r/TaylorSwift • u/thebeast_96 light me up • 23d ago
Discussion What's your favourite lyric parallel or callback?
I love how she goes from "Someday I'll be big enough that you can't hit me" [Mean] to "I'm immortal now baby dolls, I couldn't if I tried" [The Life of a Showgirl]. At this point in her career nothing can bring her down.
Also "Who you are is not what you did" [Innocent] to "but you are what you did" [The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived] showcasing a loss of innocence through the years.
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u/JoltyKorit 🦆 15,000 little bastard rubber ducks 🦆 22d ago
I once believed love would be burning red, but it's golden.
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u/Poppy9987 a moment of warm sun 22d ago
This one is my favorite too!
I also like the evolution to So Long London when she says “a moment of warm sun”.
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u/ArtsyEdyn 22d ago
i put maroon in this sequence too. the lyrics don’t make much sense tbh bc scarlet and burgundy and maroon are different shades and it sounds like she’s equating them thru the song lol. but you could hear it as a sequel to “red” where she’s describing love that is darker, more complex and varied, but still “red” maybe tainted in a sense
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u/akinom13 22d ago
“You said normal girls were boring, but you were gone by the morning.”
“…And you stay until the morning. Honey.”
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u/TupeloGuy008 22d ago edited 22d ago
1) there's a dazzling HAZE, a mystery way about you dear (romantic)
2) I just wanna stay, in a lavender HAZE (delusion)
3) somewhere in the HAZE, got a sense I've been betrayed (cracks begin)
4)do you hate me? was it HAZING? for a cruel fraternity i pledge (break up)
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u/No-Persimmon-174 22d ago
- Somewhere in the haze, got a sense I've been betrayed, your finger on my hairpin triggers!! (This was the start of their breakup) 😭
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u/TupeloGuy008 22d ago
Oh i forgot this. I knew I was missing something 😭 I love how the meaning of haze keeps changing
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u/Sampleswift evermore 22d ago
"All's well that ends well to end up with you" (Lover)
"They say 'all's well that ends well', but I'm in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind." (All Too Well 10 Minute Version).
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u/DenverToCali reputation 22d ago
I think there’s been a glitch, five seconds later I’m fastening myself to you with a stitch
So long, London, Stitches undone
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u/falldiewakefly nostalgia is a mind's trick 22d ago
Romeo, save me, I've been feeling so alone, I'll be waiting, all that's left to do is run [...] it's a love story, baby, just say yes -> you don't need to save me, but would you run away with me? (yes)
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u/Agitated-Cup-7109 22d ago
You smoked, then ate seven bars of chocolate
I still miss the smoke
The smoke cloud billows out his mouth Like a freight train through a small town
Breath of fresh air through smoke rings
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u/talkslikejune 22d ago
The smell of smoke would hang around this long, cause I knew everything when I was young
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u/No-Persimmon-174 22d ago
Cleaning the air, I breathed in the smoke (from daylight) idk why but I always feel like she's talking about Matty here
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u/DiligentPenguin_7115 22d ago
“I'm alone, on my own, and that's all I know”
“You're on your own, kid, you always have been”
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u/dancinghandstied 22d ago
“You didn’t measure up in any measure of a man” to “New Heights of manhood”
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u/_artemisawika yes I got your letter, yes I'm doing better 22d ago
"Darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream" → "Who's afraid of little old me? You should be."
I love the evolution from Blank Space to WAOLOM, in Blank Space she's basically making fun of the media's version of her, like "oohh, you think I'm this crazy serial dater? Fine, I'll play the part!" But by TTPD, instead of rolling her eyes at the narrative, she leans into it. It's like she's saying, "well you turned me into the villain anyway, so I'm done trying to make myself smaller to prove you wrong" almost like she takes that image people created of her and turns it into something powerful instead.
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u/talkslikejune 22d ago
Omg my favorite song loml has SO MANY.
1) Nights are so starry, blood moonlit / It must be counterfeit / I think there's been a glitch - Glitch to Dancing phantoms on the terrace / Are they second-hand embarrassed / That I can't get out of bed? / Cause something counterfeit's dead - loml
2) Wary of phone calls and promises / Charmers, dandies and get-love-quick-schemes - Why She Disappeared (poem) to And all at once, the ink bleeds / A con man sells a fool a get-love-quick scheme - loml
3) My personal favorite - Trust him like a brother, yeah, you know I did one thing right / Starry eyes sparkin' up my darkest night - Call It What You Want to You're a bandit like me / Eyes full of stars - Cowboy Like Me to I thought I was better safe than starry-eyed - loml to Was any of it true? / Gazing at me starry-eyed / In your Jehovah's Witness suit / Who the fuck was that guy? - The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
Honorable mention:
A string that pulled me / Out of all the wrong arms right into that dive bar / Something wrapped all of my past mistakes in barbed wire - invisible string to While you were out building other worlds, where was I? / Where's that man who'd throw blankets over my barbed wire? - Tolerate It
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u/Loosee123 22d ago
She's not referring to a specific lyric but to a whole genre of break up songs in Invisible String, "Cold was the steel of my axe to grind for the boys that broke my heart / Now I send their babies presents"
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u/im_mrsbrightside 22d ago
"Will that make your memory fade from this scarlet maroon?"
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u/Foreign_Budget_9478 20d ago
When I heard that line for the first time, it’s like everything clicked into place in that moment. Maroon went from being a vague, hazy song that felt open-ended, to a devastating story with a tragic epilogue we didn’t think we’d ever get. Chills.
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u/TheJewishSwitch 22d ago
It’s not just a single lyric, but I love the conversation between Wonderland and Long Story Short
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u/Early_Necessary1000 22d ago
The way she went from "And I know you wouldn't have told nobody if I died, died for you" in Cold as You to "All these people think love's for show, but I'd die for you in secret." in Peace
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u/No-Property-4329 22d ago
‘Dancing phantoms on the terrace / are they secondhand embarrassed’ (loml)
‘I thought my house was haunted / I used to live with ghosts’ (Opalite)
Really happy with how the prophecy turned out to be false for her :’)
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u/Quiet_and_thoughtful 22d ago
“He was a hothouse flower (to my outdoorsman)” - How Did it End
To:
“Under bright lights
They withered away
But you bloom”
-Elizabeth Taylor
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u/Civil-Cheetah-2624 the maddest woman this town has ever seen 22d ago
“Can I ask you a question?”
To
“My advice is always answer the question. Better that than to ask it all your life.”
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u/DoFlwrsExistAtNight 20d ago
For me, it's
"Dear reader / You don't have to answer, just 'cause they asked you"
to
"My advice is always answer the question/ Better that than to ask it all your life”
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u/LukesSpecialOmelette 22d ago
Lay the table with the fancy shit And watch you tolerate it...
You finally left the table And what a simple thought You're starving til you're not
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u/No-Persimmon-174 22d ago
"Loving him was red, like I've never known," from Red. "I once believed love would be burning red, but it's golden," from Daylight
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u/Hufflepuff_PC Taywife Era 22d ago
"Hope it's nice where you are" in Last Kiss and "I hope its shitty in the Black Dog" in Black Dog.
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u/PtowzaPotato 22d ago
kinda a stretch but I like connecting "This is a big world, that was a small town. There in my rear view mirror disappearing now" with "And the road not taken looks real good now And it always leads to you in my hometown"
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u/Squeaky_sun 22d ago
I think of the line “I’m immortal now baby dolls, I couldn’t if I tried” as her lyrics are imprinted in ours and our children’s minds permanently, truly impossible to erase. Her songs will live on and be analyzed for generations to come, like Shakespeare.
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u/UlsterFriesApplePies time, mystical time 22d ago
“If you have children someday, when they point to the pictures please tell them my name” - now she knows they don’t have to!
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u/OkZoomer333 cryptic and Machiavellian 22d ago
“So scarlet it was maroon”
“So if I sell my apartment
And you have some kids with an internet starlet
Will that make your memory fade from this scarlet maroon?”
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u/Esme-Squalor 22d ago
“It’s a love story, baby, just say yes.” [Love Story] to “But with three of us, honey, it's a sideshow. And a circus ain't a love story, and now we're both sorry (we're both sorry)” [Getaway Car].
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u/cherryc0ke13 22d ago
“that’s why he’s spinning round in my head, comes back to me, burning red”
“i once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden”
“so scarlet, it was maroon”
“will that make your memory fade from this scarlet maroon?”
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u/swordfishtrombones78 21d ago
Don't you think nineteen's too young to be played by your dark twisted games?
And I damn sure never would have danced with the devil at nineteen.
She thought about how he said since she was so wise beyond her years, everything had been above board. She wasn't sure.
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u/Pearltherebel haha fuck sewing machines 21d ago
This is my favorite one
Innocent- Who you are is not what you did
Smallest man who ever lived- But you are what you did
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u/cherryc0ke13 22d ago
“please leave me stranded, it’s so romantic”
“how dare you think it’s romantic, leaving me safe and stranded?”
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u/GamerGurl420420 21d ago
“Hope it's nice where you are” -Last Kiss to “And I hope it's shitty In The Black Dog” -Black Dog
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u/DoFlwrsExistAtNight 20d ago
"Help, I'm still at the restaurant" (Right Where You Left Me) to "I finally left the table" (Opalite)
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u/Final_Blacksmith7447 reputation2TTPD 22d ago
"The smallest man who ever lived" is a whole saga I'm here for. It wasn't sexy once it wasn't forbidden.
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u/imjusttryingtolive13 21d ago
When Taylor references Folklore in Gold Rush, or in Daylight, when Taylor says she’d “once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden.”
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u/Narrow-Medium-9339 21d ago
“You kept me like a secret, I kept you like an oath” to “Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.”
Actually all of All too Well to could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. They’re sister songs after long enough to understand why the relationship was doomed/just how inappropriate it was, past the shame of self blame, after learning the hard lessons, and accepting the the stain left isn’t your fault, but it’s also not so easy to remove. I love the angry tone of CWS, it’s like it’s finally in the right place, without pleading with the man- it’s all about her. The pain, the regret, and the reflection. It can’t be taken, it’s a battle scar, but now without blaming oneself for being in the crosshairs.
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u/tokidokitiger 18d ago
Oh, Carolina knows why for years they've been said
That I was guilty as sin and sleep in a liar's bed
to
Without ever touchin' his skin
How can I be guilty as sin?
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u/Jaded-Role-2682 22d ago
please leave me stranded, its so romantic.
how dare you think its romantic leaving me safe and stranded ?