Ahhh, Red. The ultimate fall album. Upon first listen, given that I was freshly 12 years old, I didn’t quite have the life experience required for me to seriously appreciate the chaotic, beautiful mess that is this album. Some call it sonically disorganized, but even more recognize how it perfectly illustrates the myriad of emotions experienced by the heartbroken. As Taylor herself put it, “It was all over the place, a fractured mosaic of feelings that somehow all fit together in the end. Happy, free, confused, lonely, devastated, euphoric, wild, and tortured by memories past.” In preparation for the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) on November 12th, here are my absolute favorite lyrics from each and every song on the first version of Red (bonus tracks included *obviously*).
- State of Grace
“Up in your room and our slates are clean, just twin fire signs, four blue eyes”
- Red
“But moving on from him is impossible, when I still see it all in my head, in burning red”
- Treacherous
“Put your lips close to mine, as long as they don’t touch. Out of focus, eye to eye ’til the gravity’s too much”
- I Knew You Were Trouble
“A new notch in your belt is all I’ll ever be”
- All Too Well *(c’mon, you didn’t expect me to pick just one, did you?)*
“You tell me ’bout your past, thinking your future was me”
“We’re dancing ’round the kitchen in the refrigerator light”
“And you call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest”
“I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still trying to find it”
- 22
“You look like bad news, I gotta have you”
- I Almost Do
“I bet it never ever occurred to you that I can’t say “hello” to you and risk another goodbye”
- We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
“You would hide away and find your peace of mind with some indie record that’s much cooler than mine”
- Stay Stay Stay
“You took the time to memorize me”
- The Last Time ft. Gary Lightbody
“This is the last time I let you in my door. This is the last time, I won’t hurt you anymore”
- Holy Ground
“We blocked the noise with the sound of ‘I need you’ and for the first time I had something to lose”
- Sad Beautiful Tragic
“And time is taking its sweet time erasing you and you’ve got your demons, and, darling, they all look like me”
- The Lucky One
“Now it’s big black cars, and Riviera views, and your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you”
- Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran
“Let me know that it’s not all in my mind”
- Starlight
“Don’t you see the starlight?”
- Begin Again
“I think it’s strange that you think I’m funny ’cause he never did”
- The Moment I Knew
“What do you do when the one who means the most to you is the one who didn’t show?”
- Come Back…Be Here
“If I had known what I know now, I never would have played so nonchalant”
- Girl At Home
“And it would be a fine proposition, if I was a stupid girl. And yeah I might go with it, if I hadn’t once been just like her”
