The Swiftie and The Scholar - The Parachute of Childhood in I Knew It, I Knew You

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

Man, it’s been a while! Today we’re covering the newly released I Knew It, I Knew You from Toy Story 5 and current #1 on the Billboard 100 chart.Uncle Jerry takes us through the poem, talking all about childhood and friendship and how both this song and the movie franchise showcase the magic of being a kid. We bring in a special guest–an expert–at the end to grade the song.Works Cited:HomonymRunnin’ Wild – Some Like It HotVoltaEmjambmentEpiphora or EpistropheLeaves of Grass – Walt WhitmanAnagnorisisEpizeuxisDramatic IronyMnemonicI Knew It, I Knew You VisualizerThe Swiftie and The Scholar Grading MatrixFollow Us:Patreon⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠Threads⁠Angela’s Instagram⁠Uncle Jerry’s Instagram

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You're among fans. Welcome to the Swift. 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 Coates, the scholar. How you doing, Uncle Jerry? Well, the question is, how are you doing, niece Angela? Much better.

Thank you for your patience, letting us take a week off. I feel rejuvenated. Good. Oh, that just flew right off of the shelf. And also we had a crazy week. Oh. We, as in the Swifties, watching Taylor have a crazy week. I personally had an okay week, but yes, you can't turn on any media without seeing her.

No, there was plenty to keep everyone company this week. So we started with, what did we even start with? I don't know, the pre-debut and then the debut. Yeah. I was last week. It was two weeks ago. Okay, yeah. So we had the new song, which we are going to.

to talk about today. I knew and I knew you is what we're covering today, but before we get there, we had this premiere on Friday. Then she went to the Toy Story 5 premiere and did a surprise performance of this song, and you've got a friend in me with Randy Newman, which is just crazy. And then the next night she was at the Knicks game, making everyone angry in her hilarious pun shirt. And then the next night she got inducted into the songwriter's Hall of Fame, the youngest woman ever. Only Stevie Wonder beat her in youth. And then she took a night off on Friday, and then Saturday night, her and Travis went to a Broadway show.

Okay, what did they see? Oh, Mary. Oh, did they? Okay. So, yeah, there's been lots to keep everybody occupied when we were gone. This song is so fun. Do you think? I think it's the most fun. It's so hopeful, so joyous.

Well, I haven't heard it yet. And can I just tell you, that was kind of a marathon that was like a minute to minute work not to hear the song. Yes. And everybody in my household help. My wife and the... Turn it off, turn it off. Yeah, I know the grandkids were over and the song started and Jillian's going, turn it off, turn it off.

And I'm going, what? What is it? What is it? Yeah, you couldn't. And because of that, it's been in my head since Friday morning. Yeah. And Chase to me this morning, I was sitting on the couch watching Lewis Hamilton finally win a race after two years. Are you a Formula One fan at all?

Not at all. Well, I love Lewis Hamilton and he finally won this morning. I am kind of excited that Scotland won their first match in years. Yeah. Big sports time right now. I know. I've been watching the World Cup. But I was like, I knew it.

I knew you sitting on the couch this morning. And Trace was like, I really think I like it better when Taylor releases a whole album rather than just one song because then what gets stuck in your head and you sing out loud as like different things. But this week, it's been only that, like, 50 times. And I'm like, sorry, this is what's like in my head. And you can't not hear it at anywhere. So, yeah, that's kind of all I have. I'm excited to talk about Toy Story 5. I'm wearing my mood ring.

Okay. I'm wearing my Jesse, my Jesse braids and ribbons. Good, nice. I'm a cowgirl boots. Yeah. I'm ready. I wish I had some cowgirl things to show, but I don't. Okay, so I've got a couple of things to say off the top.

Okay. First of all, I had to say that my granddaughter Gillian loves this song. So I don't feel any pressure at all. Is that worse than me coming in being like, I love this song? Yeah, it really kind of is, yeah, because she just, she loves the song. She kind of looks to me like, you better treat you. this one right and I'm going, you know, you don't want to suffer the wrath of a 14-year-old. No, no, no.

So I've got to be careful today. I'll have to tread lightning on what we talk about. Secondly, I have to admit that I'm a huge Toy Story fan. Okay. So, yeah, the minute I saw Woody, I knew I was going to love the movie. Woody is my favorite character, although Buzz is pretty darn fun. I have been a cowboy forever. So I have an artifact to show you.

you. Okay. Okay. I've got this. Oh, no. Okay. Okay. Now, I need to explain this. See, the Cowboys? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And all the different brands and stuff. Yeah. So when I was a child growing up in Washington, D.C., in Virginia, I grew up in, right over the Memorial Bridge in Arlington.

I loved Cowboys. And so this was the bedspread that my mom bought me. when I was like six years old. And you still have it? And I still have it. Oh my goodness. So yes, this was my twin bedspread and it was Cowboys.

And if you watch the old 1950s leave it to Beaver Show, if you watch the first couple of seasons, the earliest episodes, you will see that the Beave and Wally have this exact same bedspread on their beds. Did they have it first or did you have it first? I guess they had it first because it actually would have predated by having it. But, yeah, I've been a cowboy forever. You know, I love, I used to love those old cowboy shows. I watched wagon train.

My favorite was Have Gunn Will Travel. Okay. Have Gunn will travel with Paladin? Have you ever seen reruns of this? So, okay, I wanted to become Paladin. Okay. Paladin lived in San Francisco in the Carleton Hotel. Fun.

Very first time I visited San Francisco. Guess where I stayed? Definitely at the Carleton. to Carlton. Yeah, I did. He loved opera, and so I made myself love opera. It's like I was not not going to like opera, right? And so, yeah, today I'm a huge opera fan. He also spoke Latin. Okay. And so guess which language I started taking? So all of your interests are from... Apparently shaped by Havegun will travel. Yes. Yeah, and he used to hide a Derringer, like, in his belt buckle. And so my

My mom found this belt buckle toy that it's goofy because everybody can see there's a gun in it. But it's this big boxy belt buckle that you can actually put on your belt and you would drop, push a little button and the Derringer would drop out the bottom. Hilarious. I know. I loved Maverick. Maverick had one in his hat. And so I actually had the Maverick hat. Okay.

So the Maverick hat, you could take off and push a button on the side and the Derringer would pop out of this hole. And it would hit a little plastic thing, and it would go bang because it was a cat pistol, right? And so I would surprise my friends with it. And, of course, after the very first time they ever saw it, they were no longer surprised. Right. Kind of disappointing. Yeah. You just get one chance at that.

And you couldn't hardly wear it because it had this big plastic compartment in the top where the Derringer went. But, yeah, so if you're not a part of American gun culture. Jesus. If you're living in a civilized nation. Right, right. You may be listening to this going, oh, Lord, what had a kid had a twisted childhood. Americana at its finest. It is true.

Could you address the rumors that you really have been talking to Taylor, and that is why there's been a whatie behind us, and this has been an Easter egg this whole time? Yeah, I really, you know, when she called, I asked her, can I talk with Angela about this? and she said, now she really, it just wanted it to be between us. So, yeah. Yeah.

Not Taylor Swift. This guy, no name Taylor. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Makes more sense. I know.

Okay, let's get this one out of the way because I really want to talk about the next one. Okay. This is, I didn't say, but written and produced

by Taylor and Jack Antonoff. Jack Antonov. He played a thousand instruments on this one. Okay. Which is hilarious, because who knew? Who knew he had it in him, you know? The one thing that I have heard from the song is like it opens with this wailing harmonica. So that jacket, Anton-on-on-O.

I don't know, honestly, but like on his credits, there's just like 12 instruments under his name. Oh, right. Okay, so yes, I knew it. I knew you, which, by the way, unless you've heard the song, is kind of a difficult title to say. It definitely is. It does not roll off the tongue. No, it took me a week before I figured out, like family members would ask, what song are you working on? And I would say, it's the I knew you song.

So, I don't know. I just keep calling it the toy story one. Yeah, the toy story thing. So, yeah, I mean, I had this one a while, so I made a lot of notes. When Gillian was over this week, I was trying to explain to her, like, my process, like I showed her these notes. and then I said, and then I typed up some general notes, and then I typed up line by line verse by verse. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, I know. I typed up by line. And then I looked up at her, and she was paying no attention at all. She was standing there going. She was just singing. She was singing. This is literally me all week. People are talking to me, you know.

Yeah. Yeah, so I thought she looked remarkably like you, because she was like swaying and just mouthing the words. And I said, were you listening to that? She went, yeah, I got most of it, and then I started singing. Yeah, you got part of it. Okay, so I knew it, I knew you, a kind of exclamatory phrase, right? Yeah.

And so in my typed notes. Yes. It's our second time in a row with typed notes, maybe third time in a row with type notes. So I really thought about the significance of the title. And so what I type was you have two different phrases. One is a recognition of truth. I knew it. It general reference pronoun.

We don't know what the singer is referring to yet or the speaker is referring to. And then I knew you a recognition of identity. So, right? We have two different types of recognition going on in the title, the recognition of some truth that the person wants to reveal and the recognition of another person. You know, so it suggests a relationship in which there's an understanding between people, right? Okay. Or an understanding around a situation. So obviously the song is about Jesse, because that's all that I've heard.

Yes. Okay. Yeah. You know, I really, I thought a great deal about that. You know, the significance of having Jesse as a literary character imposed in this song. and I started doing some biographical criticism. Okay. About Jesse or about Taylor?

Yes. Okay. So it's almost like I wanted to do some psychological criticism along with that because clearly in the movies Jesse has abandonment problems. Right? And so I wondered to what extent was this appealing to our author because in my past 42 songs now. Yeah.

She seems to have a lot of abandonment problems. She does, yeah. Yeah, and so I wondered if that was part of the appeal of the song. Or was it just that she wants an Academy Award, and she decided to hook up with the third most successful animated franchise in the history of moviemaking. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you talk about a financial coup to be able to hook up with the Toy Story franchise.

Yeah, with Disney. Yeah, and to write a song for a movie, you know. Thus far, I think an Oscar has alluded her. Correct. So, you know, it seems to me like this is an automatic Oscar nomination. It does feel that way. Yeah. Yes.

You know, and I wonder to what extent does that level of recognition translate into acceptance by a larger audience, you know, by an audience that may be not driven by, I mean, you read the criticism. Please, you know. For sure. I am not, you know, in any way, buying into the idea that this is a kind of estrogen-driven, you know, fan base because clearly I've read these, and many of them are really very good poems. Yeah. Right. You know, but I've heard that criticism. For sure.

And, you know, this would be recognition on a broader basis. So, I don't know, it's kind of fascinating to roll down that road of psychological criticism and wonder how much does he always? authors intent play into the creation of the title and the relationship with the nature of who Jesse is as a character. I don't know if you've seen like the way that they said that this happened. We've been able to kind of piece it together by stuff that Taylor has said and then stuff that Disney has said. And Taylor said that all these years ago, the guy that wrote this movie, I think maybe knew

that this would be something that Taylor could maybe tackle. And so several years ago, he was like, hey, I have a... Toy Story 5 coming out that focuses on Jesse, would you be interested in writing a song for this? And so I think she said, well, someday when I can see the movie, maybe. And then in February of this year, she actually got to see part of the movie, or the movie, like, you know, without the song in it.

And she said she immediately went home and felt inspired and wrote that song, and now here we are. So I do think it was a little bit of the guy who, which his name is alluding me right now, his last name was like Staten or Staten or something, he maybe felt like Taylor would be right for this job, and then Taylor was like, yes, I am right for this job, you know. So, but, you know, who knows, really? Because she's a little Jesse-like.

Yeah. Yeah, again, I don't want to tread too heavily into biographical, because I don't know her at all. Right, right. And I really have not been talking with her. Yeah. Wait, what? Yeah, I know. People may speculate that she has abandonment problems and that she's a little like Jesse,

but she may be cruising along having a perfectly fine life and has been for the last 20 years, I don't know. But it is interesting. I'm going to stray away from the song for just a moment and say that the movie franchise itself is interesting because the characters that they have built have flaws, character flaws that we have and that children have. I mean, Buzz needs his group.

Buds needs his technology. By the way, I have these... Yeah. Yeah. I should put this on. I have the buzz laser. So if you say anything wrong, just zap me with it.

I might zap you with the laser. Yeah, I should probably put this on so you're intimidated throughout the entire time. Just stay quiet. But yeah, I mean, you know, Woody clearly wants to be in control, right? He wants to have the sheriff badge in the last movie,

the most recent one, he passes the sheriff badge along. You know, so he needs to be an authoritarian figure. You know, our dinosaur is self-conscious about shorthands, so he has focused on his physicality. You know, Mr. Potato Head clearly has a sexual hang up. Mr. Potato Head. Well, you know, all the characters do have elements that call to question certain psychological motivations. So there we are, I'm strapped in. Okay, so I'm going to talk about the tone, reflective,

warm, nostalgic. And I even wrote the word grateful down, which, yeah, I thought that... Interesting. There is a satisfaction in the return that occurs after the Volta at the near the end of the piece. Very typically Taylor Swift writing.

Okay, verse one. Yes. I knew through the days of the blades of the grass in summer. So she's got this, you know, redundant phrasing, the days of the blades of the grass. and you can clearly hear the assonance, you know, the internal rhyming of days and blades, and you see the alliteration with the S sound between days, blades, grass, summer.

It's a beautiful phrase to say. So beautiful. When I heard that for the first time, I was like, no, put that away. I was like, what did she just say? Why do I feel like I'm sitting in a bed? backyard, like, you know, like, I just, like, felt the grass. I saw the green. Like, it was just, like, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, that's what I, you know, in my type notes, I wrote down that the repeated S sound of the whispering grass gives a kind of nostalgic sense of memory. Symbolically,

it's summer, kind of a traditional youth, image of innocence, right? The grass in summer. I just think it's a beautiful opening line. I also like the use of the word day. which is a homonym with the word days. Yes, so whenever, again, when I first heard it, I was like, oh, she said days, D-A-Y-S. Right. But then, of course, I always go straight to the lyrics, and I'm like, oh, no, she did not say that. She said days. Like, we're like, it's like a memory, like a hazy, hazy summer memory.

And I think that's what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be she's looking backward through that haze of memory. Right. You know, like I remember getting my, my. twin coverlet with my cowboys. Yeah. But, you know, I can't remember exactly how I felt when I was five or six about it. But I remember the joy ahead and how it makes me laugh even now that I still have it.

But it has been some time since I first received. Man, it's been a while. So I love the use the word days because, you know, it has a double meaning, days as in a haze of memory, but also days, the passage of time. Right. So they both work. beautifully. Yes.

Line two. Yes. Parachutes for the free fall of being younger. So when you see the word parachutes, you immediately think of her song, The Albatross. Oh. I was like, um. Okay, I'm going to take this off. It is intimidating.

It's going to start irritating people. Yeah, you remember I spread my wings like a parachute? Yeah, I do. that was so far from my mind during this whole thing. Yeah, you know, the parachute is, it's like it has, it itself has a double symbolic meaning. You know, on the one hand, jumping out of an airplane, a perfectly good plane and a parachute is a dangerous activity, but it's also a safe activity in as much as the parachute is there to keep you safe. Right. Right.

This great billowing white is this terrific image. So it does remind me of childhood. Absolutely. Right. And how many things that you did in childhood were both dangerous, but also somewhere within the bonds of safety. Yeah, it's fine. You're just learning how to be a human through it. Exactly right.

Yeah. So she's in a free fall of being younger. So this is extending that idea of youth, extending that idea of being a free fall. So we have this really nice kind of paradoxical statement, symbolic statement, a metaphorical statement. The parachute is clearly a metaphor. You know, it is a philosophy of childhood condensed into one image. Love it. Yeah.

It is kind of fun, right? Do you think that, what do you think are the parachutes? Yeah, the parachutes. Do you think it's the grass? No, I think. Or do you think it's each other? Yeah, I think it's each other. Okay.

I think it's the friendship. Yeah, that's what I couldn't decide, and I was like, well, maybe it's just ambiguous. Maybe it's, she's talking about the, you know, your days spent outside and your back playing in the grass as a that's like where you learn you know everything's kind of out of your control when you're a kid you're just life's kind of happening to you and those summer days are like a parachute where you like help you land a little like softer right um like the actual grass and the memory of being or not the memory but like the act of being outside and playing outside is kind of a parachute for when you're younger or if it's like this friendship was the parachute

for being younger. Well, and I think it's a little of both. You know, I think it's that enveloping safety net that you have of your friends around you. But I also think it's, it is just the youthfulness. It is being young. Okay. And in some ways, it's the youthfulness of your body. I mean, I have to admit that I'm body aware, you know. I don't know if you've tried a slip and slide recently. No, I have not, because I know that won't go well. Right. Yeah, you know, you see little children do this stuff, and I swear their bodies are made of rubber. Yeah, it's just jello. You know, so the kids, I mean, a few years ago, we had the slip and slide out.

So if you don't know, a slip inside is a long sheet of plastic with a whole bunch of water that runs through and down it. So you run and jump and you, you know, you just slide. You just slide, right? You slide if you're not a big person. And when you're six, three and something over 250, yeah, you know, I thought that looks like so much fun. And I remembered it as being fun. Of course, the most fun. So I took off running.

And I jumped out and, I mean, I, you heard the expression, stuck the landing? Just splatted right down. I just hit and I didn't slide at all. I just, like, stuck, you know? And then I could hardly get up because I was. For three days, probably. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that in part the parachute is the youth.

Just the youthfulness. Yes, the youthfulness. Okay, I memorized the sound of your bare footsteps. All right. So we had the introduction of memory. So this goes into our long catalog of songs about memory from Taylor Swift. This is another look at the nature of memory. It's also auditory imagery, the sound of your bare footsteps.

I don't know if you've ever read one of her songs where she listens to people's feet padding. Yeah. Yeah. What song was that? That's, um, that's, um, that's, um, um, I pat around when I get home. Yes. And there's also the creek of the cabin floor and Evermore, but pat around when I get home. What is that?

Is that Cassandra? Not telling you, you got to look at it. No, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, it's Cassandra. She's patching up the crackle on her wall. Okay. So, yes, I wrote down, it sounds like, um, the auditory imagery in all too well and a cardigan. Certainly it's Cassandra.

I do have. notes about Altuel and Cardigan. So I haven't lost all of my Swifty touch yet. Okay, good. I just didn't pull in Cassandra and the albatross. Yes. I'm ashamed of myself. You know, I think, again, this is one of those works if you had given it to me, you know,

two years ago and not told me who the author was, you know, knowing what I know about Taylor Swift style. By the third line, I would say, this has got to be a Taylor Swift work. Yeah. Yeah, because we've already seen parachutes. and bare footsteps and, you know, the use of auditory imagery and the internal rhyme and the assonance and the alliteration and words, hominiferous words, homonym, a word that sounds the same but has a different meaning,

like days and days. She loves to do that. She does it elsewhere. Oh, she does it in another poem we might be covering next week. Yes. She does it two or three times in that one. So, yeah, I don't know. I love the line to memorize the sound of the bare footsteps,

something that's very personal, right? Some people have a particular way of walking. It is a little hyperbolic, you know, the notion that you could actually discern someone by their footsteps. But I also think that it shows the extreme closeness of their relationship. Right. Agree. Oh, then we get to the line, running wild.

Does that remind you of another one ever? Oh my gosh. You are really schooling me today. I'm on it. Run in wild. Run in wild. Okay, so this is a tough one. One of our listeners, I think maybe on Patreon, pointed out, I mentioned having read the

Clarabo biography and then just kind of sent it to a recycle book place. I mean, it was a fun biography to read. But the title she reminded me was Run and Wild. Oh, okay. No, I didn't remember that. I probably should have gone and gotten my sheet music. I actually have the original sheet music to the song Running Wild. Yeah, it's a song.

Should I sing it? Run in Wild? No, I won't sing it. But if you want to see a great version of it, watch the movie Some Like It Hot. Okay. Because Marilyn Monroe sings Running Wild in the sheer dress. And I'm telling you, if you're a red-blooded man,

I pity you to watch that scene with her singing that song. So yeah, Run and Wynne Wilde. I thought, oh, it kind of reminds me of that biography of Clara Bo. So I don't know. You who got me to a point where I hear echoes of her different songs everywhere I'm going. So yes, I've got the Albatross and Clara Bo and I've got all too well in Cardigan and Cassandra all rolling through my head and we're not done with the fourth line. So Run and Wild, it's been a long time. So we have a kind of juxtaposition where you have an imperfect form of verb where it's a present tense verb where they're running wild.

But then it's been a long time, which is a past tense view. So right, we're mixing tenses. You know, so you've got the continuous present, but also the past. And it's almost as though she's blending present with past. Yeah. Right. And she's also reminding us again of childhood. I mean, every one of these first four lines.

hits on some element of childhood, the days of childhood, the parachute of childhood, the sound of bare feet like a child, and then running, you know, which actually conflates with that third line, bare footsteps run in wild. Right. So if I were to read, I would say, I memorized the sound of your bare footsteps running wild. It's been a long time. Life has ways of leaving those days behind, but seeing you tonight. Yeah. I think it's really good. I think it should be read as a poem. The fifth line, Life has ways of leaving those days behind. And now we have the use of the word days. Yeah, the other days.

The other days. Yeah, so it's a homonym, and she's using both forms. And we have internal rhyme with days and ways. And we have a Sciura in the middle of the line. Oh, and Running Wild, yeah. Right. Well, there's, like, a lot of typical Taylor in this first stanza. This typical tailor, yes.

So, yeah, we have the Syshira parachutes for the free fall of being younger. I memorize the sound of your bare feet. Run and wild. It's been a long time. Life has ways of leaving those days. Yeah, so you have the Syshura that roll through the work. And it has a pretty clean rhyme scheme. Summer, younger, footsteps is the second rhyme sound.

And then time behind tonight. You hear the long eye sound in all three of those. although tonight I think is probably slant rhyme, but time and behind, although they have different consonant values, have again, that same vowel sound. So, you know, that's about all I got in the first first. That's all? Except when you get to the last line, right?

But seeing you tonight is called a Volta. Okay. And I think I mentioned this when I talked about poetry. how in a sonnet, if it's a patriarchan song, you get the first eight lines, and then you have a volta a turn to the last six lines. This is a volta a turn, like the sonnets turn. It shows an emotional shift or a change of topic. You see how the line is incomplete.

It's enjammed with the chorus. With the chorus, yeah. But seeing you tonight, dot, dot, dot, dot. Okay, what? What? Tell us. It also literally creates suspense, right? It leads your listener, your reader.

In suspension, you are now prepared for some revelation, right? And so that's really, I think, the biggest note that I wrote is this whole first verse characterizes childhood but prepares us, leaves us in suspense for what comes next. So what? Just like life does. Just like life does. So we get to, oh, did I mention the personification of life? Of life, yes.

Okay, good. I don't want to leave anything out. Okay, so that's another thing. Can I just pause editorially and say, our listeners are our most discerning groups? They certainly are, aren't they? And if I don't say something, sometimes it's like, like I think, well, that's something I'm talked about before and we didn't want to be here for three hours. Some of you may want us to be here.

We got places to go, people to see. That's right. Jobs to go to. So sometimes I think, okay, I can skip that. And then someone always writes about it in the note. I'm surprised he didn't call out that. I know. It's like, well, okay, yeah, you're right.

And then sometimes they say things and I think, oh, yeah, I missed that. Yeah, same. Yeah, those are the ones I don't want to talk about. Okay, so. The chorus. So we started by going through line by line, and then when I looked at the verse, I said, oh, yeah, let's look at the rhyme scheme. Let's go the inverse route this time. Look at the last word of some of these lines.

I loved you. I saw you. I knew you. I knew you. I knew you. Right. So it's epistrophic, right? So we're using epiphora.

that is the same word at the end of lines. Something that a lot of writers have used. I wrote down, interestingly enough, Walt Whitman in his poem, Leaves of Grass. Oh, grass. Uses, yes, epiphoristic writing. Nice. So where you repeat the same word or phrase at the ends of lines.

Okay. And we do see Blades of Grass here early in the poem. Yeah. So I wonder if she's read that. It's, I mean, leaves of grass, the poem and the books. man the book or the book of course quite long something that Whitman wrote all of his life oh oh yeah he came out with one edition that just had a handful of poems in it and then he continued to expand over and over and over again the last edition i think was 1888 the year before he died oh wow that's cool um so the chorus i remembered i loved you um which i don't know is such a mixed emotional state

isn't it? Yeah, because it's like, well, why don't you do not still love me? Right. And why am I saying loved in a past tense? Yeah, why? And did I forget when I hadn't seen you all this time? Yeah, exactly. You know, that's like kind of sad.

Yeah, and what's so funny is it's such simple diction, right? I've a thought on that. Yeah. of the whole song though Oh sure Yeah you want to go ahead and say it Sure I just it struck me after Three or four listens

That this was written for a children's movie Right yeah And this is one of the more straightforward songs Obviously you just pulled out a ton of poetics in the first line Or first verse but it just It kind of seems like the the diction like you're saying The choice of words is all just very very very, I think, digestible for younger people.

Yeah, I found that to be really interesting, too. And I do have to admit, I mean, I'm glad you brought it up because I have to admit the first two or three times I read through this, I got my notebook down where I keep all my notes. And I went back through it because you remember for one of her very early songs, I wrote, I said that this is a very non-Taylor Swift type song. Love story. Yes, love story.

You could tell that it was a kind of early, form of writing. You could tell that she hadn't matured, for example, her use of the way she has a Volta in her cliches. And it wasn't as mature as some of the later works. And I made a list of the Taylor Swift. Stuff that was missing. Right, that were missing from the poem. I got that list down and I started looking at it. And it was missing some of those, but the one that hit me was And so, I mean, I'm going to go ahead and jump to the end of verse two. Okay. All you said was, hi.

Right? Is there a shorter word in the English language? I mean, there are a few A and I, but there are very few shorter words. It is just as simple as it can be. It is as childlike, as honest as it can be. And I think that's something that she is consciously hitting at in the Agreed. Yeah. So, you know, my first two or three read-throughs, I thought, well, you know, I wonder if she is speaking in a child's format and maybe she's losing some of her poetics. And the more that I began reading, I thought, no, she still got the poetics. It's just simple diction. It's the diction that she changes. Yeah. Okay, so I remember I loved you. You know, for those of your accounting literary devices, we haven't mentioned this one before. This is called Anagnoresis, and anagnorias, nosus is the Greek word for to know.

It is a moment of recognition. Oh. Right? So anagnosis, anagnosis, is a moment of recognition in a poetic work. So I remembered, I loved you. Sweet, direct, simple, anagnoretic. So simple to say. It is an emotional epiphany.

She has a moment of sudden realization. It also connects to the theme of memory. Right. Goes to the third line. You know, memorize, you know, remembered you. I just, you know, I'm ready to stop here and say, this is really, really good stuff. Come back when it mattered. Came, excuse me, came back when it mattered.

So, you know, you came back to me from where have you been. And how does love come back? But somehow the speaker in the poem, there are no quotation marks, but our speaker in the poem has been waiting. Right. I saw you standing there in the light of the window wearing that same smile. So you hear how, I think that you should read it with that line and jammed with the third line. So enjambment, remember, is where you, there's no punctuation you're supposed to read it across. So I saw you standing there in the light of the window wearing that same smile.

Man, it's been a while. It's a, it's a great, sure, man, come, pause. It's been a while. So, you know, read it with, it's simple, but read it with a sense of emotional power. Just like your child, like, everything is simple, you know? Right. And so when someone comes back to you, from that time of your life,

it does kind of feel simple. Yeah. You know? You mean, like my blankie? Exactly. Like my blankie? Yes, like, it's like she, I mean, on showgirls, on eldest daughter in the bridge,

she talks about like, I thought that I'd never find that beautiful life, that shimmered that innocent light back, like when we were young. Mm-hmm. And that's exactly what this song, I think, is like this is like the thesis of this song. It's like you, when you find something or someone that makes you feel like a child,

it is just kind of simple and easy and, you know, and beautiful. Yes, it just works. Yeah. It's omnipresent there. It's just there. Yeah. I love the window. We see them in the light of the window.

So light, you know, a symbol. Did I say this was an epiphany? The first line is an epiphany. A moment of sudden realization. you know, well... Oh yeah, like a light bulb. Like a light bulb. Yes, like the light bulb going off.

It is a symbol of recognition, a symbol of hope. It is a symbol of revelation. Yeah, I think it just is... Interesting that she's... There's light in this one, but there's no dancing in it. You're right. They're just standing. We should be dancing in the light, right?

Yeah, but they're just standing. No, but we do have a smile. Yeah. Right? Yeah. The smile is also present throughout the poem, a symbol as it becomes a marker of identity. Right.

So I know you by that smile. I would know that smile anywhere, you know. And man, it's been a while, which is a cliched statement, but I think it's more I wrote down in my notes a very conversational voice. Yes. It's very authentic.

You know, if you don't mind me applying the word. Yeah. Yeah. I hear people say, I'm my authentic self. I'm going, no, you read that somewhere. Yeah. And that's, you're saying, it means you're not doing it. Yes, exactly. But I think it is authentic.

You know, one of the Taylor Swiftisms is to take a cliche and twist it or change it or play with or match it with another one and mash it up. You know, here it's more simple than that. Yeah, it's almost like it's like an intrusive thought coming in. Like, oh my gosh, like I haven't seen that face in a really long time. But now all of a sudden, like I feel like this like, you know, version of myself. But standing there in the light of the window and coming back when it mattered, that reminds

me of what didn't happen in Peter. In Peter, the woman turned out the light in the window. Yeah. But here, the light stayed on and the person came back. You don't get to hit me with that. Oh, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I did not think of Peter, but I love that. Yeah, I should have because Peter's my favorite, as you know, and yeah, I did not think of that.

Okay, okay, I missed one. Yeah, we got a point for Angela. That's right. Do you want buzzes? I'm good, I'm good. Okay. Okay, so, and then she hits the last line, the title line, I knew it, I knew you. So, you know, I knew it, underscoring the moment of revelation, and I knew you the declaration

of that sudden recognition. So we're looking at the literary device repetition. I knew you, I knew it, I knew you. Anaphora, you know, the repetition of the eye. Yeah. You know, I try to give you literary devices, and you talk about an obscure one. Epizuixus.

I can spell that for you. You just made that out. EPI, E.P.E. beforehand, right? It's Greek word. and then Z-E-U-X-I-S-U-S. A Z and an X. Yes, a Z and an X.

So if you're playing Scrabble, X-I-U-S-Sys is going to get you like a million points. Really? Yeah, so what is it? It is an immediate repetition for emphasis. Oh, okay. Right? And so she says, I knew you. I knew it.

I knew you. Right. She's excited. Mm-hmm. Right. And so I have no idea how she sings the song. other than the fact that it starts with harmonica. I have not heard the song yet.

But if I were reading this as a dramatic reading, you know, I would say, but I knew it. I knew you. I knew it. I knew you. Right? Yeah, exactly. I would because she repeats the same phrase over and over and over and over.

Yeah. And that's Jesse. Exactly. Yes. Because you know how her character is kind of like over the top. She's always excited. Right. She's like, and she's very physical.

She grabs people, she shakes people, right? She rides her horse. I mean, she's very physical. She's very excited. And I think that the writer catches the nature of her personality. I agree. So, yes, I really like the chorus for its simplicity of diction. Agreed.

Verse two. Verse two. I think we're going to get through this. Okay. color imagery makes its appearance. I knew you. And, you know, again, if I were doing a dramatic reason, reading of this, man, it's been a while. But I knew it.

I knew it. I knew it. I knew you. Right? It starts verse two. Yeah. All your blues like a mood ring changing colors you did too, you know. Blue color imagery, sadness.

She loves talking about blues. She does. I know, typical. Typical Taylor. Show the mood ring. Mood ring. Is it blue? No.

How you do it? I don't know. I didn't know what this means. I didn't bring the little card that came with it. It tells you what it means. It's like green and orange. Opalism orange. Oh, beautiful.

Did I say opalescence? I don't know. Yeah, so it's like a mood ring changing colors. Okay, why mood ring? Because it does change colors, because it reflects mood. but also it's a kind of an antique, nostalgic thing. Right. Right.

Mood rings came out when I was in high school, and everybody had, you know, in the 90s. I did Google that last night because I was like, when were our mood rings popular? Because I know they had, like, they were at least popular in the 90s, but I did read that they were first in the 70s and then they had a resurgence in the 90s. You really had to bring the date up, didn't you? Sorry. Your mother and father are in that same generation. Sure are. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, I like it because it shows it, it focuses on mood and feeling.

I like it because they do turn blue and it reflects sadness. But here in the song, this is about changing Jesse's sadness, sense of rejection to joy. And I like it because it's nostalgic. It is reminiscent of another period. And that's all in one short five-word phrase, typical Taylor. there were times we could fight like brothers okay it's a clear simile it's also a kind of cliche but it's both it's both you know literal and a literary device right because literally they do fight right I mean she she goes jesse goes into a tumble over things but but like brothers also shows a sense

of familiar a sense of closeness right right yeah I wondered about that one because this feels the if we're thinking of jesse and her previous owners and if we're thinking of taylor that's obviously all very like feminine but fighting like brothers it does feel like a cliche like you picture kind of like rough housing and like you know and then you just like are over it and your friends again or whatever well and and jesse as a character embraces her cowgirl persona yeah yeah so she is kind of rough and tumble yeah she's you know she's not a a girl who is She's not Bo Peep. Right.

Exactly. Yeah. Or Barbie. She's not Barbie. Yeah. Jesse's going to mix it up. Yeah. Yeah.

So I like, you know, here's our literary device juxtaposition. So we are juxtaposing terms, you know, where she's not a male, but she fights like one. And we're mixing up, fighting with affection. Uh-huh. Yeah. Right. Because you only do this with people you like. Right.

You know, like, you know, I once had a really good friend. And when I first met her, I used to kind of make fun of her. I would, like, say little things. And she said, you know, I was once told that you only make fun of people you really like. Oh, yeah. And I said, thank you so much. That's exactly what I do. Yes, thank you for understanding.

Yeah. It's like, yeah, if I don't like you, I don't give you the time of day. Exactly. Yeah. But if I like you, yeah, I'm going to poke fun from time to time. Just occasionally. Just who I am. Let's see.

Next line. I watched you drive around the bend for what I thought would be the last time I saw my friend. And again, I think you have to jam those two lines when you read them. Yeah. Yeah, because they're all one continuous thought. I keep saying I love this, but I do. I love the line drive around the bend because it's anticipatory. You can't see around a bend.

bend. It also has Western reminiscences. You're riding around the bend. Yeah, just like a dirt road kind of like that you see. I love the road imagery. You know, the road is a symbol of the journey of life. Certainly, Jesse has been on the journey

of life. Yeah. You know, it's there is a sense of separation. You know, when you drive around the bend you can no longer see them. You're separate from them. It can also be an image of change. Right?

So I think... Yeah, things taking a turn. Exactly the expression. Things taking a turn. There's also an uncertainty what lies around the bend. We don't know. What am I going to do without you

once you go around the bend? I don't know. That's really sad. I know. There are whole levels. So for me as a symbol, it works only like six different ways. Yeah, I know.

I wrote them all down And for all of that, it's also visual imagery. Yeah. Right. It's also a little bit of foreshadowing. You know, we remember the separation from Emily in Toy Story 2, and the foreshadowing is, well, you know, how and when does she come back? For what I thought would be the last time. Oh, see?

So, you know, here we're getting a little glimpse of the future. It's not going to be the last time. So there's a sense of dramatic irony. So dramatic irony is where we as the reader or listener know more than the character in the story. You know, does Jesse know that she's going to find another family? No. But we do. Does Jesse know that she will suffer other losses in her life?

You know, when Woody goes off at the end of Toy Story 4? No, but we do, right? And for Toy Story 5, does Jesse get a reunion of sorts? I don't know. I can't wait to the picture. Kind of seems like it. This does feel like a spoiler a little bit, this whole song. It really does, yeah.

And I guess I can't wait to see the movie. Yeah. And so I love those two lines together. But love has ways of bringing things back to life. All you said was, hi. The simplicity of it is perfect. It is. It really is.

Yeah. I mean, because there's this immense, there's this immense emotional buildup and then high. It's just high. Right, you know. So I have to say, you know, once again, I'm a person in my age. So there used to be this cartoons called Love is. And the very first one is love is never having to say or sorry. Okay, yeah.

Yeah. Love is never having to explain. Love is just coming back in, and the moment you see them, the moment love remembered is love present. Yeah, it's just, everything is just back to where we were. Exactly right. Love is love. I do really like that line, but love has ways of bringing things back to life with life has ways of leaving those days behind from the first first. Oh, yeah, from the first first.

That's a good connection. Yeah, so life is leaving things behind, but as long as you still have love for this person, anything can be brought back to life. Right. Yeah, that's really nice. I love that. You know, again, I think this is typical Taylor. Yes. I think that what she does, she compresses an enormous amount of emotional power into ordinary speech.

Absolutely. Right. So, typical Taylor. The emotions. That's right. Okay, the chorus. and I remember it I loved you, came back when it mattered.

I saw you standing there in the light of the window wearing that same smile. Man, it's been a while, but I knew it, I knew you, I knew, I knew. And she repeats the whole thing into the post-course. I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew. So repetition, you know, you know, why repetition, repetition,

creates, I wrote down reasons for musicality. I'm interested to hear how she sings it. It creates focus. The fact that the speaker, Jesse, assumably, you know, has this focus on the person she's

anticipating coming back. It creates intensity, and it also has a nemonic effect. So for those of you who are counting, nemonic, spelled n, excuse me, M-N-E-M-E-M-E-E-M- M-O-N-I-C.

Yeah. It starts with an M, but you don't really pronounce it. A mnemonic element is something like it makes it easy to remember. Right. Roy G-V-V-V-V. Yes, yes, exactly. Roy G-Biv is a mnemonic device that helps you remember the seven colors in a rainbow. They use an advertisement all the time.

Double your pleasure, double your fun, and double-min, double-min, double-min, and yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so it's repetition, using the word double, and you can't forget it because it's over and over. Yeah. It's also a chant-like phrase that you frequently see in fairy tales. Mm. So the restoration of love here could be compared to a fairy tale.

Oh, does this make Taylor a Disney princess? I don't know. I guess the question is, does it make Jesse a Disney princess? I guess she is, yeah. Yeah, I mean, of a sort. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, she has one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. Gosh, that's what I, that, because of that song when you loved me or something like that,

I was fully expecting this song to be like that. I was ready for my feelings to be hurt. Yeah, oh, I ran that song off when she loved me. Oh, when she loved me. Yeah, as sung by Sarah McLaughlin. Yeah, so beautiful. She knows how to kill us with her songs. Sarah McLaughlin's voice.

I actually heard Sarah McLaughlin in concert at the Red Rocks. Nice. Oh, man, Red Rocks. I know. So if you, yeah, for those of you who have never been to the Red Rocks in Denver, Colorado, red rocks are these giant sandstone formations that create this natural amphitheater and her voice with the Denver Symphony. Oh my gosh. It was incredible.

Yeah, when she loved me, when somebody loved me, everything was beautiful. Every hour we spent together lives within my heart. And when she was sad, I was there to dry her tears. and when she was happy, so was I, when she loved me. Through the summer and the fall, we had each other. That was all. Just she and I together like it was meant to be. And when she was lonely, I was there to comfort her.

And I knew that she loved me. So the years went by, I stayed the same, which is one of the consistent themes of the Disney franchise, the fact that the toys never change. Right. But she began to drift away, and I was left alone. Still, I waited for the day when she would say, I will always love you. Lonely and forgotten, never thought she'd look my way.

And she smiled at me and held me just like she used to do like she loved me when she loved me. When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful. Every hour we spent together lives within my heart when she loved me. Yeah, the emotional power of that, I think, kind of. comes back to us at the end of this song. Yeah. So. Yeah.

The bridge of, oh, the rivers I cried when we said goodbye. Obviously a metaphor. It's also hyperbolic. You don't actually cry rivers. It's water imagery. Also, it's a cliche. I cried rivers, right? And she doesn't do anything with the cliche.

No. Which is one of the reasons why on my first two or three readings, I got up my list of non-tailorisms. But I think that we're back to your statement that this is a child. This is for kids. Yeah, this is for kids. Or like for kids media at least. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. So what she's doing is she's trying to, you know, create this private landscape of grief to cry rivers. wondering if I made it up in my mind, but now you look me in the eye. So I really think the wondering if I'd made it up in my mind is an interesting line. Okay. And I am still undecided as to how it works in the poem. Okay. And maybe you can help me.

So it reflects self-doubt, right? It reflects an unreliable memory. You know, we've talked before about how all memories, are unreliable. When we say, well, that's my memory. Yeah. It may not be the events, but it's what I remember, right? What I want to remember sometimes.

And so I'm wondering, you know, is this psychological realism? Is she really remembering? Is she making memories up? Is she really seeing the person she's seeing? Interesting. Yeah, or, you know, it's like, I'm going to mention Valentina. I think I told the story once where I kind of imagined Valentina was right there in front of me. This is the old girlfriend from middle school.

This is, when you say you're imagining, this is mostly for them, not really for you. But when you say you're imagining her in front of you, all I can think of is a song we haven't done yet where she says, your hologram stumbled into my apartment. Ah, see, that's a great way of winning. That's exactly what you're saying. Yes, that's exactly. I'll never forget. It was Sunday night.

I was watching Bonanza. The family had gone to church for an event. I stayed home to do homework, but I was really dreaming of Valentina. And, yeah, it's almost as though, it could belie the rest of the song. Yeah, so I kind of think, I agree, completely but I just

this takes me back to wondering if I'd made it up in my mind is where I really get I guess the same kind of theme as all too well where it's like I remember it I was there I remember it and before they reconnected earlier in the song I think she was thinking like do I even

was that real like this these memories that I have of this friendship like they seemed so powerful and so magical and so real but were they even real like or have I just Have I made it something more special because like, why haven't I seen this person in forever? If it was so real, why are we not still connected? And then it's like, oh, no, but I saw you and I remembered and you still had that same smile.

And I do know it was real. Well, and see, that's how I want to interpret it. Okay. What I don't want, I don't want to slide off to the darker interpretation that the whole thing is made up in the image of her mind. Yeah, these are just streams. Yeah. In her mind's eye. Yeah.

You know, now you look me in the eye, but only in my figurative imagination. imagination, right? And I think that would be horrifically sad, and there will be no Toy Story Six. Oh, no. No, I prefer your interpretation. I prefer she's wondering if the memories of childhood are the truest memories. Yeah, because there's a days, the days of the blades of the grass. She begins the poem with that word.

Yeah, so it's all hazy and it's like, am I remembering this correctly? But now the truth of it is, you're right here and I'm looking you in the eye. Again, a cliche that is perfectly clean and simple. Okay. And really, the rest of the poem is pretty redundant. And you told me, you told me I loved you. Came back when it mattered. I saw you standing there in the light of the window wearing that same smile.

Yeah, it's been a while. Oh, oh. wearing that same smile Sorry Oh oh Oh man it's been a while Man it's been a while Man it's been a while

Um wearing that same smile Man has been a while But I knew I knew it I knew you Oh I knew I knew And then we just trickle out With lots of I knews it

You know I'd like to I'd like to mention Just for a moment I wrote down Larger Literary patterns. Okay.

A lot of the structures built on this nostalgia of childhood, on the theme of separation, on the theme of recognition and reunion. You know, and so I would say what she does in the poem is she builds this picture of childhood, you know, child playing in the grass, and then the separation, you're going around the bend,

and then that sudden moment of recognition, that Volta near the end with the bridge, and then the reunion, that joyful, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. it, right? There is an interesting symbolic system. And so what I did was I made a list of some of the symbols and the way I would interpret it in the context of the poem. So summer is a symbol of childhood.

Grass is a symbol of innocence. The parachute, a symbol of safety and love. The mood ring, emotional change. The window light, recognition. The smile enduring. identity. You never lose a smile. Someone says, the rivers of grief and the eyes of truth. That's beautiful. Do you think that's good? Yeah, I love that. So much. What a perfect summary. Yes, yes. When I started looking at the different symbols, I thought, wow, that's really quite

lovely. Yeah. It feels very toy story. It does, doesn't it? Yeah. And then I also was really interested in the window motif that occurs in the song. So standing in the light of the window, you know, I think it has an enormous symbolic importance in the Toy Story series. Windows represent separation or transition, observation, movement between worlds. You know, if you think about the times you see the toys, think about the number of times they're looking at a window. All the time, or they're jumping out the window.

They're jumping out the window. They're spying on like Sid next door. and like they get out the window to escape. Yeah, the toys watch their owners leave through the windows when the owners come and go. Character stare out the window, what's coming next. Yeah. Yeah, so the window light has this, like, strong, symbolic weight,

this presence in the Toy Story series, and I think it makes its appearance here in the song. Yeah, it's sort of like how we talk about. Taylor talks a lot about, you know, being in a car, cars and roads as, like, a transition from one part of your life to another, or like hallways, there's a lot of hallways. But in the Toy Story universe, that is kind of a window instead of a hallway or a car. And it's kind of like she pulled that in the same way that they use it.

That's fun. Yeah. So I'd also like to point out something that we've already mentioned, that this has resonates with the musical tradition of the Toy Story franchise. Because you start with the very first one, the song that Randy Newman wrote, You've Got a Friend and Me. That's, you know, simple, bouncy, sweet, childish. just full of fun and joy.

Yes. Right. But then we go to that separation of sadness where they become rather than children's toys, they become artifacts, right? Like I collect them. You know, well, heck no, I want my toy out of the box. Yeah. But we have that song when she loved me.

Right. Right. And so now, you know, that loss of the past, we're beginning to be over that. and we have reunion after the absence, and that would be, I knew it, I knew you. So, you know, what we have is distance, aging, uncertainty, years of silence, all of that's resolved in this song. And that's about all I got. I was just going to pull up, because you talking about that, she did mention, Andrew Stanton was the name of the guy of the man that wrote this, but she said, thank you in the post she made about this

song, Baby Taylor. Oh, really? As a cowgirl. Yeah. Okay. Oh, that's fun. Isn't that cute? Oh, I bet everybody's seen that, right?

Yes. Yeah. Oh, wow. She said, thank you to the incomparable Randy Newman for the gorgeous sonic tapestry of songs and scores you've meticulously woven over the years. You created the Toy Story musical world, and we are lucky to. to get to live in it. So that's kind of exactly what you're saying.

Like, she, like, I think it was very purposeful that, you know, that this song, like, fit in with, with the existing universe already. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, the first song is just about the joyfulness of being played with, the joyfulness of being a toy, the joy of childhood. The second song, when she loved me, is about memory becoming grief, you know. And then this song is about memory, becoming hope.

Are you like that, did you? He's not going to cry. I'm being so profound today, aren't it? That's what you get when you give me a couple of weeks. You take a week off sick and I get to type all my notes up. Just tapping away. Yeah, I know. I know.

Okay. All right. You ready to listen? I'm ready. Okay, we are going to go listen to the song and then we will be right back. Sounds great. Yeah, that was, okay, first of all, The song is fun.

Yeah. The return to her country roots, way fun. Again, a little psychoanalytic, but way fun. I think that she finds a way to mix the childish innocence of her early work with the maturity of her late work. And so, yes, I wrote a comment about the whole. Here's my conclusion to the poll. Okay, okay, yes. Okay.

So the central message is not that we were friends. The central message is we are friends, right? Never stopped. Right, never stopped. Through distance, through aging, through uncertainty, you know, the passage of time does not mean we never stopped being friends. That time does not obscure love. Time does not erase true recognition, right?

that the ideas of this song, I think, squarely belong in the architecture of Taylor Swift's universe. You know, think about how she talks about memory and the endurance of love, the endurance of her own identity, the endurance of the bonds that survive, you know, right down to the fact that she lost her music and regained her music. I think that is so profound because a lot of... of Swifties were like, okay, now go listen to this again. Within your mind, Taylor singing to her, like, original six albums. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah. I think, like, she never forgot them. She never lost them. She never stopped loving them. Yeah. You know, and I think that that's, you know, I hope for everything that's true in our lives, I hope that's always true. Yeah.

Love has ways of bringing things back to life. That's right. Love means never forgetting. Oh, I got goosies. Okay, are you ready to grade? Okay, so, so people, I am not going to grade today because I think that we have a better judge than I am to evaluate this song. I think we're going to bring in a special guest judge today. Yes, okay, we'll be right back.

Okay, we are back with our expert, I think you're an expert, with our guest judge. and we're going to maybe do some investigation of our credentials. This is Jillian. Jillian, are you related to me in any way? Yes, I'm your granddaughter. Are you related to me in any way? Yes. Yeah, can you tell they share genetic material?

We have the same birthday, just a few years apart. They do, they share a birthday. Okay, Jillian, we need to know if you are qualified to judge this. song. So first of all, I guess my first question is, have you seen the Toy Story movies? Yes, I've seen all of them. I'm a super fan of all of them. Love Disney. Okay, so what about Disney as a whole? You've seen Disney movies? All of them. And you named three favorites. Tinkerbell, Little Mermaid, and we did a musical for our school recently. Oh. Were you in that musical? Yes.

Oh. I was one of the eels. Did you find that to be a slippery roll? Sorry. And then last one, Toy Story. Literally all of them. Yeah.

Okay. Have you ever been to Disneyland, Disney World, or any Disney facility? I've been to Disney World twice, and Disneyland once, and this summer we went to the Hawaii, needs a new resort. Oh, wow, how was that?

It was amazing. Okay, well, now here's a really important question. Have you ever attended a Taylor Swift concert? Yes, I've been to one Taylor Swift concert with my mom and all of my friends. Oh. She went to the Aeros Tour. You were at the Ares Tour?

Yes. In her sparkles. Wow. What's your favorite Taylor Swift album or song? Yeah, probably this one, because I just like all like the connections to, like, just, because I love Disney and too, and Swift, and I feel like it's just, like, brings out, like, the best of both. I completely agree.

Completely agree. All right. So, I think that qualifies. What do you think? So, I think she's more qualified than either of us, maybe. Okay, maybe. I've never stayed at the Disney Estate in Hawaii. Yeah, me either.

Yeah. Okay, you want to give your thoughts? And then Jillian, you will give us your grade and your thoughts if you want? Yes. Sure. I mean, you know, I've talked a great deal about the many literary devices, despite the fact that she has very simple diction. I think the simple diction is purposeful. So I would give it a fairly, not that I'm trying to influence the judge, but I would give it a very high score in lyrical strength and in narrative structure. I love the image of the window that I think has several different symbolic elements. And also resonates with all the toy story movies since we see the parents or the way. window, since the toys go in and out of the window, I think the window is a transitional, you know, transitory element, a symbol of transition, and Jesse's life is a symbol of transition. So, you know, I loved the lore of this song, but I'm going to leave it to the expert to give

us a final grade, but I'm going to need to hear a justification for that grade. Okay, so I think for the final grade, I think we should give. give it a 100. Okay, so here's some, here's some, like, knowledge that, like, why it's 100. So, first off, I've been waiting for him to hear the song. I would come over, I would come over here, and we would just be talking about how we have to wait and wait until he gets to hear it and how he can't listen to it at all. I'm glad everybody plays into this game and this whole family.

And then we had, we were like, so like, we just needed to hear the song. So then we went into the car and we just blasted it max volume on the drive home. Just rocking out to the song because like there was like, yeah. I showed you all my notes, right? All the type notes and all the written. And I was going down through the song. Yeah. And I was just singing in my head.

I was listening and then I was zoned off into the song. And I feel like it just has like a lot of like true depth of like just going back to your childhood and like it's like very much like you like you can see the imagery of like what's happening throughout the movies and you can like feel like it's all like tied together. It's like 30th or something like that. Yeah, it is. It's been a while since the franchise started. Yeah. Okay. I was a child.

You sound like a little swiftly scholar talking about all that tying it together with the imagery. Is just going to, are you going to start your own podcast now? A competitor's podcast. Are you a competitor? Probably not. Okay, well, thank you very much for joining us. Yeah, and thank you all for joining us. Is that all you have for today?

That's all I have. Okay. Love endures. Yes. Love has ways of bringing things back to life. Make sure you're following us everywhere. At Swiftian Scholar Pod on all the socials. Subscribe wherever you listen or watch your podcasts.

And you can follow Uncle Jerry at Dr. Uncle Jerry or Dr. Uncle Jerry. And you can follow me at Angela Wyatt McDowell, both of those on Instagram. And we will see you next week for another song. Bye. Bye.