Top Ten Tuesday #394

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I’ve got quite an exciting upcoming week, I’m up in Scotland for the week, my mum did a French diploma course over lockdown and she’s graduating this week! I’m also seeing my friend Nicola who I haven’t seen since before Covid, so I’m really looking forward to that too.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and time for another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic was meant to be Favourite Aww Moments In Books, but since the books I read generally trend towards the sad, or people dying horribly, rather than sweet moments, I thought this wasn’t really one for me. So instead, I’m going completely off base, and doing something I saw Rissi from Finding Wonderland do a while back, and sharing my Favourite Taylor Swift Lyrics. Yes, not really book related, but it’s my blog, I can do what I want! Pre-warning, this will be a long one, I found it hard to narrow down. So here we go:

1. “And you call me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name of being honest.” -All Too Well, Red (Taylor’s Version)

This line feels like a total gut punch every time you listen to it, it’s one of my favourite lyrics that Taylor has ever written, it’s just so raw and perfectly gets across the pain of the end of that relationship.

2. “You had a speech, you’re speechless. Love slipped beyond your reaches. And I couldn’t give a reason.” -champagne problems, evermore

I could probably have included this whole song because it’s one of my absolute favourites of hers, it’s so gorgeous and sad, and tells such a complete story in just four minutes. I found this line particularly poignant though, I thought it really highlighted the devastation of the guy whose proposal was rejected.

3. “There was nothing left to do. When the butterflies turned to dust that covered my whole room.” -Clean, 1989

I just really love the imagery here, the idea of butterflies decayed into dust is a really great image to portray the end of a relationship.

4. “But I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss, knew you’d haunt all of my what-ifs” -cardigan, folklore

cardigan wasn’t originally one of my favourite songs from folklore but it really grew on me when I listened more and appreciated how lovely the lyrics were, I love how ethereal this line is.

5. “So I’ll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep. And I feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe.” -Last Kiss, Speak Now

I think you can see now why the original topic was not one that was going to work for me, I clearly don’t like the cute moments, I like the devastating ones that rip your heart out and trample on it! Taylor has written a lot of really sad songs, but Last Kiss is always one of the ones that gets me the most.

6. “And you’ll poke that bear til her claws come out. And you find something to wrap your noose around.” -mad woman, folklore

mad woman was one of my instant first listen favourites from folklore, it’s just such a satisfying song, and I think really built on something she’d been exploring previously but in a more nuanced way. I could have chosen quite a few lines from this song, but this is the one that I always find myself singing slightly more loudly when I listen to it.

7. “You come away with a great little story of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you.” -Cold As You, debut album

Taylor’s written so many songs since she released her first album that it’s easy to forget about her debut, but it has some really killer lyrics on it and this is one of my favourites: very simple but cuts like a knife, like all the best Taylor Swift lyrics!

8. “But I took your matches before fire could catch me, so don’t look now. I’m shining like fireworks over your sad empty town.” -Dear John, Speak Now

Speak Now is my favourite of all Taylor Swift’s albums, most of her other albums have a least one skip for me, but Speak Now is the one where I can say that every song is one I really enjoy listening to. Dear John is full of brilliant lyrics, but this is the one that I find most satisfying when I listen to it.

9. “Hung my head as I lost the war, and the sky turned black like a perfect storm.” -Clean, 1989

Honestly, I feel like Clean doesn’t get enough credit for how brilliant it is? Lyrically, it’s up there as one of my favourite songs on 1989 and it’s definitely one of my favourite album closers (though I think Long Live may just edge it slightly).

10. “And they tell you that you’re lucky but you’re so confused. Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used.” -The Lucky One, Red (Taylor’s Version)

The Lucky One is another one of those Taylor Swift songs that I really love, but feel is kind of underrated. This line in particular is one I really love because it cuts right to the point of the harsh reality of being famous.

11. “And then the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind. You gave me all your love but all I gave you was goodbye.” -Back To December, Speak Now

Back To December is one of my absolute favourite Taylor Swift songs, it’s really beautiful and again just feels like a complete story set to music.

12. “She would’ve made such a lovely bride. What a shame she’s fucked in the head, they said.” -champagne problems, evermore

champagne problems has one of my favourite bridges of any Taylor Swift song, and this line is one that I just know will be super satisfying to sing back at a concert (not that I have any hope that I will be able to either afford or get tickets when Taylor announces UK dates for her next tour, but a girl can dream!).

13. “How can a person know everything at eighteen, but nothing at twenty two? And will you still want me, when I’m nothing new?” -Nothing New, Red (Taylor’s Version)

I have no idea how this didn’t make it onto the original Red album because it’s such a brilliant song, but in a way I’m kind of glad it didn’t, because I was only 16 when Red originally came out, and I related so much more to this song at 25 than I think I would have back then, especially this line because I genuinely do feel like the older I get, the less I know about what I want from my life!

14. “Darling I’m a nightmare, dressed like a daydream” -Blank Space, 1989

Ah this line just bites so hard and it’s such a great image. Blank Space is just such a great song anyway, I love when Taylor does satire about herself and the way she’s viewed, it’s always so brilliant!

15. “When all you wanted was to be wanted. Wish you could go back, and tell yourself what you know now.” -Fifteen, Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

Fifteen is another one of my all time favourite Taylor Swift songs, I first heard it when I was thirteen and I could relate a lot to the lyrics because of things I was going through at school at the time, and when I listen back to it now, this line definitely hits because I’d love to be able to go back and tell my thirteen year old self that things will work out for her!

16. “You drew stars, around my scars. Now I’m bleedin'” -cardigan, folklore

Again I just really love the image of this!

17. “But people are people and sometimes it doesn’t work out. But nothing we say is gonna save us from the fallout.” -Breathe, Fearless

Breathe isn’t one of my absolute favourite songs but it does have some really gorgeous lines and this is one of my favourites.

18. “Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralysed by it. I’d like to be my old self again, but I’m still trying to find it.” -All Too Well, Red (Taylor’s Version)

I did try and keep the All Too Well lyrics to a minimum as I could have put the entire song on here, but this line is one that I have deeply related to in the past, so I just had to include it here.

19. “We were a fresh page on the desk, filling in the blanks as we go.” -Cornelia Street, Lover

As a writer, the whole idea of fresh pages, new starts is definitely appealing!

20. “Maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much. But maybe this thing was a masterpiece till you tore it all up.” -All Too Well, Red (Taylor’s Version)

I promise this is the last one from All Too Well! It just has pretty much all my favourite Taylor Swift lyrics ever on it, so naturally it would show up more than a few times.

Thank you for hanging in there for that incredibly long post! I swear I did initially just have 12 for this, but then other lines kept coming to me and I didn’t want to miss anything out. I learned some interesting things in the course of making this list: that I thought Fearless was my favourite Taylor Swift album, but actually most of my favourite lyrics don’t come from there (even though a lot of my favourite songs do!), that Speak Now is maybe my actual favourite Taylor Swift album (which to be fair, it has always been a toss-up between Fearless and Speak Now) and that I really love emotionally devastating songs. I wasn’t too surprised that no Reputation songs made the list to be honest, whilst I like individual songs from the album, it’s never been one of my favourites of hers.

Do you like Taylor Swift’s music? Any particular favourite songs? Let me know in the comments!

We’re back on the book train next week, it’s the annual Thanksgiving freebie. I did struggle to think of something for this as I think I’ve run the gamut of Thankful themed freebies over the past eight years, but then I figured that coming out of two years of Covid restrictions, there’s a lot of been thankful to have back, so that’s what I’m going to do as my topic next week, Things I’ve Been Thankful To Have Back Since Covid Restrictions Were Lifted. It’s not particularly bookish, but oh well, I thought it would be a nice one to do!