I know “Betty” well, but not familiar with the backstory of the trilogy, etc. Agree it’s a no skip.
When it first came out wasn’t their speculation that the narrator was female? I realize the “James” quote sort of foils that, but I feel like that was a thing (ie. Taylor makes a love song for LGBTQ teens)?
Regardless, it has everything that makes the best Taylor songs great: Effortless storytelling, instantly familiar melody, and heart firmly on sleeve.
Oh yes- “Gaylor” was alive and well when it came out. There was heavy speculation that Taylor is queer. Gaylor can also refer to a subset of fans that interpret her music through an LGBTQIA+ lens.
I could make a 100 song playlist of NO SKIPS. These are songs to me that just evoke something indescribable. Literally take you somewhere. Trying not to be precious, so I’ll share three that come to mind…
Damn- ok- I’m going to start a playlist that I dump my no skips in. Good idea to have on the ready. Betty was just one I recently noticed. I think our music community here understands- there is nothing more precious than the full ass effort in not being.
Ok, hear me out. Hearing some similarities in Taylor Swift’s “I think he knows” on Lover (2019). (Another no skip. Perfect little pop bop) Specifically repeating “I understand.” Also the way she comes up at the end of some of her words not as a question but not sure how to describe it- he got that boyish look that I like in a “man.” I am an architect, I’m drawing up the “plans.”
As Jack does in- will we “fight”, stay up “late” in my “dreams” I’m to “blame.”
I could be reaching. “I think he knows” was produced by Jack so it tracks.
Jack Antonoff’s voice is incredibly sexy to me. When he talks in the middle. Whooooa Jack, take it easy. It’s noon on a Thursdee.
Absolute Bop that can play anytime. I’m familiar but you got me taking a closer look.
Appreciated the costumes, interesting elements and colors of the video. (I.e. Wedding, disco ball heads on the cake topper, Jack’s elaborate jewels on the outfit)
Also love how he’s clueless and pure with his love. Particularly, the “you steal the air out of my lungs you make me feel it” The power that it holds. What makes that worse is-trying to keep that part a secret but it’s hard to do when you’re gasping and it’s written all over you. Hopefully that person that holds that power is gentle. It’s giving- Will Farrell I LOVE YOU I LOVE AND I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS IT, buddy the elf innocence.
Maybe it’s a love song. Sticking with each other through the hard shit and not giving up. Maybe it’s another way of saying don’t sell out. Either way- Easy yes for Lish. Don’t you dare skip.
I absolutely love “meet me in the stairwell.” No one else will be there. No one else will be there. The repetition of it makes it feel desperate in the most beautiful way. The isolation and longing to just have some privacy. Dear god.
We look like children- vulnerability
Goodbyes always taking half an hour-let’s get the hell outta here, kid. Just me and you…
I could physically feel his heart and my heart breaking.
HEY BABY- with a violent haunting striiiiiiiing right after. Put me in a grave.
Piano is something I always go to when reading or wanting/needing to relax. This slows my heart rate and brings me down from the clouds. Absolutely, a never skip.
Let me ask you this- Is this a song that provokes a single alligator tear rolling down your cheek while gazing out a car window? No? Just me? Well alright then…
Bon Iver- always paints a vivid picture and brings in the senses. Two things being true at the same time- hot and cold. We have the coldness/sterile blood bank at the beginning but the warmth of the conversation. The snow and then intimacy of the connection and being in the car. Tension of sorts with a secret they both know but can’t say. A relationship, maybe at the beginning or maybe a hair over the threshold of “we should be saying I love you by now” and it’s becoming awkward. The charge is there and I imagine, unless you’re dead-anyone can feel.
It gives me a lump in my throat and I’m dying to know how this story ends. Agree, not a skip.
So much great imagery in these lyrics to grasp on to without maybe ever knowing the story...
Stuck in a car trying to stay warm as a heavy snow starts with nothing more than a Snickers.
The unfamiliar sounds of a sleeping house described as "Christmas morning creaks".
The soul crushing quote "Ain't it just like the present to be showing up like this?" - time is never on our side.
What I maybe love the most though is the quote about the bags of blood at the bank... "See look there, that's yours stacked on top of your brother's. See how they resemble one another even in their plastic little covers." I LOVE the idea of brothers/sisters/PEOPLE being connected (for better or worse) by something that you can never stamp out (in this case, literally BLOOD, but it doesn't have to be that literal). The imagery here of SEEING it in the blood and knowing they are brothers. It is obviously ridiculous, but it just resonates so much with me.
There's this GREAT Springsteen song on the album Nebraska called "Highway Patrolman". It also covers this ground. The song is essentially about two brothers from a small town that grow up and go down different paths. One of them (Joe - narrator) took the straight/narrow (the titular Highway Patrolman) and the other (Frankie) gets shipped off to Vietnam and comes back a mess. The verses tell a story about the uncomfortable interactions this naturally creates between them in town, but the chorus is one for the ages...
Really appreciate the comparison here. Captures the human experience where I’m sure a lot of people can relate to.
I especially like the line “Well if it were any other man, I’d put him straight away. But when it’s your brother sometimes you look the other way.” As you said- those bags stacked are brothers. With whole lives attached. In this case with Frankie, to outsiders, he could just be another bag stacked on top or chalked up to “being no good.” But to Joe and a closer look- that’s his brother, laughing and drinking and dancing, there’s more to it and I love the compassion the song shows and the tenderness in Bruce’s delivery. He’s not trying to convince any one of anything different or make excuses for him. Just raw and honest.
Full bodied listen here complete with chills and a good old fashioned well up.
I am SO VERY late to the party but…Lola Young, Messy. Grrrrrrl.
Omg- I knowwwww. It's a great song. I saw a live performance on YouTube and it's wild. So good.
I know “Betty” well, but not familiar with the backstory of the trilogy, etc. Agree it’s a no skip.
When it first came out wasn’t their speculation that the narrator was female? I realize the “James” quote sort of foils that, but I feel like that was a thing (ie. Taylor makes a love song for LGBTQ teens)?
Regardless, it has everything that makes the best Taylor songs great: Effortless storytelling, instantly familiar melody, and heart firmly on sleeve.
Oh yes- “Gaylor” was alive and well when it came out. There was heavy speculation that Taylor is queer. Gaylor can also refer to a subset of fans that interpret her music through an LGBTQIA+ lens.
I could make a 100 song playlist of NO SKIPS. These are songs to me that just evoke something indescribable. Literally take you somewhere. Trying not to be precious, so I’ll share three that come to mind…
Damn- ok- I’m going to start a playlist that I dump my no skips in. Good idea to have on the ready. Betty was just one I recently noticed. I think our music community here understands- there is nothing more precious than the full ass effort in not being.
And maybe these all just happen to be artists that have collaborated with Taylor…
You know, I know, the public knows… not an accident. #precious
Bleachers - “Don’t Take the Money”
https://music.apple.com/us/album/dont-take-the-money/1225759934?i=1225759939
Ok, hear me out. Hearing some similarities in Taylor Swift’s “I think he knows” on Lover (2019). (Another no skip. Perfect little pop bop) Specifically repeating “I understand.” Also the way she comes up at the end of some of her words not as a question but not sure how to describe it- he got that boyish look that I like in a “man.” I am an architect, I’m drawing up the “plans.”
As Jack does in- will we “fight”, stay up “late” in my “dreams” I’m to “blame.”
I could be reaching. “I think he knows” was produced by Jack so it tracks.
Had fun with this one. Take a bow. 👏
Jack Antonoff’s voice is incredibly sexy to me. When he talks in the middle. Whooooa Jack, take it easy. It’s noon on a Thursdee.
Absolute Bop that can play anytime. I’m familiar but you got me taking a closer look.
Appreciated the costumes, interesting elements and colors of the video. (I.e. Wedding, disco ball heads on the cake topper, Jack’s elaborate jewels on the outfit)
Also love how he’s clueless and pure with his love. Particularly, the “you steal the air out of my lungs you make me feel it” The power that it holds. What makes that worse is-trying to keep that part a secret but it’s hard to do when you’re gasping and it’s written all over you. Hopefully that person that holds that power is gentle. It’s giving- Will Farrell I LOVE YOU I LOVE AND I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS IT, buddy the elf innocence.
Maybe it’s a love song. Sticking with each other through the hard shit and not giving up. Maybe it’s another way of saying don’t sell out. Either way- Easy yes for Lish. Don’t you dare skip.
The National - “Nobody Else Will Be There”
https://music.apple.com/us/album/nobody-else-will-be-there/1233837225?i=1233837649
More then a single alligator tear. Was wondering if the lady at the red light was going to check on me.
Holy hell.
First of all- how dare you.
I absolutely love “meet me in the stairwell.” No one else will be there. No one else will be there. The repetition of it makes it feel desperate in the most beautiful way. The isolation and longing to just have some privacy. Dear god.
We look like children- vulnerability
Goodbyes always taking half an hour-let’s get the hell outta here, kid. Just me and you…
I could physically feel his heart and my heart breaking.
HEY BABY- with a violent haunting striiiiiiiing right after. Put me in a grave.
Piano is something I always go to when reading or wanting/needing to relax. This slows my heart rate and brings me down from the clouds. Absolutely, a never skip.
Oh and the whisper of the female voice… 🤌
Bon Iver - “Blood Bank”
https://music.apple.com/us/album/blood-bank/789755317?i=789755328
Let me ask you this- Is this a song that provokes a single alligator tear rolling down your cheek while gazing out a car window? No? Just me? Well alright then…
Bon Iver- always paints a vivid picture and brings in the senses. Two things being true at the same time- hot and cold. We have the coldness/sterile blood bank at the beginning but the warmth of the conversation. The snow and then intimacy of the connection and being in the car. Tension of sorts with a secret they both know but can’t say. A relationship, maybe at the beginning or maybe a hair over the threshold of “we should be saying I love you by now” and it’s becoming awkward. The charge is there and I imagine, unless you’re dead-anyone can feel.
It gives me a lump in my throat and I’m dying to know how this story ends. Agree, not a skip.
So much great imagery in these lyrics to grasp on to without maybe ever knowing the story...
Stuck in a car trying to stay warm as a heavy snow starts with nothing more than a Snickers.
The unfamiliar sounds of a sleeping house described as "Christmas morning creaks".
The soul crushing quote "Ain't it just like the present to be showing up like this?" - time is never on our side.
What I maybe love the most though is the quote about the bags of blood at the bank... "See look there, that's yours stacked on top of your brother's. See how they resemble one another even in their plastic little covers." I LOVE the idea of brothers/sisters/PEOPLE being connected (for better or worse) by something that you can never stamp out (in this case, literally BLOOD, but it doesn't have to be that literal). The imagery here of SEEING it in the blood and knowing they are brothers. It is obviously ridiculous, but it just resonates so much with me.
There's this GREAT Springsteen song on the album Nebraska called "Highway Patrolman". It also covers this ground. The song is essentially about two brothers from a small town that grow up and go down different paths. One of them (Joe - narrator) took the straight/narrow (the titular Highway Patrolman) and the other (Frankie) gets shipped off to Vietnam and comes back a mess. The verses tell a story about the uncomfortable interactions this naturally creates between them in town, but the chorus is one for the ages...
Me and Frankie laughing and drinking
NOTHING FEELS BETTER THAN BLOOD ON BLOOD
Taking turns dancing with Maria
As the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's straying
Like any brother would
A man turns his back on his family
Well, he just ain't no good
Really appreciate the comparison here. Captures the human experience where I’m sure a lot of people can relate to.
I especially like the line “Well if it were any other man, I’d put him straight away. But when it’s your brother sometimes you look the other way.” As you said- those bags stacked are brothers. With whole lives attached. In this case with Frankie, to outsiders, he could just be another bag stacked on top or chalked up to “being no good.” But to Joe and a closer look- that’s his brother, laughing and drinking and dancing, there’s more to it and I love the compassion the song shows and the tenderness in Bruce’s delivery. He’s not trying to convince any one of anything different or make excuses for him. Just raw and honest.
Full bodied listen here complete with chills and a good old fashioned well up.