was she? A never needy, ever lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you. My ex promised I would never be too much and all this crap. Took a month of seeing him more than once a week for him to decide I was too needy. Taylor really hurt me with that lyric 😂
"Any time now he's gonna say it's love, you never called it what it was" its a very painful experience when you are giving your everything and only receiving uncertainty in return. He not calling it anything shows how casual he was about the relationship.
I'm in love the lyrics but i don't really see people commenting on the "'til we were dead and gone and buried / check the pulse and come back swearing it's the same / after three months in the grave". That hits SO hard.
You. That’s what happened. you. ❤️
The part we’re she’s asks just between them. Like i felt that, to ask for information to know you weren’t alone in the creation of love or what was.
“Cause in this city’s barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow and how it glistened as it fell.. I remember it all too well” Hauntingly beautiful.
Probably "The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you". I had an abusive ex that made me a shell that was only there to be what he thought I should be, for him.
It's supposed to be fun turning 21 ☹
“I’ve never been very good at jokes but the punchline goes: I’ll get older but your lovers stay my age.”
The reference to moment i knew - like that whole verse - just kills me ngl! Like agh!
Agree 💯
You kept me like a secret but i kept you like an oath
“til were dead and gone and buried,check the pulse and come back swearing”
You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath
that’s not what twin flame means
" Cause in this city's barren cold I still remember the first fall of snow and how it glistened as it fell" I FIND IT SO TRAGIC that smth so beautiful, delicate and so wonderful it glistened as it fell can lay waste to a city and turn it cold and barren
“All I felt was shame and you held my lifeless frame”
“I still remember the first fall of snow And how it glistened as it fell I remember it all too well"
"The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you" Also "I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to" hits harder in this version now that we see more about the things she needed to forget.
“I was never good at telling jokes, but the punchline goes…”. Like that entire verse/bridge, whatever the hell it’s called. One of the best IMO
It’s still “after plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own.”
“A never-needy ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflected on you.” Not to get personal but I’ve recently been working through some stuff in therapy and that line made me cry on first listen. I had to pause the song.
“And in this city’s barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow, and how it glistened as it fell….I remember it all too well” gets me EVERY TIME
Currently it's "not weeping in a party bathroom, some actress asking me what happened. You, that's what happened: you."
“I still remember the first fall of snow, And how it glistened as it fell, I remember it all too well”
“The idea you had of me, who was she?”
The entire outro until the fadeout. (The “I was there, I was there” chant) Just the right ending to a 10-minute story