The moment Swifties have been waiting for since 2012 finally transpired last Friday: “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)” by Taylor Swift was released as the last song on “Red (Taylor’s Version).”
The singer-songwriter told Jimmy Fallon last week that she wrote the song in 2012 when she was in band rehearsals on tour.
“I started ad-libbing what I was going through and what I was feeling,” she said. “The song started building and building and building in intensity, and the song just went on for about 10 or 15 minutes of us doing this.”
At the end of the day, her mom approached her “sound guy” and asked if he had recorded the song, and to our luck he did.
Fans have had much to say about the man who the song was written about. One Twitter user said, “I just KNOW Jake Gyllenhaal’s pr team is stressed this weekend,” which is sad, beautiful and tragic, indeed.
In all seriousness, let’s discuss the new “All Too Well” lyrics. As it is known, blondie loves to leave Easter eggs in her lyrics, music videos, Instagram posts and Tumblr comments, and “Red (Taylor’s Version)” was no exception.
The first new lyrics in the nostalgic song come about a minute and a half in, “And you were tossing me the car keys, ‘f*** the patriarchy’ keychain on the ground. We were always skipping town.” These lyrics seemingly show the facade of a feminist man, when he really proves to be manipulative and destructive. This is where the treacherous lies began.
The following lyrics sing, “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.” Swift admits to later realizing she was more dedicated to the relationship than him. There are parallels to these lyrics in her song, “State of Grace” — “Love doesn’t count after goodbye,” and in “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” — “I say, ‘I hate you,’ we break up. You call me, ‘I love you,’” suggesting he later tried to mend their broken relationship by saying he loved her.
Swift continues to explain their on-and-off relationship, singing, “‘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.” Did he-who-shall-not-be-named (Jake Gyllenhaal) really try to win blondie back after everything he did to her?
Interestingly, Swift references death in a similar way in her more recent song, “the 1.” She sings, “In my defense, I have none, for digging up the grave another time.”
The next newly-added lyrics come about three and a half minutes into the song, “And there we are again when nobody had to know. You kept me like a secret but I kept you like an oath.” Ouch. One depiction of these lyrics is that he kept their relationship a secret. A simpler interpretation cites that a secret is easily breakable and an oath is a dignified promise.
The next lyrics are a doozy. “They say all’s well that ends well, but I’m in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind. You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine, and that made me want to die. 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.”
That’s a lot to unpack. Let’s start with the paramount question: who was the actress in the bathroom? One theory is the actress was Jennifer Aniston, as she reportedly gave Swift relationship advice in 2011 at the People’s Choice Awards. Another notion is that the consoler was Anne Hathaway, who was working on a movie with the perpetrator at the time of his and Swift’s messy relationship. Some people think the sympathizer was Maggie Gyllenhaal, the ex’s sister, who is mentioned at the beginning of the song. This would actually be somewhat of a diss with the way Swift refers to her as “some actress.”
The lyrics continue, “You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes.” Blondie wants us to know she trusted her ex-lover enough to meet her family.
The next line sings, “Sipping coffee like you’re on a late-night show.” We all know actors have their fair share of late-night show appearances.
“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.'” Do you mean to tell me that he missed her 21st birthday? Jail.
There is also a parallel with these lyrics and those in Swift’s song, “The Moment I Knew,” which is presumingly about the same ex-boyfriend. “I’ve got my eye on the door just waiting for you to walk in. You should’ve been here, and I would’ve been so happy.” And the birthday is mentioned again in her more recent song, “coney island,” which is a mashup of moments from all of her past relationships. It sings, “Were you standing in the hallway with a big cake, happy birthday?”
The next lyrics in “All Too Well” are, “And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punch line goes, ‘I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age.'” Swift was 20, about to turn 21, when she started dating her then 30-year-old boyfriend. The kicker is that 10 years later, his current girlfriend is only 25 and would have been 22 when they began their relationship three years ago. It is worth noting that these lyrics are clearly new and could not have been in the original 10-minute version written almost a decade ago.
The final additions to “All Too Well” sing, “From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones, I’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight. And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue? Just between us, did the love affair maim you, too? ‘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.” These lyrics hint at an eating disorder Swift spoke about in her Netflix documentary, “Miss Americana,” during the creation ages of “Red” and “1989.” There is a similar lyric in her track “tolerate it,” which says, “Gain the weight of you then lose it.” These lyrics also evince that she is still questioning whether the breakup hurt him near as much as it hurt her.
Listeners could go on and on digging for Easter eggs and hints about Swift’s past relationships, but at the end of the day, we are all just thankful for the musical masterpieces created by Ms. Swift that leave us feeling happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the short film.