If there is one bit of current nonsense I can’t stand it’s the imagine your high school gym teacher married to your English teacher. Travis Kelce is a successful professional athlete. Your typical gym teacher is a not too successful former high school athlete who had to do something when he grew up. Taylor Swift is probably brighter than the typical pop star and has apparently read a few things.However the literary allusions are stagey name dropping designed to create a false aura of depth. In popular music good lyrics are a joy when you come across them. The ability to sing counts for more. So I’d actually rather listen to Adele sing Rolling in the Deep or Lady Gaga Paparazzi. There is wisdom in the title of an old Rolling Stones song It’s the Singer not the Song.
By the way, I have little familiarity with contemporary pop music, too old , wear bottom of my trousers rolled and my life somewhat resembles Philip Larkin’s Aubade but there have been pop performers with some actual literary grounding . Lou Reed studied under Delmore Schwartz. Leonard Cohen actually was a published poet and novelist before he took up singing.Then of course, there is Patti Smith who are beloved Taylor refers to. You can deem her pretentious, a lousy poet and a public nuisance but she did have a real interest in literature and was very much a part of the bohemian artsy New York scene in the day. You really can’t picture her marrying a football player.
She gets away with a lot musically as well in terms of producing middling songs, especially in the last few years. I listened to "The Life of a Showgirl" single yesterday and it sounded like any number of totally fine B- pop songs from the last 10 years that were engineered in a lab to be a hit single for a couple of months and then be forgotten forever. But because it's a TAYLOR SWIFT SONG her fans will say it's a work of genius. Very strange
She reminds me of lots of 30-somethings online who go on and on about what 'voracious readers' they were as teenagers, but don't seem to read a book from one year to the next these days. I think continually going back to Shakespeare is a big tell. You can't keep writing well if you're not also reading well. How can you put out albums at this rate, while touring to boot, and expect to have any good material left?
A refreshing take here. I have never been a swiftie, but I had been impressed by some of her lyrics (though putting some of the literary allusions into pop music lends a tone of pretensiousness at times). Especially after hearing "The Fate of Ophelia" and realizing that I didn't even get the Hamlet reference at first, I recognized that she seems to be using literary references not as metaphors, but as gimmicks. As you emphasize, the comparison fades after the most superficial resemblance. The old criticism of T.S. Eliot might be more applicable to Swift: it takes more intelligence to read it than it did to write it.
Thank you for saying this! I happened upon an interview TS was doing to promote her new album where she was talking about Ophelia as someone who "died for love," which is such a shallow and reductive interpretation that it made me wonder if she'd really actually read the play. She talked a lot about the Millais painting, which makes me think that was as far as she went when it came to researching Ophelia.
As a pop star, performer, and someone with unmatched abiilty to inspire young women espec, I am a TS fan even though I'm far past the age ofdragging. my pants...cultural touchpoint/ reference to John's comment - my gen wore the longest bell bottom jeans possible and cleaned the city streets with them - who also got some very interesting perspective about all this. I appreciate your essay so much and literary expertise. I still love Love Story.
I see your point and I've thought these things too. To her credit, TTPD has plenty of songs that demonstrate her lyricism is still there. I'll take heavy handed over barely trying any day, especially if the songs work. The Dylan Thomas line was a dig at her ex Joe, he was the "tortured poet". The album name is derived from what he and his friend group referred to themselves as. I dont expect a dissertation on literary works in the music, and thats where your point comes in. I agree with preferring her not to lean into the English Teacher role play, but if we've learned anything from Taylor's career is that it is always evolving. On to the next Era.
I've heard a few of her songs, though no recent ones, and liked them okay. Indeed, I found some parts of "Blank Space" quite clever, though cleverer before I found upon checking the lyrics that I'd misheard them.
I don't have an opinion on Taylor Swift's oeuvre, but the lyrics in your examples are terrible.
"From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones
I’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight"
The alliteration of the B in the first line is awkward. Alliteration rarely sounds good in threes, or in two consecutive words. The second line is a confusing metaphor. Do soldiers regularly return home half their weight?
Here's an example of genius lyrics:
"Everyday when I make my way to the tubby,
I find a fellow who's cute and yellow and cubby"
Look at that perfect scansion. The assonance in "make my way" creates a syncopation that mimicks Ernie's footsteps as he makes his way to the bathtub. The internal rhyme "fellow who's cute and yellow" produces a roundness that invokes the curves of the rubber ducky.
Lyrics are not just words. They are sounds. Those sounds have relationships with one another that can produce another layer of meaning. I have yet to be convinced that Taylor Swift understands this.
I was with you for the first 2/3s of this piece. It seems like the general consensus on this album is “Taylor Swift is a genius lyricist but the new album’s lyrics have fallen off and become cringe.” But I don’t see that. IMO her lyrics have always been a bit cringe. Sometimes they’re clever, too, ofc, and they’re definitely more complicated and earnest than most pop singers (which is I think is why they can come off as cringe). Like even in that excerpt that you posted from “Love Story,” the first line is a mixed metaphor (mixed allusion?) and it’s not clear what the reference to the Scarlet Letter is adding. Or like people complaining that she uses modern slang when the first line of the first song on Folklore (supposedly her best album) is “I’m doing good on I’m on some new shit.” Like I really don’t see how the new album’s lyrics are really that much worse than her previous stuff. Personally I like the new album a lot (I didn’t care for Tortured Poets Department or Midnights, so I’m not saying this out of blind fandom). I also feel like the “showgirl” image doesn’t lean into the “English teacher” thing nearly as much as the last album “tortured poets” thing did. (One of the only songs on that album that I like is the title track because it’s clear that it’s supposed to be sarcastic).
Allusions are supposed to be illuminating. If you track down a TS Eliot allusion, you will understand Eliot's poem much better. You will also gain a new and deeper appreciation of the source material -- "di questo fondo non torno viva alcun," -- etc. The poet does not steal virtue from the allusion but adds to and builds up the cannon. Swift is incapable of this level of craft.
But in songs like All Too Well, she does show the ability to lay down new stone solid enough for future building. When she was authentically representing a sympathetic, genuine, and vulnerable experience, she was brilliant. I haven't followed her enough to have an opinion about whether she has been capable of this in recent years, since my girls grew up and left the house. But I have my doubts about how sympathetic and genuine she can be at this point of her life.
I've said for a while that Swift needs to become a mother. If that doesn't break your heart open and make you vulnerable again, nothing can. It will be interesting to see if she goes down that path. Swift is no English teacher, but neither was Blake. Who also married an illiterate spouse.
Interesting read, and perhaps you are right that it's hard to maintain the gifts that got you where you are once you become famous and lauded. I've never been a "swifty" since I'm much too old, but I've found many of her songs enjoyable and memorable. The only song I remember from Tortured Poets that I think I've heard is Champagne Problems which I like very much. Likewise one of her more recent songs, Anti-hero shows her talent in full flower. I've never found a singer/songwriter's whole oeuvre great. I live for the few gems I find as is true for any artist or writer.
As to her song, Love Story, I have always considered its reference to Romeo and Juliet as ironic in the sense that is how a teen-age girl (that the song is narrated by) views romance?
Also VERY much not a Swifty and my grade 10 self would be screaming at me for defending "Love Story," but I agree with your take on that one. She makes the reference to Romeo and Juliet, who we know to be ill-fated lovers, and re-imagines the story, something that many novelists have made money doing. There's nothing particularly brilliant about her use of Romeo and Juliet, but it's not wrong. I think it's a little funny that people are criticizing her for changing some of the details in her references to suit her own narrative when writers do that all the time and I may be optimistic, but I feel like it was a choice rather than ignorance. However, I do agree with the overwhelming consensus that these references are lazy and fall flat. Most of the recent ones that I'm aware of don't really add anything to her point and feel forced either from desperation to be seen as intellectual or to use the literary references as a marketing formula. Beyond the disaster that is "The Fate of Ophelia," that is what pisses me off the most and why I will crawl back under my rock and listen to my punk records.
True fact: I saw Taylor Swift in concert when she was the opening act for Brad Paisley. She even opened before Kellie Pickler, of American Idol fame! She was always a charismatic performer.
Also, Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical has a hilarious song about Romeo and Juliet.
Yes. Brad Paisley was the headliner. Kellie Pickler had finished with American Idol and released an album. And Taylor Swift had just released her first album. With the swingin screen doors and Tim McGraw fangirling on it. She wasn’t yet TAYLOR SWIFT; she was a teenage girl whose first album was picking up momentum on the country charts.
What a lineup! The opening act sure to go down in history and the other two, I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of her music but as a phenomenon I'm fascinated. People from age 6 to 95 seem to tell me they're fans. I have to keep it to myself that I'm skeptical to avoid causing civil conflict
I don’t love Kellie Pickler’s music, but I do like it and she put on energetic stage show. She’s not doing so well these days— she was married for 12 years, but her husband died by his own hand and there is acrimony between her and his family.
Brad Paisley I kind of thought was just this guy with the funny songs, and he does have funny songs. But he’s a serious guitar player. I remember it being a very good show.
I never understood the fuss around Dylan. Other musicians seemed to adore him. I think it is often that way, the insider hero is not the outsider hero. Paul Simon came to mind because it was his line that immediately came to mind.
If there is one bit of current nonsense I can’t stand it’s the imagine your high school gym teacher married to your English teacher. Travis Kelce is a successful professional athlete. Your typical gym teacher is a not too successful former high school athlete who had to do something when he grew up. Taylor Swift is probably brighter than the typical pop star and has apparently read a few things.However the literary allusions are stagey name dropping designed to create a false aura of depth. In popular music good lyrics are a joy when you come across them. The ability to sing counts for more. So I’d actually rather listen to Adele sing Rolling in the Deep or Lady Gaga Paparazzi. There is wisdom in the title of an old Rolling Stones song It’s the Singer not the Song.
By the way, I have little familiarity with contemporary pop music, too old , wear bottom of my trousers rolled and my life somewhat resembles Philip Larkin’s Aubade but there have been pop performers with some actual literary grounding . Lou Reed studied under Delmore Schwartz. Leonard Cohen actually was a published poet and novelist before he took up singing.Then of course, there is Patti Smith who are beloved Taylor refers to. You can deem her pretentious, a lousy poet and a public nuisance but she did have a real interest in literature and was very much a part of the bohemian artsy New York scene in the day. You really can’t picture her marrying a football player.
She gets away with a lot musically as well in terms of producing middling songs, especially in the last few years. I listened to "The Life of a Showgirl" single yesterday and it sounded like any number of totally fine B- pop songs from the last 10 years that were engineered in a lab to be a hit single for a couple of months and then be forgotten forever. But because it's a TAYLOR SWIFT SONG her fans will say it's a work of genius. Very strange
She reminds me of lots of 30-somethings online who go on and on about what 'voracious readers' they were as teenagers, but don't seem to read a book from one year to the next these days. I think continually going back to Shakespeare is a big tell. You can't keep writing well if you're not also reading well. How can you put out albums at this rate, while touring to boot, and expect to have any good material left?
A refreshing take here. I have never been a swiftie, but I had been impressed by some of her lyrics (though putting some of the literary allusions into pop music lends a tone of pretensiousness at times). Especially after hearing "The Fate of Ophelia" and realizing that I didn't even get the Hamlet reference at first, I recognized that she seems to be using literary references not as metaphors, but as gimmicks. As you emphasize, the comparison fades after the most superficial resemblance. The old criticism of T.S. Eliot might be more applicable to Swift: it takes more intelligence to read it than it did to write it.
Thank you for saying this! I happened upon an interview TS was doing to promote her new album where she was talking about Ophelia as someone who "died for love," which is such a shallow and reductive interpretation that it made me wonder if she'd really actually read the play. She talked a lot about the Millais painting, which makes me think that was as far as she went when it came to researching Ophelia.
Ophelia died for love? That’s ridiculous. Perhaps Polonius died for truth and Hamlet for honor!
hahaha
As a pop star, performer, and someone with unmatched abiilty to inspire young women espec, I am a TS fan even though I'm far past the age ofdragging. my pants...cultural touchpoint/ reference to John's comment - my gen wore the longest bell bottom jeans possible and cleaned the city streets with them - who also got some very interesting perspective about all this. I appreciate your essay so much and literary expertise. I still love Love Story.
I see your point and I've thought these things too. To her credit, TTPD has plenty of songs that demonstrate her lyricism is still there. I'll take heavy handed over barely trying any day, especially if the songs work. The Dylan Thomas line was a dig at her ex Joe, he was the "tortured poet". The album name is derived from what he and his friend group referred to themselves as. I dont expect a dissertation on literary works in the music, and thats where your point comes in. I agree with preferring her not to lean into the English Teacher role play, but if we've learned anything from Taylor's career is that it is always evolving. On to the next Era.
I've heard a few of her songs, though no recent ones, and liked them okay. Indeed, I found some parts of "Blank Space" quite clever, though cleverer before I found upon checking the lyrics that I'd misheard them.
Hahaha, it's so good to hear this. I feel like I'm not allowed to say this in polite society. Thank you for bolstering me
Well-argued.
I don't have an opinion on Taylor Swift's oeuvre, but the lyrics in your examples are terrible.
"From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones
I’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight"
The alliteration of the B in the first line is awkward. Alliteration rarely sounds good in threes, or in two consecutive words. The second line is a confusing metaphor. Do soldiers regularly return home half their weight?
Here's an example of genius lyrics:
"Everyday when I make my way to the tubby,
I find a fellow who's cute and yellow and cubby"
Look at that perfect scansion. The assonance in "make my way" creates a syncopation that mimicks Ernie's footsteps as he makes his way to the bathtub. The internal rhyme "fellow who's cute and yellow" produces a roundness that invokes the curves of the rubber ducky.
Lyrics are not just words. They are sounds. Those sounds have relationships with one another that can produce another layer of meaning. I have yet to be convinced that Taylor Swift understands this.
I was with you for the first 2/3s of this piece. It seems like the general consensus on this album is “Taylor Swift is a genius lyricist but the new album’s lyrics have fallen off and become cringe.” But I don’t see that. IMO her lyrics have always been a bit cringe. Sometimes they’re clever, too, ofc, and they’re definitely more complicated and earnest than most pop singers (which is I think is why they can come off as cringe). Like even in that excerpt that you posted from “Love Story,” the first line is a mixed metaphor (mixed allusion?) and it’s not clear what the reference to the Scarlet Letter is adding. Or like people complaining that she uses modern slang when the first line of the first song on Folklore (supposedly her best album) is “I’m doing good on I’m on some new shit.” Like I really don’t see how the new album’s lyrics are really that much worse than her previous stuff. Personally I like the new album a lot (I didn’t care for Tortured Poets Department or Midnights, so I’m not saying this out of blind fandom). I also feel like the “showgirl” image doesn’t lean into the “English teacher” thing nearly as much as the last album “tortured poets” thing did. (One of the only songs on that album that I like is the title track because it’s clear that it’s supposed to be sarcastic).
Allusions are supposed to be illuminating. If you track down a TS Eliot allusion, you will understand Eliot's poem much better. You will also gain a new and deeper appreciation of the source material -- "di questo fondo non torno viva alcun," -- etc. The poet does not steal virtue from the allusion but adds to and builds up the cannon. Swift is incapable of this level of craft.
But in songs like All Too Well, she does show the ability to lay down new stone solid enough for future building. When she was authentically representing a sympathetic, genuine, and vulnerable experience, she was brilliant. I haven't followed her enough to have an opinion about whether she has been capable of this in recent years, since my girls grew up and left the house. But I have my doubts about how sympathetic and genuine she can be at this point of her life.
I've said for a while that Swift needs to become a mother. If that doesn't break your heart open and make you vulnerable again, nothing can. It will be interesting to see if she goes down that path. Swift is no English teacher, but neither was Blake. Who also married an illiterate spouse.
Interesting read, and perhaps you are right that it's hard to maintain the gifts that got you where you are once you become famous and lauded. I've never been a "swifty" since I'm much too old, but I've found many of her songs enjoyable and memorable. The only song I remember from Tortured Poets that I think I've heard is Champagne Problems which I like very much. Likewise one of her more recent songs, Anti-hero shows her talent in full flower. I've never found a singer/songwriter's whole oeuvre great. I live for the few gems I find as is true for any artist or writer.
As to her song, Love Story, I have always considered its reference to Romeo and Juliet as ironic in the sense that is how a teen-age girl (that the song is narrated by) views romance?
Also VERY much not a Swifty and my grade 10 self would be screaming at me for defending "Love Story," but I agree with your take on that one. She makes the reference to Romeo and Juliet, who we know to be ill-fated lovers, and re-imagines the story, something that many novelists have made money doing. There's nothing particularly brilliant about her use of Romeo and Juliet, but it's not wrong. I think it's a little funny that people are criticizing her for changing some of the details in her references to suit her own narrative when writers do that all the time and I may be optimistic, but I feel like it was a choice rather than ignorance. However, I do agree with the overwhelming consensus that these references are lazy and fall flat. Most of the recent ones that I'm aware of don't really add anything to her point and feel forced either from desperation to be seen as intellectual or to use the literary references as a marketing formula. Beyond the disaster that is "The Fate of Ophelia," that is what pisses me off the most and why I will crawl back under my rock and listen to my punk records.
True fact: I saw Taylor Swift in concert when she was the opening act for Brad Paisley. She even opened before Kellie Pickler, of American Idol fame! She was always a charismatic performer.
Also, Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical has a hilarious song about Romeo and Juliet.
Wait, are you saying there was a Swift-Paisley-Pickler billing all in the same show?!
Yes. Brad Paisley was the headliner. Kellie Pickler had finished with American Idol and released an album. And Taylor Swift had just released her first album. With the swingin screen doors and Tim McGraw fangirling on it. She wasn’t yet TAYLOR SWIFT; she was a teenage girl whose first album was picking up momentum on the country charts.
What a lineup! The opening act sure to go down in history and the other two, I don't know. I'm not a huge fan of her music but as a phenomenon I'm fascinated. People from age 6 to 95 seem to tell me they're fans. I have to keep it to myself that I'm skeptical to avoid causing civil conflict
I don’t love Kellie Pickler’s music, but I do like it and she put on energetic stage show. She’s not doing so well these days— she was married for 12 years, but her husband died by his own hand and there is acrimony between her and his family.
Brad Paisley I kind of thought was just this guy with the funny songs, and he does have funny songs. But he’s a serious guitar player. I remember it being a very good show.
Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts. Paul Simon was the pop song poet of my generation.
More so than Bob Dylan?
I never understood the fuss around Dylan. Other musicians seemed to adore him. I think it is often that way, the insider hero is not the outsider hero. Paul Simon came to mind because it was his line that immediately came to mind.
BS"D
"From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones
I'm a soldier returning half her weight"
Could you explain that, Liza, please?
Stunned in California