Taylor Swift “evermore”

Thinking about Taylor Swift, I have to admit an inexplicable fear, which is weird—it’s not so much that I’m afraid I’ll take a misstep and have the “Swifters” coming after me like the Children of the Damned—it’s more about the sheer amount of information (re: Taylor Swift) as if information has a horrible weight… which it does. I suppose this occurred to me after I photographed the cover of this album, after selecting it for scrutiny via my random system, and ever since, the photo “widget” on my phone keeps presenting me the picture as if there was a “death and taxes” inevitability to our collision course. It’s kind of chilling. Also, I’m not exactly a fan—not surprising, since I listen to very little music from the last half-century, and I wouldn’t be able to pick her songs out of a crowd. Now, I have nothing against immense popularity—after all, I like tacos, sports, sex, drugs, and cats, like a normal person. But to be honest, I wholeheartedly dislike such a high percentage of music, in general, the casual observer might assume I don’t like music at all. So, how did I end up with a vinyl version of this album? Funny story—I saw it in a used bin for $2 and snatched it up, thinking I was capitalizing on some pricing glitch, only to discover, once home, that it’s a double-record—and was somehow missing side one and two! Thus, the discount. Probably should have cost less.

The remaining disc, however, was a beautiful, translucent, dark green, and I did capture the thrill of putting a Taylor Swift record on the turntable, waiting to hear what comes forth (admittedly, a thrill I have with every odd record I buy without knowing much about it). I like the cover, no text, just a large, kind of creepy photograph of TS, back turned to us (it would be genius if it was actually a stand-in) hair braided, wearing a warm coat (reminds me of “The Cowboy” in Mulholland Drive). It asks you to consider how weird the back of people’s ears are. Or for that matter, ears in general. Or humans, in general… uh oh, better get off this hamster wheel! A little background. I don’t normally have any truck with Wikipedia pages longer than The Warren Report, but a few things immediately surprised me: she was born in Pennsylvania; is only 36 (at press time); and was named after James Taylor! (and not Charlton Heston’s character in Planet of the Apes). Enough for now. The remaining disc’s inner sleeve has complete credits for each song, in the smallest font I’ve ever seen, and also, lyrics. I must admit, I’m not a lyrics-oriented listener, generally. After all, my favorite song (from like age 12 to 14) was “Tumbling Dice,” and I still have no clue what Mick’s singing in about 95% or it. But I believe the lyrical content is important to Swift-world, and she puts them right out there with impressive verve, so I have no choice but to pay attention. My least favorite line on the record is, “I come back stronger than a 90s trend.” I don’t even know what that would be, unless puking was a 90s trend. But, come on, I want to be positive, so the approach I’m going to take is to go song by song, listen closely, and then only mention the ones I love. For the songs on the first, missing, record (if you think about it, what in the hell happened to that other disc? —weird!) I’ll try to find them on YouTube. Ha. Which will, no doubt, irreparably Swifterize my algorithm.

So. “champagne problems” is very nice—I can relate, yet I can’t—unless that first line is a double metaphor. I had “Night Train” problems, myself. “gold rush” is one of those songs that the lovely chorus takes me into its arms—but the rest of the song pushes me away—maybe that’s the point. “’tis the damn season” really does give me a wistful feeling—not SAD, but rather sad-nostalgic. “tolerate it” perfectly describes how I feel about this song—I’m emotional on one hand, but kind of repulsed by some of the word choices. “no body, no crime”—I wish more of these songs feat. Haim—it’s a good one—aka “no harmonica no chicken.” “dorothea” is a catchy, moving song—remind me to listen to that one again. Switching to the vinyl version, now, it’s notable how much better “ivy” sounds on the record than via the ’tube—maybe because of the green vinyl—but… TS, must you curse so much? “cowboy like me”—my favorite on the album — “And the tennis court was covered up with some tent-like thing” is a fantastic opening line —and I love the chorus in this song, too. “marjorie”—very nice song, kind of haunting, I’m convinced by the sadness. Though I’m only half-convinced by “evermore”—it’s about 80% much too much! And that’s all, folks! —yet, there are two “bonus tracks”—which I have (vinyl) but I don’t get (understand)—meaning, without them, would there only be two songs on Side Four? That’s nearly as bad as one of those smartass “three side” records. But no, of course the bonus tracks are here. If they weren’t, how would we know they exist? “right where you left me” is one of my favorites on the record, too, really good song. “it’s time to go” is okay, too, if a bit overdetermined—but a good closer (if you’re lucky enough to get the bonus)! Next time I make a record, the last song will be called, “This is the Last Song on this Record” —and it’ll be all about how it’s the last song on the record!

5.8.26