Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans… Read Full Bio ↴Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her narrative songwriting, which is often inspired by her personal life, has received widespread media coverage and critical praise.

Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift relocated to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004 to pursue a career in country music. She broke into the country music scene with her eponymous self-titled debut studio album, Taylor Swift in 2006, which included the singles "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Our Song". Swift also released the holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, later titled as The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007.

Swift rose to mainstream prominence with her sophomore studio album, Fearless (2008), a country pop record with crossover appeal. Aided by the top-five singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Swift's third studio album, Speak Now (2010), blended country pop with elements of rock and featured the top-ten singles "Mine" and "Back to December".

Drawing inspiration from various pop, rock, and electronic genres, Swift's fourth studio album Red (2012) saw her transcending her country roots. She completely moved to pop with her synth-pop fifth studio album, 1989 (2014), and expanded the electropop sound on her next two studio albums, reputation (2017) and Lover (2019), which respectively embraced urban and retro styles. The four albums spawned a string of international top-five singles, including "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", "Bad Blood", "Look What You Made Me Do", "ME! (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco)", "You Need to Calm Down", and "Lover".

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Swift experimented with folk and alternative rock on her eighth and ninth studio albums, folklore and evermore (both 2020), whose lead singles "cardigan" and "willow" topped charts around the world. She also released the critically acclaimed documentaries Miss Americana and Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions that year. Swift's tenth studio album, Midnights (2022), marked her triumphant return to pop after two folk albums. The album set the record for biggest first day and first week ever on Spotify, spawned the hits Anti-Hero and Lavender Haze, and sold over 1.5 million copies in its first week becoming not only the biggest debut of the decade but also Swift's biggest debut ever. She would make history by becoming the first artist to occupy the entire top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 with tracks from Midnights. Following Midnights, Taylor Swift announced her upcoming eleventh studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department” (2024) which is set to be released on April 19, 2024. She announced this record at 66th Annual Grammy Award Show accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for her previous album, Midnights (2022) in honour of receiving her 13th Grammy.

Additionally, Swift began re-recording her back catalog in November 2020 as a result of a publicized dispute with talent manager Scooter Braun and her former label Big Machine, regarding the acquisition of the masters of her back catalog. In April 2021, Swift released a re-recorded issue of her 2008 album Fearless, titled Fearless (Taylor's Version). It debuted at number one in the US. Swift continued releasing re-recorded versions of her back catalog in November, 2021 with the release of Red (Taylor's Version), a 30 track re-issue of her 2012 critical smash. The album debuted at #1 in the US, spawned the #1 hit All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor's Version) (From the Vault), and broke the record at the time for biggest first day for a female album on Spotify. Red (Taylor's Version) was a critical and commercial hit, and proved that Swift's ambitious plan to re-record her first 6 albums was well worth it.

Along with the release of Red (Taylor's Version) came All Too Well: The Short Film (2021), Swift's filmmaking debut. The 15 minute romantic drama was based on the lyrical content from Swift's 2012 fan favorite "All Too Well" starring Sadie Sink and Dylan O'Brien. It had a limited theatrical release in major cities, and Swift held special screenings of the film throughout 2022 at various film festivals. In December, 2022 Taylor announced that she would be making her feature directorial debut with Oscar-winning studio Searchlight Pictures.

Following the release of Midnights, Swift would embark on her first tour in five years, The Eras Tour.

Swift has released several songs for film soundtracks. She co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack— "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier", and contributed two songs to the Valentine's Day soundtrack, including the single "Today Was a Fairytale", which was her first number one on the Canadian Hot 100, and peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. She also contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album: "Safe & Sound - from The Hunger Games Soundtrack", co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, and "Eyes Open". "Safe & Sound" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. In 2013, Swift recorded "Sweeter than Fiction", a song she wrote and produced with Jack Antonoff for the One Chance film soundtrack, which received a Best Original Song nomination at the 71st Golden Globe Awards. Swift and English singer Zayn Malik, mononymously known as Zayn, released a single together, "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", for the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades Darker (2017). She also recorded an original song called "Beautiful Ghosts", which she wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the Cats's soundtrack (2019). In 2020, Swift's documentary Miss Americana featured the song "Only the Young" which was written after the 2018 United States elections. In 2022, she released an original song titled "Carolina" for Where The Crawdads Sing (2022) inspired by the novel written by Delia Owens.

With sales of over 200 million records worldwide, Swift is a best-selling music artist. Her accolades include 14 Grammy Awards, including four Album of the Year wins, which makes
Swift the artist with the most awards for that category in history, two Brit Awards (including a Global Icon award), an Emmy Award, 28 [https://guinnessworldrecords.com/]Guinness World Records, 32 American Music Awards (the most wins by an artist), and 23 Billboard Music Awards (the most wins by a woman). She ranked eighth on Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists Chart (2019) and was listed on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time (2015). Swift has been included in various power rankings, such as Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world (2010, 2015 and 2019) and Forbes Celebrity 100 (placing first in 2016 and 2019). She was named Woman of the Decade (2010s) by Billboard, Artist of the Decade (2010s) by the American Music Awards, and Person of the Year (2023) by Time Magazine.

10. Mary's Song
Taylor Swift Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

She said
"I was seven, and you were nine
I looked at you like the stars that shined
In the sky, the pretty lights."
And our daddies used to joke about the two of us
Growing up and fallin' in love
And our mamas smiled, and rolled their eyes
And said, "Oh, my, my, my"

Take me back to the house in the backyard tree
Said you'd beat me up; you were bigger than me
You never did, you never did
Take me back when our world was one block wide
I dared you to kiss me, and ran when you tried
Just two kids, you and I
Oh, my, my, my, my

Well, I was sixteen when suddenly
I wasn't that little girl you used to see
But your eyes still shined, like pretty lights
And our daddies used to joke about the two of us
They never believed we'd really fall in love
And our mamas smiled, and rolled their eyes
And said, "Oh, my, my, my"

Take me back to the creek beds we turned up
Two AM, ridin' in your truck
And all I need is you next to me
Take me back to the time we had our very first fight
Slammin' of doors 'stead of kissin' goodnight
You stayed outside till the morning light
Oh, my, my, my, my

A few years had gone and come around
We were sittin' at our favorite spot in town
And you looked at me, got down on one knee

Take me back to the time when we walked down the aisle
Our whole town came, and our mamas cried
You said, "I do," and I did too
Take me home where we met so many years before
We'll rock our babies on the very front porch
After all this time, you and I

And I'll be eighty-seven, you'll be eighty-nine

I'll still look at you like the stars that shine in the sky
Oh, my, my, my

Overall Meaning

"Mary's Song" is a touching, nostalgic country ballad by Taylor Swift. The song narrates the story of a young couple, Mary and her childhood sweetheart, who grew up together and eventually fell in love. The lyrics reflect on their cherished memories, such as climbing up trees, hanging out by the creek bed, and how they came to marry each other. The song is a tribute to enduring love that blossomed from a childhood friendship.

The song highlights that the love between two people can stand the test of time, even when societal expectations and jokes seem to undermine it. The lyrics' opening lines set the tone for the song, as Mary recalls how she used to look at her partner as if he were a star in the sky. The lyrics are heart-touching because Taylor Swift has written them in such a way that they capture the audience's emotions and feelings.

The song's overall meaning is the importance of holding onto cherished memories and feelings, especially the innocent and pure ones. When Mary says, "take me back," she is asking her partner to help her recall the memories of their youth and cherish them together. In conclusion, "Mary's Song" is a beautiful love song that reminds listeners of the enduring power of love.

Line by Line Meaning

"I was seven, and you were nine
At the time, I was just a little girl and you were a little boy.

I looked at you like the stars that shined
I admired you with all my heart and you were the center of my world.

In the sky, the pretty lights."
You were my guiding light and I looked up to you with all my might.

And our daddies used to joke about the two of us
Our fathers would tease us about growing up and falling in love someday.

Growing up and fallin' in love
They thought we would mature and eventually develop feelings for each other.

And our mamas smiled, and rolled their eyes
Our mothers would laugh and think it was cute, but they didn't take it seriously.

And said, "Oh, my, my, my"
They found the whole situation amusing and endearing.

Take me back to the house in the backyard tree
I want to relive the cozy memories of our secret hideaway in the treehouse.

Said you'd beat me up; you were bigger than me
You would tease and threaten me but I knew deep down you were just being playful.

You never did, you never did
We would playfully argue and tease each other, but we never physically hurt one another.

Take me back when our world was one block wide
Our world consisted of just one small neighborhood block where we would play as kids.

I dared you to kiss me, and ran when you tried
I challenged you to kiss me but when you actually tried, I got shy and ran away.

Just two kids, you and I
We were just innocent children who had yet to experience love and all its complexities.

Well, I was sixteen when suddenly
At sixteen, I realized I was growing up and changing, and so were my feelings for you.

I wasn't that little girl you used to see
I wasn't the same naive little girl you used to know.

But your eyes still shined, like pretty lights
You still had that same sparkle in your eyes that caught my attention all those years ago.

They never believed we'd really fall in love
Our fathers doubted that our childhood fondness for each other would ever turn into true love.

Take me back to the creek beds we turned up
I want to relive the memories of the times we explored the creeks together.

Two AM, ridin' in your truck
We would take late-night drives in your truck and just talk and laugh for hours.

And all I need is you next to me
All I ever really wanted was to be by your side.

Take me back to the time we had our very first fight
I want to go back to the moment when we first fought and made up, a defining moment in our relationship.

Slammin' of doors 'stead of kissin' goodnight
Instead of expressing affection, we fought and slammed doors in frustration.

You stayed outside till the morning light
After our fight, you didn't give up on me and stayed outside until we reconciled.

A few years had gone and come around
Years had passed, and we had grown and changed during that time.

We were sittin' at our favorite spot in town
We sat together in one of our favorite spots, reminiscing on our history together.

And you looked at me, got down on one knee
You proposed to me, and it was a beautiful and romantic moment.

Take me back to the time when we walked down the aisle
I want to go back to our wedding day and relive the beautiful moment of saying our vows.

Our whole town came, and our mamas cried
Our families and townspeople gathered to celebrate our love, and there were tears of joy all around.

You said, "I do," and I did too
We both pledged our love and commitment to each other and started our life together as a married couple.

Take me home where we met so many years before
I want to go back to the place where we first met and where our love story began.

We'll rock our babies on the very front porch
We'll watch our children grow on the front porch of our home, where we will create more family memories.

After all this time, you and I
Despite everything we've been through in life, we still have each other, and our love has stood the test of time.

And I'll be eighty-seven, you'll be eighty-nine
We'll grow old and watch our lives pass by, but we'll always have each other.

I'll still look at you like the stars that shine in the sky
Even in our old age, I will still have admiration and love for you like I did when we were young.

Oh, my, my, my
Oh, how we've come full circle from our innocent childhood to becoming lifelong companions.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BRIAN MAHER, LIZ ROSE, TAYLOR SWIFT

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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