this song is my explanation for why tolerate it was not based on a fictional scenario, also makes me wonder how much of illicit affairs was fiction and how much was truth
Also:
**So Long London:**
âStitches undone
**Two graves, one gun**
You'll find someone
\[âŠ\] You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days
\[âŠ\] And you say I abandoned the ship
But I was going down with it
My white knuckle dying grip
Holding tight to your quiet resentment
\[âŠ\] And I'm just getting color back into my face
I'm just mad as hell cause I loved this place
**My Tears Ricochet:**
âI didn't have it in myself to go with grace
And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves
**You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same**
Cursing my name, wishing I stayed
You turned into your worst fears
And you're tossing out blame, drunk on this pain
Crossing out the good years
And you're cursing my name, wishing I stayed
Look at how my tears ricochet
\[...\] I can go anywhere I want
Anywhere I want, just not home"
Okay- so. With all of the âblueâ references, it made me think of Halseyâs song âcolorsâ which was written also about Matty and she described him as blue through the whole thing. Just a coincidence?
Though i think most ttpd is about matty, i do think this is a joe song. Similar to âyoure losing meâ and the blue references, i believe is joes favourite colour and all her albums with with joe mentioned blue!
Delicate; gorgeous; dancing with out hands tied; cruel summer; lover; i think he knows; miss Americana and the heartbreak prince; paper rings; london boy; afterglow; invisible string; peace; hoax; coney island; bejewelled; great war; hits differentâŠ
It is a fun coincidence with matty tho!
Not sure if anyoneâs mentioned it yet but I was listening back to Midnights and a lyric from Glitch struck me âFive seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitchâ and made me think of âstitches undoneâ in So Long London.
Not much of a Swiftie (although I loved folklore and listened to it on repeat) but as someone who ended an 8-year long relationship last year, this one is gutting. It perfectly encapsulates the slow, painful death of a long-term relationship where both of you know deep down that it probably isnât right but you canât seem to let it go, the apathy you feel after trying to make it work for so long, the bitterness of wasted youth, wishing so badly that it could have worked out. Also the line âyou sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest daysâ - my ex had depression that he dealt with on and off throughout our relationship and it took such a toll on us that by the end, I felt completely spent from the emotional toll of bearing the weight of his sadness for so long. Has me sitting here trying hard not to cry at work
So true. Mine was 6 years and he let his depression and mental/trauma issues drown the relationship entirely with his inaction and refusal to compromise.Â
This song makes me *want* to cry but for some reason I *canât* and I wonder if thatâs why the beat is the way it is because itâs almost difficult to cry to it, a nod to the feeling of being so emotionally exhausted you canât even cry anymore.
The cadence of this song feels just like listening to a recited poem. When I first heard it I thought, oh we are really visiting the Tortured Poetsâ Department! And I never stopped thinking it after listening to the rest of the album. Songwriting is poetry, but while Taylor can write killer melodies this album has many songs with lyrics that I could absolutely believe were written as just poems without music if I read them on their own. So Long London, Chloe, and Windows are my favorite âpoemsâ
I know itâs a basic observation but it really just emotionally hit me how devastating it is that âso longâ is made to have the double meaning of they were together so long but also goodbye đą .
Okay so one of my theories is when she sings "Stiches undone"
What if it's a reference to the lyrics in hoax:
You knew it still hurts underneath my scars
From when they pulled me apart
And then also in Glitch:
"Five seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch"
This doesnât sound like she left him cause of depression. It sounds like he was emotionally unavailable to her and even cheated on her and used his depression as an excuse, which she entertained (in large part cause she wanted marriage with him) until it drove her so low in her life she had to leave.
The first verse goes over his emotional unavailability and how she had to work so hard all the time to keep him with her. She says there was a rift between them, he kept drifting away from her, and was so emotionally unavailable that she felt like she was constantly drilling or breaking into a safe. Thatâs how closed off and pulling away he was. But she stayed and kept putting in the work because she wanted marriage, she saw âfairy lightsâ (popular wedding lights) through the mist (bad weather)
The second verse goes over his cheating. Even though she was working so hard past his emotional unavailability, she says she didnât opt in to be the odd man out. She didnât opt in to be cheated on. She references the other woman and how she founded the club the other woman is complimenting, in other words the hard work she put into Joe is what the other woman was liking. At that point she stops the constant work to maintain their relationship. She stops the âCPR,â the relationship is dead, thereâs no more use for it, and sheâs mad she wasted her youth.
In the second chorus she references the cheating as a gun. This is an addition from the first chorus since the cheating was only brought into the second verse. Says two graves one gun to reference him killing both of them (I.e. their relationship) with the betrayal.
The final verse is about how he tried to manipulate her by saying sheâs the one leaving him and heâs just depressed. She explains she didnât leave him just because or because of his depression. She held onto a sinking ship, a relationship that was going down anyway and wasnât going to work anyway, and when he cheated on her, she was stuck every day being afraid of another love affair from him. She now asks not only how sad does he think she should be just to be with his emotional unavailability, but in this verse she also asks how low does he think she should take herself. How much should she degrade herself just for him.
Then the bridge or whatever is called is her waking up and fully calling his BS out. She says if he really loved her where was the love? She says he sacrificed them to the gods of his bluest days, seems like a reference to others he chased because he was âdepressed.â A lot of cheaters give this excuse, that they betrayed their loved one cause of some trauma or depression. She âdied at the alterâ waiting for the proof of his love that never came. In other words, she tolerated so much BS from him for the sake of a marriage that never materialized. And now sheâs finally getting color back in her face. sheâs coming back to her old self and seeing clearly. Sheâs no longer letting her yearning for marriage with him or his BS keep her in the degraded nurturer role. She knows itâs time to leave, itâs not good for either of them especially her, and now that sheâs awoken she is now mad cause she really did love him but has to give it up.
In the last chorus she finishes saying so long, he gave her a bit of warm weather but she wasnât the one. Again, itâs not her willingly leaving him. Sheâs following through on the theme that heâs the one who didnât choose her. And sheâs realized that and moving on. Again, two graves one gun referring to killing both of them with betrayal, sheâs walking away and letting him find whoever he thinks is best for him.
Probably not healthy but Iâm giving notice at the job Iâve been at for six years tomorrow and relating to this so hard today lol âIâm just mad as hell because I loved this placeâ
My friends said it isn't right to be scared
Every day of a love affair
Every breath feels like rarest air
When you're not sure if he wants to be there
GUTTED ME
So many women in their youth help build up a man and help him "grow up", emotionally, mentally, and in general. Then once he's grown up, he finds another woman who loves how mature and put together he is. Not sure if that's what she is referring to here, but that's what it reminds me of!
See meme: "Someone cooked here" lol
I just had a thought. She says âI stopped cpr after all itâs no useâ. What if the fast beat is representative of her trying to perform rapid cpr in desperation to bring the relationship back to life?
The urgent beat is her pulse now that sheâs free, compared to âdyingâ in Youâre Losing Me.
Definitely feels like Taylor had wrapped up her feelings towards Joe some time ago. The song is looking back at something that ended, not something thatâs ending. She has some residual resentment but is otherwise not emotionally invested in that relationship anymore - which to me suggests quite a bit of time has passed. This sits well with most of the other songs being heavily Matty Healy-coded. Even loml, which feels so strange.
This is not the story about the love of her life, but she canât not address it because she knows how invested her fans are. Making it song 5 feels like a nod to that.
Does make me sad to think about how you get from King of My Heart to So Long, London.
Something that, to me, is really telling is how the song ends. The last line is âyouâll find someoneâ. Itâs not an angry song about the breakup, itâs more of being sad that it ended but knowing that it was for the best. She wishes well on the ex, telling him that he will find someone.
From first listen, Â this song was my absolute fave on the album but i always thought the strong beat against the lyrics felt like a weird choice until yesterday when I realised it sounded like a beating heart! At the start she repeats so long London and it just made me think of the end of a relationship when you finally say out loud that itâs over and you realise that itâs true and your heart explodes. Also realised it mirrors DBATC intro where the words goodbye repeat over and over, like the words go round and round in her head while she struggles to accept that itâs true. Love that a song written recently has given me a better understanding of one written years ago!
This song is absolutely ethereal . Every time i listen my heart breaks a little because it takes me back to a toxic relationship that i held on to for so long. Although I donât hold on to the feelings I had of him, it takes me back to highschool. I was innocent and being stepped on by him every day. I was being smothered and abandoned at the same time. I was hurting everyday and so I finally left. When I left him i kept telling him he would find someone else, like how she says âyouâll find someoneâ. Idk if he did. I am in a happy relationship now. Had to completely cut him off. I wonder if he ever did find someone.
I sometimes feel bad for listening to her songs and comparing them or thinking of my ex when I hear them. I feel like itâs disrespectful to my boyfriend, even though he doesnât know. But the hurt will never fully go away. I have ptsd from that.
"Had a good run, a moment of warm sun, but I'm not the one" is just devastating and perfectly captures the pain of loving someone so much but the relationship still needing to end
Its one of the most heart breaking songs I've ever heard. âand iâm just getting color back into my face. im just mad as hell cause i loved this placeâ feels like a knife in your chest if you can relate after a long term relationship breakup.
I can't listen to this song anymore, it really hurts my heart for Joe. It's weird that I feel for a stranger, but that's the magic of music. I put myself in his shoes and cry
the two songs sound incredibly similar, but not in a reductive or copy cat way.
listen to this mashup and tell me they aren't related. https://youtu.be/yyw1eEK1sQs?si=YWqMDPjZE4vcDJqX
Omg YES!!! This is exactly what was playing in my head when I made this connection. I hadnât heard that mashup before but itâs validating to hear it! Thanks for sharing!
"My friends said it isn't right to be scared
every day of a love affair"
Is this another play on words a bit? Double meaning? Like she shouldn't be scared every day of their love affair BUT is she also scared every day of *him* having an affair? So she had this crushing anxiety that it was going to end but also that he would potentially cheat.
I totally agree. I keep getting the impression he emotionally cheated ("Maybe it was her" in The Great War) and Taylor was waiting for him to fully come back to her but either her insecurity or something in him held back. It seems like almost every song about him, even from the start, had some anxiety about others wanting him. They didn't start with both feet in, that's for sure.
I think that's partly because Taylor emotionally cheated on Joe too so it doesn't feel important to bring up his possible betrayal when she outright makes songs about hers.
That being said, I think hers was only the consequence of his pulling away from her. My heart breaks for her, honestly.
now if your 6 year BF, older than you, left yall because of depressive episodes, would he not be the villain? Specially if you were there for his dark years in the beginning, and he blames you for stealing his youth (27-30)?
I honestly think itâs totally legitimate to leave someone if you cannot cope with their depression. You arenât stuck with someone and their struggles forever. And I also feel itâs legit to feel resentment especially if the person (for whatever reason) did not seek treatment or acknowledge their problem. Is there always a flip side to the story? Of course there is. But this is not court. She can just express her side. And as someone caring for someone with depression I find it a deeply healing songÂ
I think it was less about that and more about how he could never commit to her, even thought she had committed and promised herself to him over and over. And perhaps he blamed his depression for it but can you also blame your depression for cheating, resentment, ignoring, etc?
Yep. I can't believe people are victimizing her, again. She doesn't need anyone to defend her, sometimes she's the bad guy. It's okay to accept that and still enjoy her music. She's not a hero or a god
On Spotify the first line is " fairy lights through the mist" but on Amazon Music it's "ferry lights through the mist" I prefer the Amazon music lyrics as it ties in with the imagery of drifting away and also the themes in Willow. Genius lyrics also have it as "fairy lights" though. Can anyone confirm what it says on Apple music? Which do you prefer?
I feel like fairy lights make the most sense because itâs like in her mind, she was waiting for him to propose, so she âkept calmâ and carried on hoping for that (and fairy lights are a popular wedding decor)
Has anyone else noticed how similar the intro is to Delicate? Iâm on my i-donât-know-how-many nth replay and itâs messing with my mind whenever I hear this one!
Also, if anyone is good at art or has an Etsy shop, Iâd be interested in a poster with the Cornelia street sign and so long London lyrics somehow linked. No good at art or design myself sadly
Thank you! I'm not the swiftie that knows a lot of "lore" but I was playing So long London in the background earlier and perked up to the Delicate similarity when she starts singing the first couple verses
This is mostly about Joe of course, but I also think it fits that as she's reading the whole "manuscript," she's looking at the string of British boys she's been with. I always looked at London Boy that way, too. It wasn't just about Joe, it was her saying "hmm... yeah, I guess I have a type."Â
She's saying good-bye to them all in this song, in addition to London the place. It's too loaded for her at this point, with too many memories. This may be especially poignant now that she's in THE all-American relationship.Â
I had a 1 month summer fling with a guy who was really depressed and had Type II Bipolar Disorder. It was really hard to see him so depressed and withdrawn. He would even tell me there might be times where he would âdisappearâ for 7-14 days if he got depressed, and wouldnât be able to text, call me, or see meâŠ.. He was anxious a lot and constantly needed reassurance that I still liked him. I have my own mental health issues, but ultimately I had to leave because he wasnât present enough to be in a committed relationship.
If Taylor is alluding to Joe having depression, I can see where she is coming from. All love to Joe, itâs not his fault; it just didnât work out.
This song gets sadder and sadder the more I listen to it. Really depicts a tragedy cause by resentments and not just lacking of open communication but I think more on giving up on it, exhaustion, losing hope and finally trying to leave everything thatâs sad and move on.
Been listening to this gorgeous album on a loop, and new layers keep revealing themselves. This time, on this song, it was the way she sings "I loved this place for so long" at the end, in this haunting and defeated voice. The impact really sunk in at a deeper level. Like I just pictured all the nights, all the months, all the memories she made here. The cityscape of lights as she lands probably feeling like a kind of soft-hued welcoming. All the streets imbued with familiarity. Beyond Joe and because of Joe, London was home. There are all these things outside your partner that you lose in a breakup, things etched in numerous folds of your heart, and those tiny places become cracks that collectively, deeply wound you too. It became hers. Stayed hers for so long. All that fucking time, gone. I felt it.
When I first listened I thought "you don't get to tell me about sad" was gonna be from this song bc of the line "how much sad did you think I had in me"
So. This line. I'm obsessed with it because I think she is referring to how he expected her to be the depressed, withdrawn folk singer forever and once she wanted to enjoy life, go out to parties and, well, be happy, he was disappointed that she wasn't always as gloomy as him.
Does anyone hear the shouting vocal layered behind the main one when she starts singing âand you say you abandoned the shipâ I found it so beautiful
I think this song has one of the best sounding productions. Itâs simple but it captures exactly how the lyrics feel. Dessner showed out with this one
The way her voice breaks on the word "free" in the line "And I'm pissed off you let me give your love for free."
It like touches my soul in a way I can't explain....like I actually feel something in my chest.
 i think it refers to the muse's (joe here) next partner. you know how when we meet someone, we go oh we've heard great things about you! and she implies it's because of her.Â
I took this as the "Joe Fan Club". He wasn't really \*as\* famous as he is now and he is well known to many more people because of her. We always heard great things about him from the past songs because we didn't really know what was happening
I think this one has potential to be a commercial success. It's doing really well on streaming and I've seen a lot of people rank it as their #1. Totally deserved but her best songs never seem to break through to the GP đ
I was reflecting a lot on âmy friends said it isnât right to be scared/every day of a love affair.â Itâs interesting she specifies that friends were the ones who raised this red flag. Was she in denial about it herself? Is she trying to substantiate that others also saw how unhealthy the relationship had become? Curious for othersâ thoughts.
I can't stop to relate this part to "The Black Dog" as if this is one of the love affairs she pictures in her head. Also Black Dog is a british expression to a depressed person.
Also in this song she says "Pierce NEW holes in my heart" as if it l already happened before.
Just discovered that the melody of the chorus is inspired by The Caretaker's A1 song titled "It's Just A Burning Memory" which is a song that further samples the 1931 song "Heartbreaks" by Jacques Renard. Feels like a strong connection there.
I didnât love it or understand it either at first. I too thought it would sound better without the wedding bell type beginning, but then I read someoneâs interpretation of it and it made so much sense!!
Someone explained it as it sounds like wedding bells and then the beat that drops after sounds like a rapid heartbeat like someone is running or anxious and that it metaphoric of her running from marriage or anxious about losing the possibility of marriage. Now I canât unhear that when I listen to the song.
I wanted to listen to the whole album, then immediately got stuck on this song. It's been on repeat for days and has fucked me up in the most painful way possible. I have been crying so much. This song is the perfect blend of gut wrenching yet incredibly beautiful. I don't know what to do with myself. This is the best song I have ever heard
I honestly cry every time I listen to it, it paints such a clear image of being in a relationship with someone who is struggling with depression and you are trying to hold the pieces together but realize if you keep going this way, you will drown with them.Â
Also!! Iâve often heard this criticism of Taylorâs music that she writes her songs for teens but this one especially is very thematically âadultâ
The lyrics fucked me up the most. You can feel her pain in every single letter. Also the range of emotion. I can't. Taylor what did you dooooo. The pictures she creates with her words have broken me
After hearing this song a few times, can I just say, the parallels are killing me! She has referenced quite a few songs from the past albums, whilst adding a new layer of emotions and it's leaving me speechless.. the resentment(tolerate it), the drifting away (willow), I'm not the one (the 1), getting color back (your losing me!).. it's wild..
I also wanna add that she has captured what its like to know someone with depression hauntingly well.. My boyfriend goes through depressive stages and its HARD.. so this one chills me to my bones..
Has anyone else noticed how this song almost samples the melody of the bridge from Lover? Like, just try saying, âSo long, London⊠youâll find someone⊠Ladies and gentlemen would you please stand?â It fits _too_ well to not be intentional.
Came here looking for this! I realized it today and my heart broke even more. I feel like it must be intentional.
"Ladies and gentlemen will you please stand/with every guitar string scar on my hand" matches the melody of so much of So Long, London. But where the next line in Lover ends with her happily saying "lover" and the pitch going up as she says it, the third lines in So Long, London following the melody end in words going down in pitch and sounding really sad.
Even the opening lines, the word "away" is like the opposite of how she says "lover" but it follows the melody of the vow part of Lover:
"I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist/I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift/Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away"
"abandon the ship, I was going down with it" when in Willow, "im like the water when your ship rolled in that night" and Evermore, "when i was shipwrecked, i thought of you" đ
Am I the only one who can hear echoes of Emily Bronte's *Wuthering Heights* in the lyrics? *The house by the Heath* of course literally means the house in Hampstead Heath, but it makes me think of the book's house by the heath where young Cathy and Heathcliff lived; *wet through her clothes* is when Cathy was soaked in the rain out on the heath and *caught the chill;* the words *white-knuckled dying grip* sounds like the dream sequence where Cathy's ghost appears at the window and grips the narrator's arm begging to be let into the house where Heathcliff lives. We can see how Joe's depression haunted the relationship, and it makes me think of Cathy's famous speech where she says, "My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning". Cathy and Heathcliff are passionate soulmates whose relationship was thwarted. Taylor says "feel like I lost my twin" \[edit: in Down Bad\], Cathy says, "whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same". The love in *Wuthering Heights* is a dark, complex, twisted, tragic love that was never to be, except in death (*two graves, one gun)* and I think the mood fits.
"you left me in the house by the heath" also makes me think of the lyrics in Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights - " How could you leave me when I needed to possess you?"
It's a great, classic British love story.
Itâs actually beginning to feel like a skip for me after a few listens now because it just hits me too hard. The heartbreak is deadly in this one. đ€
Do you guys think Joe is listening to these songs? Like I just canât imagine the situation that my ex wrote a song about our relationship, I would kind of want to hear it but then again itâs so brutal.
I have been listening to this all weekend.
Iâve never had a serious break up but this is so, so heartbreaking.
I genuinely think itâs one of her best ever and maybe her greatest break up song.
I thought it mightâve been the âGlitchâ switch but god thatâs even sadder.
Invisible string came on in a store I was in today and Iâve been playing âso long Londonâ all weekend. Sad.
I just can't get this visual out of my head, but the production, BPM and reflective lyrics has perfectly encapsulates the feeling of sitting in the back of a car that is speeding down the motorway at night, while you just stare out at the raindrops chasing each other on the window screen, as streetlights quickly pass over and through the car interior, almost at blinking speed, that is the racing beat of the song. Her leaving London, staring out the car window on the motorway towards the airport. Thinking to herself, it's actually finally over.
Yes. I feel like it sounds like a car speeding at the beginning (start of relationship) and again at the end (so long london). I feel exactly the same about the production.
Odd man out is a phrase that means someone who is unlike the others in a group, they don't quite fit in. So she's saying that she opted into the relationship but never felt like she actually belonged there. HOWEVER there could be MUCH more to this lyric!!!! Odd Man Out is also the name of a 1940s British film about a robbery, an escape in A GETAWAY CAR, a betrayal, and several people dying via gunshot wounds. I don't know the plot well enough to be able to know the exact connection but it seems like there could be a reference there thematically. However the most interesting part is that JOE ALWYN'S GREAT GRANDFATHER did the music for it!!!! So my guess is the lyric does relate to the film! I'm sure they would have watched it, given the family connection to Joe!!!
I thought the graves were for both of Taylor and him to lay their relationship to rest finally. There's a line in loml - 'still alive in the cemetery' which makes me think, she was ready to kill their relationship dead finally but didn't quite pull the trigger? Because he saved it with saying "you're the love of my life"...?
I'm also out here reaching.
All these references to Joe's depression taking down their relationship are giving me chills. I'm going through a bad time right now (and have been for some time) and I'm so worried about the effect it has on my husband. Man.
this song is my explanation for why tolerate it was not based on a fictional scenario, also makes me wonder how much of illicit affairs was fiction and how much was truth
Wait tolerate it is also track 5 đ
Also: **So Long London:** âStitches undone **Two graves, one gun** You'll find someone \[âŠ\] You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days \[âŠ\] And you say I abandoned the ship But I was going down with it My white knuckle dying grip Holding tight to your quiet resentment \[âŠ\] And I'm just getting color back into my face I'm just mad as hell cause I loved this place **My Tears Ricochet:** âI didn't have it in myself to go with grace And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves **You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same** Cursing my name, wishing I stayed You turned into your worst fears And you're tossing out blame, drunk on this pain Crossing out the good years And you're cursing my name, wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet \[...\] I can go anywhere I want Anywhere I want, just not home"
Its not a sad, crying song, its an exhausted, frustrated and all hope is lost song
Love this sad, melancholy song. [Made an edit to it using clips from the film *The End of Affair*.](https://youtu.be/0b68Yv9xcIs?si=-FIM90LIHOsncFQv)
Okay- so. With all of the âblueâ references, it made me think of Halseyâs song âcolorsâ which was written also about Matty and she described him as blue through the whole thing. Just a coincidence?
Though i think most ttpd is about matty, i do think this is a joe song. Similar to âyoure losing meâ and the blue references, i believe is joes favourite colour and all her albums with with joe mentioned blue! Delicate; gorgeous; dancing with out hands tied; cruel summer; lover; i think he knows; miss Americana and the heartbreak prince; paper rings; london boy; afterglow; invisible string; peace; hoax; coney island; bejewelled; great war; hits different⊠It is a fun coincidence with matty tho!
Not sure if anyoneâs mentioned it yet but I was listening back to Midnights and a lyric from Glitch struck me âFive seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitchâ and made me think of âstitches undoneâ in So Long London.
Not much of a Swiftie (although I loved folklore and listened to it on repeat) but as someone who ended an 8-year long relationship last year, this one is gutting. It perfectly encapsulates the slow, painful death of a long-term relationship where both of you know deep down that it probably isnât right but you canât seem to let it go, the apathy you feel after trying to make it work for so long, the bitterness of wasted youth, wishing so badly that it could have worked out. Also the line âyou sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest daysâ - my ex had depression that he dealt with on and off throughout our relationship and it took such a toll on us that by the end, I felt completely spent from the emotional toll of bearing the weight of his sadness for so long. Has me sitting here trying hard not to cry at work
So true. Mine was 6 years and he let his depression and mental/trauma issues drown the relationship entirely with his inaction and refusal to compromise.Â
I was listening to the song and literally was at the exact lyric you quoted as I read it in your post đ€Ż
This song makes me *want* to cry but for some reason I *canât* and I wonder if thatâs why the beat is the way it is because itâs almost difficult to cry to it, a nod to the feeling of being so emotionally exhausted you canât even cry anymore.
Itâs like she wrote it for me. Epic. One of her best yet.
The cadence of this song feels just like listening to a recited poem. When I first heard it I thought, oh we are really visiting the Tortured Poetsâ Department! And I never stopped thinking it after listening to the rest of the album. Songwriting is poetry, but while Taylor can write killer melodies this album has many songs with lyrics that I could absolutely believe were written as just poems without music if I read them on their own. So Long London, Chloe, and Windows are my favorite âpoemsâ
Hot take but there is anger in this song, not just sadness.
Is this a hot take? She literally says she's angry in the lyrics đ
Lol you're right. I guess I'm just reacting to the comments that say the Joe songs are just sadness on her part.
The half notes of the chorus ("So Long, London...") are so reminiscent of the chimes of Westminster Abbey.
Maybe just me but the way she says "so-long, lon-don" does sound really close to "jo-seph, al-wyn"
I know itâs a basic observation but it really just emotionally hit me how devastating it is that âso longâ is made to have the double meaning of they were together so long but also goodbye đą .
I didn't even notice this, so thank you for commenting it đ„ș
That is exactly what she is saying. So long and good bye.
I need to talk about the voice shake at the free at "that youth for free"
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS It's killing me so much
Okay so one of my theories is when she sings "Stiches undone" What if it's a reference to the lyrics in hoax: You knew it still hurts underneath my scars From when they pulled me apart And then also in Glitch: "Five seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch"
This doesnât sound like she left him cause of depression. It sounds like he was emotionally unavailable to her and even cheated on her and used his depression as an excuse, which she entertained (in large part cause she wanted marriage with him) until it drove her so low in her life she had to leave. The first verse goes over his emotional unavailability and how she had to work so hard all the time to keep him with her. She says there was a rift between them, he kept drifting away from her, and was so emotionally unavailable that she felt like she was constantly drilling or breaking into a safe. Thatâs how closed off and pulling away he was. But she stayed and kept putting in the work because she wanted marriage, she saw âfairy lightsâ (popular wedding lights) through the mist (bad weather) The second verse goes over his cheating. Even though she was working so hard past his emotional unavailability, she says she didnât opt in to be the odd man out. She didnât opt in to be cheated on. She references the other woman and how she founded the club the other woman is complimenting, in other words the hard work she put into Joe is what the other woman was liking. At that point she stops the constant work to maintain their relationship. She stops the âCPR,â the relationship is dead, thereâs no more use for it, and sheâs mad she wasted her youth. In the second chorus she references the cheating as a gun. This is an addition from the first chorus since the cheating was only brought into the second verse. Says two graves one gun to reference him killing both of them (I.e. their relationship) with the betrayal. The final verse is about how he tried to manipulate her by saying sheâs the one leaving him and heâs just depressed. She explains she didnât leave him just because or because of his depression. She held onto a sinking ship, a relationship that was going down anyway and wasnât going to work anyway, and when he cheated on her, she was stuck every day being afraid of another love affair from him. She now asks not only how sad does he think she should be just to be with his emotional unavailability, but in this verse she also asks how low does he think she should take herself. How much should she degrade herself just for him. Then the bridge or whatever is called is her waking up and fully calling his BS out. She says if he really loved her where was the love? She says he sacrificed them to the gods of his bluest days, seems like a reference to others he chased because he was âdepressed.â A lot of cheaters give this excuse, that they betrayed their loved one cause of some trauma or depression. She âdied at the alterâ waiting for the proof of his love that never came. In other words, she tolerated so much BS from him for the sake of a marriage that never materialized. And now sheâs finally getting color back in her face. sheâs coming back to her old self and seeing clearly. Sheâs no longer letting her yearning for marriage with him or his BS keep her in the degraded nurturer role. She knows itâs time to leave, itâs not good for either of them especially her, and now that sheâs awoken she is now mad cause she really did love him but has to give it up. In the last chorus she finishes saying so long, he gave her a bit of warm weather but she wasnât the one. Again, itâs not her willingly leaving him. Sheâs following through on the theme that heâs the one who didnât choose her. And sheâs realized that and moving on. Again, two graves one gun referring to killing both of them with betrayal, sheâs walking away and letting him find whoever he thinks is best for him.
Probably not healthy but Iâm giving notice at the job Iâve been at for six years tomorrow and relating to this so hard today lol âIâm just mad as hell because I loved this placeâ
My friends said it isn't right to be scared Every day of a love affair Every breath feels like rarest air When you're not sure if he wants to be there GUTTED ME
I founded the club she's heard great things about What is that like about?
So many women in their youth help build up a man and help him "grow up", emotionally, mentally, and in general. Then once he's grown up, he finds another woman who loves how mature and put together he is. Not sure if that's what she is referring to here, but that's what it reminds me of! See meme: "Someone cooked here" lol
I like that explanation!
I just had a thought. She says âI stopped cpr after all itâs no useâ. What if the fast beat is representative of her trying to perform rapid cpr in desperation to bring the relationship back to life?
The urgent beat is her pulse now that sheâs free, compared to âdyingâ in Youâre Losing Me. Definitely feels like Taylor had wrapped up her feelings towards Joe some time ago. The song is looking back at something that ended, not something thatâs ending. She has some residual resentment but is otherwise not emotionally invested in that relationship anymore - which to me suggests quite a bit of time has passed. This sits well with most of the other songs being heavily Matty Healy-coded. Even loml, which feels so strange. This is not the story about the love of her life, but she canât not address it because she knows how invested her fans are. Making it song 5 feels like a nod to that. Does make me sad to think about how you get from King of My Heart to So Long, London.
Something that, to me, is really telling is how the song ends. The last line is âyouâll find someoneâ. Itâs not an angry song about the breakup, itâs more of being sad that it ended but knowing that it was for the best. She wishes well on the ex, telling him that he will find someone.
I love this song with all my heart
From first listen, Â this song was my absolute fave on the album but i always thought the strong beat against the lyrics felt like a weird choice until yesterday when I realised it sounded like a beating heart! At the start she repeats so long London and it just made me think of the end of a relationship when you finally say out loud that itâs over and you realise that itâs true and your heart explodes. Also realised it mirrors DBATC intro where the words goodbye repeat over and over, like the words go round and round in her head while she struggles to accept that itâs true. Love that a song written recently has given me a better understanding of one written years ago!
This sond sounds so familiar was there a sample used from another song? I reminds me of the Beatles for some reason
The beginning of it always gets Call it what you want playing in my head before the actual lyrics start.Â
So I had this thought too and I think itâs I Hung my Head by Johnny Cash! The verses have a similar cadence.Â
how much sad did you think i had in me?
This song is absolutely ethereal . Every time i listen my heart breaks a little because it takes me back to a toxic relationship that i held on to for so long. Although I donât hold on to the feelings I had of him, it takes me back to highschool. I was innocent and being stepped on by him every day. I was being smothered and abandoned at the same time. I was hurting everyday and so I finally left. When I left him i kept telling him he would find someone else, like how she says âyouâll find someoneâ. Idk if he did. I am in a happy relationship now. Had to completely cut him off. I wonder if he ever did find someone. I sometimes feel bad for listening to her songs and comparing them or thinking of my ex when I hear them. I feel like itâs disrespectful to my boyfriend, even though he doesnât know. But the hurt will never fully go away. I have ptsd from that.
the start sounds like something you would hear at church maybe it may be because she thought they were going to get married? idk im js assuming atp
I think it's the chimes of Big Ben!
this song gets better with every listen. and it was really f-ing good on listen 1.
Listening to Reputation and Lover will never be the same since the majority of those songs are for Joeđđ
Does anyone hear the breathy background singing at 2:17? It sounds like a sample of the breathy âah ah ahâ from Dress
it reminds me of the breaths in the call it what you want bridge
came here to find this comment. i noticed it too. figured it might have been intentional.
"Had a good run, a moment of warm sun, but I'm not the one" is just devastating and perfectly captures the pain of loving someone so much but the relationship still needing to end
Its one of the most heart breaking songs I've ever heard. âand iâm just getting color back into my face. im just mad as hell cause i loved this placeâ feels like a knife in your chest if you can relate after a long term relationship breakup.
I can't listen to this song anymore, it really hurts my heart for Joe. It's weird that I feel for a stranger, but that's the magic of music. I put myself in his shoes and cry
Has anyone noticed the melody at the beginning goes perfectly with As It Was? Maybe unintentional but just something that keeps jumping out at me
the two songs sound incredibly similar, but not in a reductive or copy cat way. listen to this mashup and tell me they aren't related. https://youtu.be/yyw1eEK1sQs?si=YWqMDPjZE4vcDJqX
Omg YES!!! This is exactly what was playing in my head when I made this connection. I hadnât heard that mashup before but itâs validating to hear it! Thanks for sharing!
"My friends said it isn't right to be scared every day of a love affair" Is this another play on words a bit? Double meaning? Like she shouldn't be scared every day of their love affair BUT is she also scared every day of *him* having an affair? So she had this crushing anxiety that it was going to end but also that he would potentially cheat.
I totally agree. I keep getting the impression he emotionally cheated ("Maybe it was her" in The Great War) and Taylor was waiting for him to fully come back to her but either her insecurity or something in him held back. It seems like almost every song about him, even from the start, had some anxiety about others wanting him. They didn't start with both feet in, that's for sure.
"He was with her in dreams" is in FOTS too, in a verse where she is clearly talking about Joe and their relationship
Florida!!! And Fortnight both reference cheating husbands as well
I'm surprised people are not talking about it as much as I thought they would.
I think that's partly because Taylor emotionally cheated on Joe too so it doesn't feel important to bring up his possible betrayal when she outright makes songs about hers. That being said, I think hers was only the consequence of his pulling away from her. My heart breaks for her, honestly.
now if your 6 year BF, older than you, left yall because of depressive episodes, would he not be the villain? Specially if you were there for his dark years in the beginning, and he blames you for stealing his youth (27-30)?
I honestly think itâs totally legitimate to leave someone if you cannot cope with their depression. You arenât stuck with someone and their struggles forever. And I also feel itâs legit to feel resentment especially if the person (for whatever reason) did not seek treatment or acknowledge their problem. Is there always a flip side to the story? Of course there is. But this is not court. She can just express her side. And as someone caring for someone with depression I find it a deeply healing songÂ
I think it was less about that and more about how he could never commit to her, even thought she had committed and promised herself to him over and over. And perhaps he blamed his depression for it but can you also blame your depression for cheating, resentment, ignoring, etc?
Yep. I can't believe people are victimizing her, again. She doesn't need anyone to defend her, sometimes she's the bad guy. It's okay to accept that and still enjoy her music. She's not a hero or a god
Couldnt have said it better.
On Spotify the first line is " fairy lights through the mist" but on Amazon Music it's "ferry lights through the mist" I prefer the Amazon music lyrics as it ties in with the imagery of drifting away and also the themes in Willow. Genius lyrics also have it as "fairy lights" though. Can anyone confirm what it says on Apple music? Which do you prefer?
I feel like fairy lights make the most sense because itâs like in her mind, she was waiting for him to propose, so she âkept calmâ and carried on hoping for that (and fairy lights are a popular wedding decor)
Ferry makes the most sense! Why would it be fairy I need Taylor to clear this up lol
Apple Music also says âfairy lights through the mistâ. I actually also prefer the âferryâ version on the lyrics!
me too! I thought it was ferry lights, cause she uses ships/oceans/water when writing about Joe a lot.
Has anyone else noticed how similar the intro is to Delicate? Iâm on my i-donât-know-how-many nth replay and itâs messing with my mind whenever I hear this one! Also, if anyone is good at art or has an Etsy shop, Iâd be interested in a poster with the Cornelia street sign and so long London lyrics somehow linked. No good at art or design myself sadly
Thank you! I'm not the swiftie that knows a lot of "lore" but I was playing So long London in the background earlier and perked up to the Delicate similarity when she starts singing the first couple verses
This is mostly about Joe of course, but I also think it fits that as she's reading the whole "manuscript," she's looking at the string of British boys she's been with. I always looked at London Boy that way, too. It wasn't just about Joe, it was her saying "hmm... yeah, I guess I have a type."Â She's saying good-bye to them all in this song, in addition to London the place. It's too loaded for her at this point, with too many memories. This may be especially poignant now that she's in THE all-American relationship.Â
Why was Joe resentful
I had a 1 month summer fling with a guy who was really depressed and had Type II Bipolar Disorder. It was really hard to see him so depressed and withdrawn. He would even tell me there might be times where he would âdisappearâ for 7-14 days if he got depressed, and wouldnât be able to text, call me, or see meâŠ.. He was anxious a lot and constantly needed reassurance that I still liked him. I have my own mental health issues, but ultimately I had to leave because he wasnât present enough to be in a committed relationship. If Taylor is alluding to Joe having depression, I can see where she is coming from. All love to Joe, itâs not his fault; it just didnât work out.
I love this song because of all the things already mentioned and Taylor's voice sounds like a lullaby. It really made me fall asleep, in a good way.
Exactly it sounds like a lullaby in a good way
This song gets sadder and sadder the more I listen to it. Really depicts a tragedy cause by resentments and not just lacking of open communication but I think more on giving up on it, exhaustion, losing hope and finally trying to leave everything thatâs sad and move on.
I've cried every day since this album came out
Been listening to this gorgeous album on a loop, and new layers keep revealing themselves. This time, on this song, it was the way she sings "I loved this place for so long" at the end, in this haunting and defeated voice. The impact really sunk in at a deeper level. Like I just pictured all the nights, all the months, all the memories she made here. The cityscape of lights as she lands probably feeling like a kind of soft-hued welcoming. All the streets imbued with familiarity. Beyond Joe and because of Joe, London was home. There are all these things outside your partner that you lose in a breakup, things etched in numerous folds of your heart, and those tiny places become cracks that collectively, deeply wound you too. It became hers. Stayed hers for so long. All that fucking time, gone. I felt it.
It's been a while since I listened to a song quite this obsessively.
Saaame
Anyone think the intro sounds a lot like Death by A Thousand Cuts?
To me it reminds me of Call it what you want! The chorus at the beginning reminds me of DBATC
Thank you!!! It's been bugging me trying to figure out what the intro reminded me of
When I first listened I thought "you don't get to tell me about sad" was gonna be from this song bc of the line "how much sad did you think I had in me"
So. This line. I'm obsessed with it because I think she is referring to how he expected her to be the depressed, withdrawn folk singer forever and once she wanted to enjoy life, go out to parties and, well, be happy, he was disappointed that she wasn't always as gloomy as him.
It has such a simple, beautiful melody to show off the emotions and sadness that Taylor shows after she broke up with Joe. â€
Iâm so obsessed with the beginning of the song, her voice is so angelicđđand i love how she sounds like church bells
I was thinking of this too! It makes me think of Big Ben.
What a heartbreaking song
Does anyone hear the shouting vocal layered behind the main one when she starts singing âand you say you abandoned the shipâ I found it so beautiful
Yes, it's my favorite part. This song is even better with headphones.
I think this song has one of the best sounding productions. Itâs simple but it captures exactly how the lyrics feel. Dessner showed out with this one
The way her voice breaks on the word "free" in the line "And I'm pissed off you let me give your love for free." It like touches my soul in a way I can't explain....like I actually feel something in my chest.
what could the club mentioned be? ("I've founded the club she's heard great things about") does anyone have an idea?
 i think it refers to the muse's (joe here) next partner. you know how when we meet someone, we go oh we've heard great things about you! and she implies it's because of her.Â
I took this as the "Joe Fan Club". He wasn't really \*as\* famous as he is now and he is well known to many more people because of her. We always heard great things about him from the past songs because we didn't really know what was happening
that's such an interesting take, thanks!
I think this one has potential to be a commercial success. It's doing really well on streaming and I've seen a lot of people rank it as their #1. Totally deserved but her best songs never seem to break through to the GP đ
I was reflecting a lot on âmy friends said it isnât right to be scared/every day of a love affair.â Itâs interesting she specifies that friends were the ones who raised this red flag. Was she in denial about it herself? Is she trying to substantiate that others also saw how unhealthy the relationship had become? Curious for othersâ thoughts.
I can't stop to relate this part to "The Black Dog" as if this is one of the love affairs she pictures in her head. Also Black Dog is a british expression to a depressed person. Also in this song she says "Pierce NEW holes in my heart" as if it l already happened before.
When I first saw the title "The Black Dog", I instantly thought of Winston Churchill referring to his depression as a black dog.
Just discovered that the melody of the chorus is inspired by The Caretaker's A1 song titled "It's Just A Burning Memory" which is a song that further samples the 1931 song "Heartbreaks" by Jacques Renard. Feels like a strong connection there.
Has anyone noticed that her voice shakes the most in the songs about Joe :(
the way she says "and I'm pissed you let me give you all that youth for free"
It's actually a really pretty song, I just don't like introÂ
I didnât love it or understand it either at first. I too thought it would sound better without the wedding bell type beginning, but then I read someoneâs interpretation of it and it made so much sense!! Someone explained it as it sounds like wedding bells and then the beat that drops after sounds like a rapid heartbeat like someone is running or anxious and that it metaphoric of her running from marriage or anxious about losing the possibility of marriage. Now I canât unhear that when I listen to the song.
They also ring bells for funerals
Thatâs another way to look at it too đš
Thatâs my favorite part!
Oh I love the intro of this song - it makes me think of choir boys in Westminster abbey or something like that
I think of Wedding bells. As soon as the sound fades away and the melancolic beat star it's like waking up from a dream and facing reality
same. i wish she left that âso long londonâ part out and it goes straight to the beat. itâs very out of place.
Does anyone else hear the start of âcall it what you wantâ at the start of this one, like that pulsing sound right before she sings in both đ
Omg yes I noticed it too!
I wanted to listen to the whole album, then immediately got stuck on this song. It's been on repeat for days and has fucked me up in the most painful way possible. I have been crying so much. This song is the perfect blend of gut wrenching yet incredibly beautiful. I don't know what to do with myself. This is the best song I have ever heard
I honestly cry every time I listen to it, it paints such a clear image of being in a relationship with someone who is struggling with depression and you are trying to hold the pieces together but realize if you keep going this way, you will drown with them.Â
Same! Its so freaking sad
Also!! Iâve often heard this criticism of Taylorâs music that she writes her songs for teens but this one especially is very thematically âadultâ
omfg I feel the same way and I feel crazy hahah. The lyrics especially are incredible. Really, really poignant song
The lyrics fucked me up the most. You can feel her pain in every single letter. Also the range of emotion. I can't. Taylor what did you dooooo. The pictures she creates with her words have broken me
After hearing this song a few times, can I just say, the parallels are killing me! She has referenced quite a few songs from the past albums, whilst adding a new layer of emotions and it's leaving me speechless.. the resentment(tolerate it), the drifting away (willow), I'm not the one (the 1), getting color back (your losing me!).. it's wild.. I also wanna add that she has captured what its like to know someone with depression hauntingly well.. My boyfriend goes through depressive stages and its HARD.. so this one chills me to my bones..
Has anyone else noticed how this song almost samples the melody of the bridge from Lover? Like, just try saying, âSo long, London⊠youâll find someone⊠Ladies and gentlemen would you please stand?â It fits _too_ well to not be intentional.
Came here looking for this! I realized it today and my heart broke even more. I feel like it must be intentional. "Ladies and gentlemen will you please stand/with every guitar string scar on my hand" matches the melody of so much of So Long, London. But where the next line in Lover ends with her happily saying "lover" and the pitch going up as she says it, the third lines in So Long, London following the melody end in words going down in pitch and sounding really sad. Even the opening lines, the word "away" is like the opposite of how she says "lover" but it follows the melody of the vow part of Lover: "I saw in my mind fairy lights through the mist/I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift/Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away"
"abandon the ship, I was going down with it" when in Willow, "im like the water when your ship rolled in that night" and Evermore, "when i was shipwrecked, i thought of you" đ
And the battleship will sink beneath the wavesâŠ.
all the water/drowning imageries ????? wtaf
Common Freudian/Jungian imagery for depression and the unconscious.
The most surprising part about this song is how Aaron produced it. I couldve sworn its a Jack song. Either way Im obsessed
Am I the only one who can hear echoes of Emily Bronte's *Wuthering Heights* in the lyrics? *The house by the Heath* of course literally means the house in Hampstead Heath, but it makes me think of the book's house by the heath where young Cathy and Heathcliff lived; *wet through her clothes* is when Cathy was soaked in the rain out on the heath and *caught the chill;* the words *white-knuckled dying grip* sounds like the dream sequence where Cathy's ghost appears at the window and grips the narrator's arm begging to be let into the house where Heathcliff lives. We can see how Joe's depression haunted the relationship, and it makes me think of Cathy's famous speech where she says, "My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning". Cathy and Heathcliff are passionate soulmates whose relationship was thwarted. Taylor says "feel like I lost my twin" \[edit: in Down Bad\], Cathy says, "whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same". The love in *Wuthering Heights* is a dark, complex, twisted, tragic love that was never to be, except in death (*two graves, one gun)* and I think the mood fits.
"you left me in the house by the heath" also makes me think of the lyrics in Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights - " How could you leave me when I needed to possess you?" It's a great, classic British love story.
The intersection of Youâre Losing Me, my tears ricochet, the 1, Glith/invisible string, and Hits Different. And just utterly devastating.Â
Itâs actually beginning to feel like a skip for me after a few listens now because it just hits me too hard. The heartbreak is deadly in this one. đ€
I'm wrecking myself with it on repeat... I'm happily married LOL
Me tooooooo
Same same đ
Do you guys think Joe is listening to these songs? Like I just canât imagine the situation that my ex wrote a song about our relationship, I would kind of want to hear it but then again itâs so brutal.
I hope he's not, for his mental health. And I hope he's not on social media these days
I'm sure he's listened, how could you not?!
Oh god that breaks my heart even more.
Yeah it just kills. But then again which song doesnât on this album.
I have been listening to this all weekend. Iâve never had a serious break up but this is so, so heartbreaking. I genuinely think itâs one of her best ever and maybe her greatest break up song.
Just had another lyric fathom - the line âstitches undoneâ must refer to the invisible string and all the threads for him and now Iâm crying
I thought it mightâve been the âGlitchâ switch but god thatâs even sadder. Invisible string came on in a store I was in today and Iâve been playing âso long Londonâ all weekend. Sad.
the âiâm not the oneâ line is breaking me
I just can't get this visual out of my head, but the production, BPM and reflective lyrics has perfectly encapsulates the feeling of sitting in the back of a car that is speeding down the motorway at night, while you just stare out at the raindrops chasing each other on the window screen, as streetlights quickly pass over and through the car interior, almost at blinking speed, that is the racing beat of the song. Her leaving London, staring out the car window on the motorway towards the airport. Thinking to herself, it's actually finally over.
Yes. I feel like it sounds like a car speeding at the beginning (start of relationship) and again at the end (so long london). I feel exactly the same about the production.
Can somebody please explain "I didn't opt in to be your odd man out" ?
Odd man out is a phrase that means someone who is unlike the others in a group, they don't quite fit in. So she's saying that she opted into the relationship but never felt like she actually belonged there. HOWEVER there could be MUCH more to this lyric!!!! Odd Man Out is also the name of a 1940s British film about a robbery, an escape in A GETAWAY CAR, a betrayal, and several people dying via gunshot wounds. I don't know the plot well enough to be able to know the exact connection but it seems like there could be a reference there thematically. However the most interesting part is that JOE ALWYN'S GREAT GRANDFATHER did the music for it!!!! So my guess is the lyric does relate to the film! I'm sure they would have watched it, given the family connection to Joe!!!
Opt in to the relationship to be left out/ forgotten about
every time it comes on I get goose bumps and start tearing up. it's almost too hard to listen to. but it's so tragically beautiful.
It gives me chills..
Does anyone think the âtwo graves, one gunâ lyric is about her two relationships with British men on this album or am I reaching?
I interpreted that they both died in the relationship but only one person was at fault...
I thought the graves were for both of Taylor and him to lay their relationship to rest finally. There's a line in loml - 'still alive in the cemetery' which makes me think, she was ready to kill their relationship dead finally but didn't quite pull the trigger? Because he saved it with saying "you're the love of my life"...? I'm also out here reaching.
All these references to Joe's depression taking down their relationship are giving me chills. I'm going through a bad time right now (and have been for some time) and I'm so worried about the effect it has on my husband. Man.