I am a Swiftie through and through. Yes, I know that statement may be controversial. I am also a person who is aware that half of you just rolled your eyes, envisioning an immature, emotional girl. Maybe I am immature, and probably emotional, but that has nothing to do with how much I love Taylor Swift. If anything, the fact that I may be emotional helps me understand music that much more. When I play a song, I don’t just hear it, I listen to it. I pay attention to every little detail, insignificant or not. How the artist’s voice might rasp, or crack, or if it is soft and smooth. I also — as you will see — pay excruciating attention to lyrics. Lyrics are, in my opinion, what makes or breaks a song. If a tune has a catchy melody or the singer has a nice voice I might play the song once or twice, but I’m never moved by it. Lyrics, however, move me. Which is why, in my completely unprofessional opinion, Taylor Swift is the poet of our generation. I base this simply on the fact that her lyrics move me like no others. To demonstrate this, I’m going to embrace my inner Ms. Hesseltine and annotate a Taylor song for you, and by the end of this article, I hope that you, too, see the poetry behind her art.
During the winter of 2020, back when we were locked in our homes, I played jailbreak on Roblox with my middle school friends. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, released two albums, each featuring 17 life-altering songs. These albums were titled folklore and evermore. Unlike anything she’d ever released, both of these albums have exclusively instrumental, slow paced songs. Additionally, they are mainly fictional stories. Taylor took inspiration from TV shows, books, her own family, and her fans, and constructed two albums worth of stories. Some might call it folklore 😉. The song I am going to be annotating and writing about today is titled, “cowboy like me” and it is from evermore.
And the tennis court was covered up
With some tent-like thing
And you asked me to dance
But I said, “Dancin’ is a dangerous game”
Oh, I thought
This is gonna be one of those things
Now I know
I’m never gonna love again
I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve
Takes one to know one
You’re a cowboy like me
Never wanted love
Just a fancy car
Now I’m waiting by the phone
Like I’m sitting in an airport bar
You had some tricks up your sleeve
Takes one to know one
You’re a cowboy like me
Perched in the dark
Tellin’ all the rich folks anything they wanna hear
Like it could be love
I could be the way forward
Only if they pay for it
You’re a bandit like me
Eyes full of stars
Hustling for the good life, never thought I’d meet you here
It could be love
We could be the way forward
And I know I’ll pay for it
You’re a cowboy like me
Perched in the dark
Tellin’ all the rich folks anything they wanna hear
Like it could be love
I could be the way forward
Only if they pay for it
You’re a bandit like me
Eyes full of stars
Hustlin’ for the good life, never thought I’d meet you here
It could be love
We could be the way forward
And I know I’ll pay for it
And the skeletons in both our closets
Plotted hard to fuck this up
And the old men that I’ve swindled
Really did believe I was the one
And the ladies lunchin’ have their stories about
When you passed through town
Oh, but that was all before I locked it down
Now you hang from my lips
Like the Gardens of Babylon
With your boots beneath my bed
Forever is the sweetest con
I’ve had some tricks up my sleeve
Takes one to know one
You’re a cowboy like me
And I’m never gonna love again
I’m never gonna love again
I’m never gonna love again
In “cowboy like me” by Taylor Swift, a continuous metaphor is employed throughout the poem to inspect the character traits of two outcasts. The conceit is introduced in the title, “cowboy like me,” and it hints towards the meaning of the song. Cowboys are often characterized as outcasts, bandits, or perhaps con artists. They are not often portrayed as hopeless romantics. Though the characters are introduced as cowboys, she continues to expand the conceit by naming the characters bandits and hustlers. Before meeting each other, the characters have never experienced true love, only over-embellished fake emotions for someone. Taylor emphasizes that since the characters are cowboys, or outcasts, they are deemed incapable of love.
In “cowboy like me,” the setting is used to display the beginning of a story about two bandits who find each other despite previously believing they were incapable of true love. Both have complicated pasts of swindling and taking advantage of the people in their lives. Taylor is saying that because the two characters are both “cowboys,” they are perfect for each other. She demonstrates using setting as a literary technique when she writes, “And the tennis court was covered up / With some tent-like thing.” The main characters are at a wedding, a wedding being an event centered around devotion and love for one’s partner — something neither of our characters have experienced. This particular wedding takes place at a country club, or some other congregation of likely wealthier people. Then, the characters meet. Taylor describes someone asking our main character to dance, a deeply vulnerable and expressive action. To this, the main character responds: “Dancin’ is a dangerous game.” In other words, being open or sensitive “is a dangerous game” with, in her mind, no possible positive outcomes.
The next stage of their story that Taylor portrays is when our characters, who remain nameless representing the widespread applicability, begin to experience the effects of a deep attachment for the first time. Taylor says, “Now I’m waiting by the phone / Like I’m sitting in an airport bar.” She implements a simile to display how the female lead’s world is beginning to revolve around him. Our main character is as reliant on his calls as you would be on a delayed plane. This feeling of dependency was something she never thought she could feel because love had only ever been a game. Taylor describes the main character and her partner as outcasts, establishing a shared identity, furthering the depth of their empathy and appreciation for each other. She illustrates this in the lines, “You’re a bandit like me / Eyes full of stars/Hustlin’ for the good life, never thought I’d meet you here / It could be love / We could be the way forward / And I know I’ll pay for it.” This implies the characters never truly believed that in leading a life full of lies and falsehoods, they would find something real. The main character further emphasizes how her perspective has shifted now that she has experienced love. She says “And I know I’ll pay for it.” Before finding her partner, she would have never sacrificed an opportunity to achieve her materialistic dreams for a relationship. Now that she has found true love, her priorities have changed.
Taylor finishes the song by crystallizing the fact that now that the main character has found her partner, greed will never come before her relationship. She has spent years and years in fake, shallow relationships, so she has trouble making this decision, but this relationship is worth taking a leap of faith. She says, “Now you hang from my lips like the Gardens of Babylon / With your boots beneath my bed / Forever is the sweetest con.” Taylor references the Gardens of Babylon, which were supposed to be some of the most beautiful and unique gardens in the world, however, there is no written or archeological evidence that they ever existed. She is implementing this metaphor to explain that although she can’t guarantee that their relationship is forever, she is choosing to enjoy the beauty of believing it is. She later says, “Forever is the sweetest con,” or the concept of being with someone forever is the sweetest deception to ever exist.
Poetry can exist in a multitude of forms; it can be free verse, structured, and — in this case — musical. Taylor Swift’s art speaks to me, and so by my definition, it is poetry.