The Swiftie and The Scholar - The Diction Study of Cold As You

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

In this episode of The Swiftie and The Scholar, Angela and Uncle Jerry are taking it waaayyy back to 2006 with Taylor Swift’s first ever track 5, Cold As You. It might seem like a weird choice, but Angela wanted to present Uncle Jerry with some of Taylor’s earliest work so he could gain context around her growth as an artist over her entire career. Uncle Jerry finds a few redeeming qualities in the song, and together they explore other break-up poetry from the greats. Works Cited:Percy Bysshe ShelleyModern Love: I – George Meredith SonnetIt’s Not You, It’s Me – Jerry Williams – Affiliate LinkThe Research Society for Victorian PeriodicalsRosemary VanArsdel PrizeHer Kind – Ann SextonHeavy – Mary OliverA Broken Appointment – Thomas Hardy The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson – Aff LinkHeart! We will forget him! – Emily DickinsonI held a Jewel in my fingers – Emily DickinsonEras Tour Surprise Song — Houston Follow Us:⁠YouTube⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Angela's Instagram⁠

Welcome to The Swiftie and The Scholar, the podcast where we examine the lyrics, lore, and literary legacy of Taylor Swift. I am Angela McDowell, The Swifty. And I am Dr. Jerry Coach, The Scholar. Hello. Hello, Angela. How you doing? Ooh, I am so excited to cover this song today. Okay, so about this song that we're doing today, we're going back to Taylor's debut album.

Okay, good. I'm glad to hear that. I wanted to, I wanted you to have a little context for kind of where, where she started, because the songs that you've heard so far is kind of where she's ended up. And so we can see that growth. And I think you'll probably agree that there is a lot of growth. Yeah, I was thinking it might take all of ten minutes to talk about this song. But, I mean, I think we can stretch it.

We got this. Yeah, we can do. We're professionals now. Absolutely. Professional Swifties. Um, what, and on that note, I feel like, uh, tell me if I'm wrong, but I think the, the overall perception of Taylor Swift for people who have heard like a single here and there and have never really dug deep into her, um, the rest of her discography is that she writes, you know, bubble gum pop songs that don't have a little, don't have much, you know, depth or lyrical

genius if we want to call it that I know you don't want to call it that but is that true for you? Is that what you thought about Taylor? Absolutely. So you've been pleasantly surprised by what you've heard so far? Not surprised because I know you

and always respect your opinion. That was seriously. Seriously, Angela. Yeah, I've been surprised. But then I only had one sampling. I knew one Taylor Swift song in totality. And it was one of those bubblegum pop songs. And I wasn't going to hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate on her just because that's all I knew.

So, you know, I wasn't quite willing to call her Bob Dylan, but I was willing to, you know, to think about it in terms of poetry. And so, yeah, I mean, we've found, gosh, we've found tons of metaphor, simile, and Afra, personification, rhythmic pattern. Even this song has a couple of interesting moments. Okay. So, yeah, her use of cliché, her deft conflation of multiple cliches at the same time has made me understand that she's much more complex at writing lyrics than I had anticipated. I mean, not that I went in with a negative opinion. I really kind of went in with no opinion, yeah.

Right. Yeah. Well, that's exactly what he wanted to happen. Some people spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I spread the gospel of Taylor Swift. I know you do. One uncle at a time. How many do you have to go? Yeah, yeah, really, just one other and, well, maybe two others, and we don't want them on this show.

Okay. You're the first choice. Good. And last choice. I mean, but yeah, someone who has enjoyed literature. I mean, and I mean, I've taught, you know, comp classes where I use songs as literature and, or I allow students to pick a song and then find the literary devices and that kind of thing because I want to make it relevant. I want to be that current teacher. Right.

Well, and I knew, I knew that you are, you stay up to date on, you know, pop culture and I know you know about stuff that's going on in the world. and I know you're not just, you're not some like old fuddy-duddy scholar who like, you know. Well, I am old. Sure. But not funny. So I just knew that you would find enjoyment. Yeah, I did. And just, you know, the other thing that surprised me is kind of you.

Yeah, I found you kind of sparkling and fun. And no, I'm being very serious. And so much smarter than you were expecting. Not, no, I knew that you were smart. So, no, I always respected you in that regard. But no, I mean, fun to watch. I've enjoyed, I watched the first episode, and I thought, wow, she's really good. Oh, well, I'm glad you enjoyed watching me because by the time I edited all those, I was over myself.

I was like, this girl needs to stop talking, stop laughing, stop fiddling with her hair. But anyway, yes, it is really fun. Yeah, no, I try to control myself. Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's tough. It really is. Okay. So let's get into this one then.

Oh, boy. So this song is Cold as You from the album Taylor Swift, self-titled debut album, 2006. So this one, this is pre her working with Jack Antonoff, who we keep talking about. So this was written by Taylor and Liz Rose. And so from her first four-ish albums, there are quite a few songs written by her and Liz Rose. I'm a big Liz Rose fan only because I know her through Taylor and she, they wrote together one of, not one of my very favorite Taylor Swift song. Oh, really? Yes. And so that's why I know her and that's why whenever we go back in these, I'm like, oh, this is, this has both of their signatures on it.

Right. And, um, yeah, produced by Nathan Chapman. She, he also produced many songs on her first few albums. So those are names you will hear again. This is also track five. We've talked a little bit about track five. This is our first album, so I don't think she knew what there was, nobody knew she was doing this for track five, but this kind of, whenever people looked back, we're saying these are kind of the most, you know, personal, most emotional, most vulnerable of the

album. So this is one of my favorite songs from her debut. album. Okay. Because I just like the slow, sad song. Yeah. Okay. And on, yes, and on that note, I did want you to be able to see the growth that we're

having and to appreciate where she started and how she's ended up. Right. This one's probably not going to get a 97, I would assume. No. Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't mean to, like, forewarn you or prejudge, but no. I mean, I think we can all agree.

that as she's grown up, everything has gotten a lot more poetic, a lot more literary, a lot more beautiful and just quality. Yes. Okay. Let's get into it. Okay. So also one more thing. This is a country album.

Okay. Her first three, four, three albums will say, are country. The fourth one was kind of, and then the fifth one is where she went full pop. Okay. So this is firmly country. Nashville accent Taylor. Oh, okay. So when I hear it, is she really going to be...

She's a little twangy. Oh, okay. Did she grow up in Nashville? No, she's from Pennsylvania, but she put on that country accent for these songs. She went full of country. She did. Okay. Well, well, okay, so I hope everyone listening knows that Angela sends these songs to me,

and I don't do any research regarding what other. other people say about it or what Taylor is supposed to have been thinking when she wrote it or any of those things. I just read it as poetry. And I have to admit that when I saw it, it said cold as you and just the album titles Taylor Swift and the dates 2006. And I did do enough mental calculation to realize, wow, that's 19 years ago. I'm thinking this must be a very early album. I didn't know that it was her first, but it was self-titled Taylor Swift, so I did wonder.

Yeah. I didn't know it. And it struck me as, I'm not going to characterize it full juvenilia, you know, but it struck me as lyrically less complex. Yes. Than the others. Yeah, this one, we have to, again, put on our teen girl hat, probably. Okay, I'm going to find that one of these days. probably, you know, tucked in a deep drawer in the back closet.

Yes, yes. But I did go through it, and it's very short. So my job is all the more simple, which is great. I hope that I'm getting the same rate at pay. Yes, you are. Essentially nothing. Yes. Okay, so let's look at verse one.

Okay, let's do it. Okay. You have a way of coming easily to me, and I'm sorry, I can't see the word coming. Okay, yes. Without wondering if there is a dual meaning here. Yes, but she is a teen girl. She's a teen girl. So I'm thinking maybe she means arrive.

And when you take, you take the very best of me. Okay. So I will give her a compliment as a young writer in this particular. song is she demonstrates a kind of a level of intentionality with her diction. Okay. Okay. So diction is simply word choice. And she uses the word take and then she reiterates it after the break in the middle

of the line, the Sechura. She says take again. So, you know, I like it that it could also have a double meaning. You know, does she mean acquire or does she mean like take leave because of apparently he's walking out the door. When you take, you take the very best of me. So I start a fight because I need to feel something. Okay.

So she's combative just for the notice, right? Just to get some attention. Just to get some attention. And you do what you want because I'm not what you wanted. Okay, that's, I like the play on words, what you want because I'm not what you wanted. It's a contrasting statement. So a play on words. I thought that was kind of fun.

And we're at the end of the first verse. Yeah, we're already there. Yep, we got there pretty quick. Then we have a chorus. Oh, what a shame. What a rainy ending giving to a perfect day. So rainy ending is metaphor. Comparing, you know, a dismal day to that day on which they ended their relationship

or the end of a love relationship. just walk away. Again, you notice that he's the one performing the action. So I think this is an interesting study and diction. When he takes in the first verse, he's performing the action in the chorus when he's walking away. He's performing the action. So she's much more passive. Yeah, these are just things happening to her.

Yeah. And I think that's part of the angst of the song, is she doesn't feel like she's in control. He takes what he wants. and then he's out the door. He has the agency to walk away. Ain't no use in defending words you will never say, and now I'm sitting here thinking it through. I've never been anywhere cold as you.

And I thought, well, that's kind of good, right? A good line. Okay, so I do have to say that I thought of Percy Bish Shelley. Okay. Totally, me too. Yeah, Shelly, who was, you know, one of those romantic poets, along with William Wordsworth and John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Oh, oh. You remember?

Okay, no, but I will say that on Taylor's last album. Oh, okay. She has a song called The Albatross. Oh, there you are. Which everyone, I didn't know this. I don't know the rhyme of the ancient mariner, but everyone is like, she's talking about the rhyme of the ancient mariner. Maybe. I can't wait to get into the song.

Yeah, we'll have to do that one. Water, water, every board wear, and all the boards did shrink. Oh, okay. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I mean, Percy Bish Shelley, who wrote some what are called closet dramas, plays meant to be read for their literary entertainment and not necessarily performed. Okay. And he also wrote a number of pretty famous poetry. He also wrote literary criticism.

Okay. And in his literary criticism, one of the things he wrote is that a single well-chosen word can be poetry. I love that. Okay. You know, and I've tried to use that whenever I read submissions to literary magazines and someone will have written kind of an abysmal poem. But I'm looking for that one well-chosen word. I really am trying to give it a break. I'm trying to see, you know, is there hope for this poem or this submission?

and doesn't have Shelly's one well-chosen word. Well, I think this has the one well-chosen phrase. Okay, yeah. So I've never been anywhere. Cold as you is a nice phrase. What I also like about it is the he in the poem, the you, has now become a place, a location, right? Not a feeling, living human being. So essentially she's kind of dehumanized him to being a thing, a place.

Yeah, a place that's cold. That's right. Oh, verse two. Yes. You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray. So with gray and shades of gray and just color in general, this is a thing that she has done throughout her entire career. Okay. Is using color specifically grays and blues and reds and golds, you know.

She's another song on the album Red, where she says, Well, actually, I don't even think it's her saying. I think it's Ed Shearin is a collaborator on that song. And I think he says, I, oh, I can't even think of exactly how it is, but I had my walls up and they were blue, basically. Like, they were all painted a shade of gray. And so this calls to that to me. But, yeah, lots of color imagery throughout her career. Well, I like the metaphor, right?

that her, his resistance to their relationship is like a wall and that it is painted with shades of gray. So nice metaphor. You notice the American spelling of the word gray. So the Brits tend to go with G-R-E-Y. But that's okay. This is a country song. It's American.

Well, she uses the word cause, right, instead of because. Yes. So I stood there loving you and wished them all the way. So, you know, notice how she's inactive. She is standing and he is walking and taking it. Right. Yeah. So I like that.

That, again, nice diction. And you come away leaves with a great little story. So now she's been reduced to just an anecdote, just something that he tells friends. Yeah, I once went with her. Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you. So he's going to carry, she thinks he's going to characterize her as a mess. And as a dreamer, you know, the dreamer's not bad. She had hopes and expectations for their relationship.

But she's a mess. So this line, you come away with a great little story of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you. To this day, since my 19-year-old self heard this, like, I love this line. Oh, do you? I think it's just, I think it just paints such a picture of these, like, teen relationships, and you get into them. And as, I'm not going to say, it's always the girl in the relationship, but obviously Taylor's a girl and I'm a girl. So that's where we're coming from. But it's like you, you know, you, you get in a relationship with someone that maybe you had a crush on and you just, like, had them on this pedestal and you thought they were so great.

And they're like, sure, yeah, I'll date you or whatever. and then, you know, they all of a sudden end it or something. And it's like you just become this like pest that, you know, you had all these like hopes for us. But I was just killing time, you know, dating you when I was 15 or whatever. And you like, you know, with the nerve to adore you, that just has stuck in my head for so long. Because like, why would you even like me this much? You know, like, how could you even think that I would like you that much? Like, you're just a little nobody, you know?

Yeah. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Yeah, I can see why you like that. Yeah. I don't have an inner 19-year-old girl, so I'm... I think you do, though. Oh, maybe so.

I've got way too many women in my life. You do. I know. Then we go to the second chorus. Oh, what a shame. What a rainy ending, give it to a perfect day, just walk away. pretty much the same as the birth. Yeah, exactly the same, yeah. No changes here. Yep. And then we go to the bridge. Oh, she cusses. Wow. Oh, no. She's a hard-hitting songwriter. You never did give a damn thing, honey, but I cried, cried for you.

You know, shades of, I don't know, Hank Williams. Oh, okay, yeah. I cried, cried for you. I can't wait to hear how she sings it. And I know you wouldn't have. have told nobody. We're not going to use appropriate grammar because it's country song. If I died, died for you, died for you. And then the chorus is just the same. No, this one's a little different. Oh, is it?

I'm sorry. Okay, yeah. Oh, what a shame. What a rainy ending. Perfect day. Oh, every smile you fake is so condescending. Oh, he's a fake. Uh-huh.

Yep. Counting all the scars you made. I'm sitting here thinking it through. never got anywhere cold as you. Yeah. Ooh. So another lyric parallel. I know you wouldn't have told nobody if I died for you.

From folklore, there is a song called Peace. And in that song, she says, all these people think loves for show, but I would die for you in secret. Like everyone thinks that her, you know, her relationships are all for. fake and she's just doing it for the for the songs and for the

PR and for the for the art of it so it's not I would die for you no no what Prince oh I don't know much Prince no Prince I know purple rain oh okay um when doves cry yeah oh I do know that song okay yeah so that's just

always fun I think it's always fun when you can pull um parallels from her much later work and you can see them, you know, from this early stuff because it does show the growth, but also she just kind of is who she always was, you know? Right. Yeah, I mean, I think that you can see where she's going as a songwriter, you know, with a couple of good metaphors with the interesting turn of one of the cliches.

You know, so I think I can, you know, having done some of her later work, I can see where that comes from. Yeah. But this is clearly a work and progress. Yes, yeah, yeah. Which is either pronounced wipe or whip. Yeah, whip. Whip.

Now that's not all I have. Okay, let's hear it. Okay, so I did have to stop, after I read this 14 times, trying to find something more than this. Yes. I did think about it lyrically. If you look at the chorus, it does have a redundant rhyme scheme.

Okay. So for those of you out there who don't know how to mark rhyme scheme, could never be me. When you mark a rhyme scheme, you look at the end of the first line, that rhyme sound is automatically marked with the letter A. And the next rhyme sound is B, and the next rhyme sound is C and so forth. Yes, yes, yes. So when you repeat the first rhyme sound, it goes back to A.

Yes. So look at the first chorus. The last word of the first line is ending. That's rhyme A. The next is day. Okay. That does not rhyme with ending. It sure doesn't.

So it's B. Defending. Okay, that rhymes with ending. So that's A. And then say rhymes with day. So that's B. And then we get to through and you. Those are both different from either A or B.

C. C. Those are both C. So the rhyme pattern is called A, B, A, B, C. She follows the same thing in the second chorus. And so I was wondering where I would find an A, B, A, B, C. Okay. Poem.

And so one of the things I did was I went to the Victorian Periodical Review. Oh, yeah. Me too. And I did input the ABABCC rhyme scheme. Oh, okay. And there are 83 poems in the Victorian Periodical Review that have that same rhyme pattern. Okay. Including poems by George Meredith.

Okay. Really well regarded poet. I like George Meredith's sonnets very much. Thomas Hardy. Okay. There are just a whole number of them who wrote 83, in fact, who wrote with the Alfred Lord Tennyson. Okay.

Yeah, the Poet Laureate, we're going to say, wrote with that rhyme pattern. Okay. And so I thought it was interesting to remark that she uses a kind of classical rhyme pattern. Something there. Still there. Another thing that I thought was interesting is it got me thinking about poems of a similar type. So I started thinking about, okay, what do breakup poems look like, you know, generally?

And there is an anthology of breakup poems. Okay. Or there are a number of anthologies. My favorite is edited by a guy named Jerry Williams. Okay. And it's called It's Not You, It's Me. Cute. Yes.

Love that. And it's an anthology of a whole bunch of breakup poems. Like from different eras? Yeah. Well, mostly from modern poets. Okay. But there are a number of modern poets who use, those, oh. Did you find it?

Yeah. Here's your here's your digital Victorian periodical review with all of the 82 poets who wrote with that rhymes Is that something anybody can

access? Okay. I happen to, I won the Van Arsdale Pride for publication in Victorian periodicals. Of course. I know. Yeah, I love Victorian poetry. So I was interested to see if any of them had used it. But I also started looking at breakup poems just across the board.

And I don't know, there are so many great ones out there. So if you guys are interested, take a look at Anne Sexton's Her Kind, which... Oh, I like that title. It really has echoes of another song we have done previously. I have gone out a possessed witch haunting, haunting. the black air, braver at night, dreaming evil. I have done my hitch over the plane houses light by light. Yes.

She's been... She's levitating down a street. It's fun. Okay, so if you don't like Anne Sexton, try Mary Oliver. Oh, we love Mary Oliver. I love Mary Oliver. She's a Pulitzer Prize with it. She's got a great poem titled Heavy that starts out.

That time, I thought I could not go any closer to grief. Without dying, I went closer, and I did not die. Oh, that's kind of the thesis to Taylor's whole discography, isn't it? I just love it. Or another favorite of mine, Thomas Hardy writes a poem, a broken appointment about someone who ditched him. Oh, no. And it starts off, you did not come. And marking time drew on and wore me numb.

Oh, no. And less for loss for your dear presence there than I thus found lacking in your make that high compassion which can overbear reluctance for pure loving kindness sake grieved I. When in the hope out or stroked it some, you did not come. Oh, no. That's such a beautiful way to talk about being stood up. I know, isn't that great? But no one No one beats sad, sad love poems like Emily Dickinson.

I think I've told you before when I had a breakup when I was in junior high school, I started reading Emily Dickinson. And that's how we got here. I have read this whole book, every one of her more than 2,000 poems. Oh, my goodness. I'm much happier now. But check this out. Tell me if this sounds like Taylor. This is poem number 47.

Heart, we will forget him. You and I, tonight, exclamation point. You may forget the warmth he gave. I will forget the light. When you have done, pray tell me that I might straight begin haste, lest while you're lagging, I remember him. That's very, yes. So it's a conversation between her and her heart.

And her heart, yeah. And she says, heart, you better. forget him. I'm trying to forget the way he was when he held me. You better forget the way he supported you emotionally and you better hurry up and do it because I'm thinking about him again. Oh my goodness. Isn't that great? I love that like when when was Emily Dickinson when was she writing in the 1800s? In the late 1800s. Yeah. Late 1800s. You know they they went into her house and found this roll top desk with all these poems wrapped up in little envelopes and tied up with ribbons and and that's where

we get Emily Dickinson. How fun. Like the concept of love and lost and heartbreak just doesn't change throughout time. It does not change. Okay. I've got to read one more. Okay, yes. Because it's my favorite.

This is, so I still love Emily Dickinson. I just don't have as much pain. Right, right. Number 245. I held a jewel in my fingers. Oh, we gather stones. Right. And the jewel is like that relationship.

that perfect thing of beauty and went to sleep. The day was warm and winds were prosy. I said, Twill keep. So that jewel, it'll stay there. Okay.

She takes a little nap. I woke. And chide my honest fingers. The gem was gone. And now an amethyst remembrance is all I own. Just so good. I love that one.

The amethyst remembrance. The amethyst remembrance is all I own. The only thing she has in her hand now is just the memory of that perfect stone. Oh, beautiful. They are beautiful, you know, and I'm going to say cold as you are, may not be as great as some of these, but they have that same sympathetic feeling. I think that in our lives we've all had romantic loss.

Yes. Really? No. Not me. Never. But, yeah, sometimes being the dump bee, sometimes being the dumper, I've experienced both. You know, and I think that you never quite forget that amethyst remembers. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think in a way, that's what cold as you are is striking out for. You know, she remembers that she remembers that she's. He's never been anywhere as cold as him. And that's the sadness of it, that he put up walls all painted gray, and she wanted more. Yeah. So, yeah, a little Emily Dickinson. Yeah, that's fun.

I think so. You know, I guess I was willing to forgive the poem for the earnestness of its emotion. It is. She is nothing, if not earnest. Would you, so you taught. early in your career you taught high schoolers and then the later part of your career was college students. Right.

So she would be high school age when she wrote this. Right. Oh, yeah, as a high school writer, I know where you're going. Yeah, so I'm just wondering, like, when you put it into that context, how old was Emily Dickinson when she was writing? Because she was, do we know, is? Gosh, I don't know. Like I said, she wrote more than 2000.

They were all over her whole life, probably. Yeah, throughout her life, so. Yeah, I'm just wondering, like, when. And when you think of it through that teenager lens and somebody who's just learning her art and, you know, trying to figure out who she's going to be as an artist, I think when you look at it through that lens, it might help the context of it a little bit. So, like, when you're having, you know, your high school students or your college students write things for you, like, where would you put this in line with those kids?

Yeah, I mean, I would say that, I mean, I used to have an assignment, a series of a assignments where I would teach British literature and I would have students mimic poetry of different time periods so they could do it. Sometimes it was an assignment. Sometimes it was an extra credit, you know, where if they wanted to try to write a metaphysical poem or a courtly love poem, you know, do your best to try to make it a sonnet and make it iambic pentameter. Okay, that's fun. Right. Yeah, I would say this is really good. Okay, yeah. You know, as student work goes, this is very good. Yeah.

Yeah, thank you. That's a good question. Yeah, I just, because, you know, now the stuff that up until this song, the stuff that we've covered so far is all like when she was, you know, 30 and above. So that was fully an adult. She knows who she is as an artist. But I think in this one, she's just trying to figure out who she is as an artist. Right. Well, and I hope you don't think it's unfair that I'm not comparing her to Emily Dickinson. You know, no one wants that.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But still, like there's... But the sentiment and the attempt of, you know, the direction of the poem is similar. And she does some very good things. Like I said, this is kind of, this is a study and diction. Yes. I think she does a really nice job of choosing her verbs. Yeah.

And there are some elements. The sustain, that's what you call a six-line poem that rhymes A-B-A-B-C. Oh, okay, sustain. A sustain. was well executed in the first two choruses. You know, she's clearly working with a little rhythm, a little rhyme, a few literary devices. When I compare that to students I've had, yeah, oh, yeah, that's real solid college level work. Yeah, okay, fair enough.

So, yeah, if she was younger than that, this would be solid work. Yeah, I don't know exactly when she wrote this, but I would assume she was probably 14 or 15. Oh, wow, yeah. Yeah. Because I think that album came out when she was 16. I think. You know, I will say, I'll say one more thing, you know, that when I do look at submissions for literary magazine and I read poetry, you know that students submit two, I'm going to say three primary types of poetry. Okay.

They submit confessional poetry about their own lives and how sad they are. they submit poetry about love or they submit poetry about God. Okay, yeah. Those are the big three. Okay. Right. Me, us, God. Yeah, and him.

Capital H. Right, capital H. To pull from your Lady Gaga. So I remember one time when a student gave me a love poem and it was bad. It really just, it did not work. It was poorly written with forest rhyme. And I read through and I felt. felt the earnestness of it.

And I told him, I wanted to talk with him. It was a submission for the literary magazine, and we were not going to accept it. A student editor said no right away, but I cleared everything that was a no. And so I met with a student who had written it, and I said, so we're not going to accept this, but I do want to tell you that I really like the earnestness and the expression of love that I read in these words. And I asked him, did you give it to her? And he said, yes. And I said, what did she think of it?

And he smiled and he said, she thought it was the best poem she'd ever read. And I said, you know, let me tell you, then this poem wasn't written for me. Yeah, this is not for the magazine. This is not for me. That was for her. It was clearly for her. That's so cute. Yeah, and sometimes poetry is just not meant for me or us.

it's meant for the poet or it's meant for someone else. And that's okay too. Yeah, that's a good lesson, actually. Yeah. I thought so. Yeah. A good lesson for me as a reader. Yeah, for sure.

Okay. Okay, let's listen. Let's. Okay, we're actually two again for you to watch. Oh, boy. So we have the album version, and then again, Eros Tour. This was the surprise song in one of the nights in Houston on the piano. So we will hear it in Taylor's.

like baby voice, you know, when she was so young, and then we'll hear it in her adult voice. Okay. Live. Okay. I'm anxious for the baby voice. Yes. She sounds very young, so prepare yourself for that. Okay.

We will be right back. Okay. Thoughts on that tiny voice, Taylor. It was, it's pitch tire. Yeah. It is funny to hear. And when in the very first line, um, coming easily to me.

She gets all cute. Yeah. Tame. I know. It sounds like Betty Boo. I don't know. You know, she still does, at the ends of some phrases, she still separates out words, which she does in her later work. Yeah.

She says, anywhere, cold, break as break you. So she likes for emphasis. Yeah, which she did in the traffic lights, I don't know. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Which I think is interesting. You know, it's funny.

Can I go back and tell you another Emily Dickinson story? So, you know, the listeners probably can't see, but I'm going to say. Oh, yeah, you see that. Yeah, Emily Dickinson, you see all the dashes. She uses dashes to create breaks in the lines of her poetry. Okay. And what's funny is this is the Johnson edition, when her very first editor fixed her work.

Oh, no. Oh, yeah. In a bad way? Yeah. He thought that women had trouble with punctuation. And so he fixed it by taking all those dashes out and by putting in commas and semicolins and things like that. And what we now know is that those dashes are rhythmic. importantly important and for matters of emphasis important and that that's what she meant to say.

And so they've been restored in later editions. Interesting. Yeah. That's fascinating. Well, it is kind of fun. It's like, I mean, you know, I hate to get all sexist on us, but I really feel like this masculine hand reached in and says all these silly women, you know, don't know how to manipulate. And she knew exactly what she was doing. Yeah.

It was purposeful. Yeah. And I feel like there are times. when Taylor Swift does the same things vocally, when she separates out those words, she wants us to hear those words separate. But, yeah, kind of fun. Yeah, okay. So we're going to watch the heiress tour performance, one of the surprise songs.

But on that note, so we've talked about Taylor's Master's situation. And so she was in the process of re-recording her first six albums. And so we got four of them. and those became fearless Taylor's version, Red Taylor's version. I love it that they're labeled Taylor's version. Yes, 1989 Taylor's version and speak now, Taylor's version. So we all assumed we would get all six, but in that process, she was able to purchase her master's back.

So their last two remaining were this album, Taylor Swift, and then reputation. So we don't have reputation Taylor's version and we don't have Taylor Swift, Taylor's version. But when she told us that she bought the Masters, she said that I have the debut album. I have that completely re-recorded. Okay. It's done. Reputation, she said not done. But she has this album done.

And she said, I'll release it if that's something y'all be interested in, which means it will come out, you know, because obviously we're interested. Oh, no, Tanner fans. They don't, I'm sorry. Swifties, they don't need that. Yeah. Yeah. So the big assumption, which we shouldn't make assumptions because she completely surprises us at all times. But the assumption is that it will come out next year on the 20th anniversary of this album in 2026 and she'll release it all for us.

And I say all of that because I love these songs. But knowing where she is now vocally makes those early. one's a little harder to listen to because she just her voice just wasn't as strong then and so I'm very excited to hear some of these songs in her grown-up voice and that is what we did get a little sneak peek of that with her doing um you know some of these songs as surprise songs throughout the era's tour so we are now going to hear this with her adult voice I can't wait to be surprised yeah okay so let's go find that I think it's right here and we will be right back okay we're back. Thoughts on the performance as compared to the

album version? It was so much different. Yeah. I mean, vocally, pitched lower, much more somber in the beginning. There's a real tone of adult sadness. Yes. You know, she still had that separation of cold as you. I love the repeated chorus. The ooh-oo at the end.

end of the chorus, which sounded juvenile. In the album version was almost a wail at the end. I mean, just a quiet, sad cry. Yeah. And a little angry with the ending to a perfect, should have been

an ending to a perfect day. Yeah, she did have a lot of anger in her voice in there. Yeah, there's just much different. much more, I mean, I'm stating the obvious, but it's a much more mature rendering of the song. Yeah. I like it much better this way. I will say that before this tour date, just like three weeks before, we did find out that her, like, almost seven-year-long relationship had ended. So I think she really was in actual adult pain, singing that.

The, well, that's interesting. Yeah, so I think she, what you're hearing in that is, like, legit, what's, she was feeling at the moment. Well, yeah. It's funny how the chorus works for me now when she sang it like that. The sustain, I did, I like the rhyming element. It feels less like free verse than I feel a lot in her songs. Interesting.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. Let's grade it. Okay. That's going to be hard because I'm kind of, I still don't think it's as strong as a poem, but it's impactful as a song the way she sang it.

Yeah, that's interesting. That's something that I hadn't really thought of yet that we might encounter a few times in this is that, you know, the song makes it stronger. Like actually hearing the song makes it stronger for you. Yeah. Yeah, like I keep sitting here looking at saying, well, surely there's something in this. And I keep going, nope. No, not a lot.

Not a lot. But the performance makes it, I mean, she's an artist. What are you going to say? Yeah. Exactly. She knows what she's doing. Yeah, she can take kind of just all right work and make it sound lovely. Yes.

Okay. So for the grades, we have five. Yeah, so maybe one of these will be really high and then the rest can be kind of low. Okay. So we have five categories for the grade. And the first is lyrical strength. Lyrical strength, 83. Okay.

Narrative and structure. Well, it's so short. The verses are quatrains. They're four lines long. I mean, it's nice. It's hard because I want to grade it like an adult poet. But if I were grading it as a student work, I think I would give it a low A. But as an adult poet, I think I would give it a low B.

Okay. You know, so I'm going to say 84. Okay. Production and atmosphere. So is this her performance? Yeah, we can do anything we've seen here today. Okay, if I'm going to go by the performance on that tour, I thought that was absolutely beautiful. Me too.

So I'm going to say 97. Okay, I could hear that again right now. Okay, well, we can run it back. Okay, lore and literary references. Not a lot here. Not a lot here, maybe 81. Okay. Yeah.

And emotional impact. You know, the song as a poem itself when I read it, you know, I mean, it's, again, it's probably wrong to say Emily Dickinson. When I think of the amethyst remembrance in my hand. That's beautiful. That's beautiful. That's a sustaining note of sadness. And this is not. Yeah, it's less than that.

It's an 81. Okay. Fair. Okay, and that gives us an 85. That's honestly not that bad. Well, it's the performance as an adult on the heiress tour that makes it go. Yeah, that really pulled us up. Otherwise, it would have been about a B-minus, which is probably about what this is.

Yeah, and I think, honestly, I think that there's not a, I don't think you could really argue that from when she was, you know, 16 to when she was 35, that she went from a B to an A, you know? Right. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. So I think that's perfectly fair. Yeah. You know, I'm going to say a lot of writers have written juvenilia. You know, like they're not all John Keats, who as a late teen, is turning out master gems of poetry, right?

Some of them are Jane Austen. And Jane Austen, obviously, is cranking at really terrific works. But some of her short stories that are her true juvenile, things that she wrote as a young person, they're hard to work. work. Yeah. Yeah. And she tried writing a play, and it's a little hard to look at. Yeah.

You got to learn your craft. You do. And a lot of it is by experiment and practice. Yeah. I think she's much more practiced than this now. Yes, for sure. Yeah. Okay, fun.

I'm so glad you did it. We got to do a debut one. So I think in the next, in the coming weeks, we're going to do a few more of her older, her older stuff, her older work. because I do think it's fun to have that context, so you can kind of see the growth. Yeah, I really thank you for that. I enjoyed saying something from a young artist. Yeah, yeah, fun.

Okay, any other thoughts? I don't think so. I'm looking forward to next week. Yes, okay. So make sure you're subscribed everywhere, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify. Also, loving all of the comments. So please keep those coming. That has been very fun for me this last two weeks, last few weeks.

last few weeks. So please keep those coming. You can make sure you stay up to date on Instagram and TikTok at Swiftie ScholarPod. I am at Angela Wyatt on Instagram and Uncle Jerry will be right here next week. Reading my Emily Dickinson. Yes, putting on his teen girl hat and reading Emily Dickinson. Okay, we will be back next week with another song. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. And, like my music, my my hair changes with me. For that's a passion nine

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