There are a lot of songs for this Swiftionary entry so I think it’ll get too long if we go over the...
Swiftionary: Cars/Driving [A. Lyrics in Each Album]
I'm trying to analyze other songs, but in order to do that we need to get a consensus of what Taylor is trying to convey with driving, cars, and other vehicle references in her work. Here is a list (best I could tell, let me know if I missed some) of the references. And I ran a few stats about the frequency and average, etc... We'll start to decipher meaning in subsequent posts.
‘Taylor Swift’(6 mentions, 5 songs)
- Mary’s Song (Oh My My My): 2 AM riding in your truck, and all I need is you next to me
- Our Song: I was riding shotgun with my hair undone in the front seat of his car
- Picture To Burn: I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive
- Teardrops On My Guitar: He’s the song in the car I keep singing, don’t know why I do
- Teardrops On My Guitar: So I drive home alone, as I turn out the light
- Tim McGraw: Just a boy in a Chevy truck that had a tendency of getting stuck on back roads at night
'Fearless’ (12 mentions, 8 songs)
- The Best Day: And we drive and drive until we’ve found a town far enough away
- The Best Day: I know I’m laughing on the car ride home with you
- Breathe: I see your face in my mind as I drive away
- Bye Bye Baby: I’m driving away and I guess you could say this is the last time I’ll drive this way again
- Fearless: There’s a glow off the pavement, you walk me to the car
- Fearless: I wanna stay right here in this passenger’s seat, you put your eyes on me
- Fearless: We’re driving down the road, I wonder if you know
- Fearless: So, baby, drive slow, 'til we run out of road
- Fifteen: And then you’re on your very fist date and he’s got a car
- The Other Side Of The Door: You carry me from your car up the stairs
- The Way I Loved You: He opens up my door and I get into his car
- You Belong With Me: Oh, I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night
'Speak Now ’ (4 mentions, 3 songs)
- Electric Touch: Just an hour ‘til your car’s in the driveway
- Electric Touch: It’s 8:05 and I see two headlights
- Never Grow Up: You’re in the car on the way to the movies and you’re mortified your mom is dropping you off
- Superman: He puts papers in his briefcase and drives away
'Red’ (17 mentions, 9 songs)
- All Too Well: We’re singing in the car, getting lost upstate
- All Too Well (10 Minute Version): And you were tossing me the car keys
- All Too Well (10 Minute Version): And I was thinking on the drive down, anytime now he’s gonna say it’s love
- The Lucky One: Now it’s big black cars and Riviera views
- Begin Again: And we walked down the block to my car and I almost brought him up
- Come Back… Be Here: Taxi cabs and busy streets that never bring you back to me
- Girl At Home: Call a cab, lose my number
- Red: Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street
- Ronan: Race cars on the kitchen floor, plastic dinosaurs
- Ronan: I remember the drive home, when the blind hope turned to crying and screaming, “Why?”
- Run: Give me the keys, I’ll bring the car back around
- Run: And my so-called friends, they don’t know I’d drive away before I let you go
- Treacherous: Two headlights shine through the sleepless night and I will get you, I’ll get you alone
- Treacherous: That nothing safe is worth the drive and I would follow you, follow you home
- The Very First Night: They weren’t riding in the car when we both fell
- The Very First Night: I was riding in the car when we both fell
- The Very First Night: I drive down different roads but they all lead back to you
'1989’ (9 mentions, 6 songs)
- All You Had To Do Was Stay: All I know is that you drove us off the road
- I Wish You Would: It’s 2 AM in your car, windows down, you pass my street, the memories start
- I Wish You Would: It’s 2 AM in my room, headlights pass the window pane, I think of you
- I Wish You Would: You say it’s in the past, you drive straight ahead
- Say Don’t Go: I’m standing on the sidewalk alone, I wait for you to drive by
- Style: Midnight, you come and pick me up, no headlights
- Style: Long drive, could end in burning flames or paradise
- Wildest Dreams: He said, “Let’s get out of this town, drive out of the city, away from the crowds”
- You Are In Love: Small talk, he drives, coffee at midnight
'reputation’ (8 mentions, 3 songs)
- Getaway Car: No, nothing good starts in a getaway car
- Getaway Car: You were driving the getaway car, we were flying but we’d never get far
- Getaway Car: We’re riding in a getaway car, there were sirens in the beat of your heart
- Getaway Car: Think about the place where you first met me, in a getaway car
- Getaway Car: I’m in a getaway car, I left you in the motel bar
- Getaway Car: I was riding in a getaway car, I was crying in a getaway car, I was dying in a getaway car, said goodbye in a getaway car
- King Of My Heart: 'Cause all the boys and their expensive cars, with their Range Rovers and their Jaguars
- New Year’s Day: You squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi
'Lover’ (7 mentions, 5 songs)
- Cornelia Street: “I rent a place on Cornelia Street,” I say casually in the car
- Cornelia Street: We were in the back seat, drunk on something stronger than the drinks in the bar
- Cruel Summer: I’m drunk in the back of the car and I cried like a baby coming home from the bar
- Cruel Summer: So cut the headlights, summer’s a knife
- I Think He Knows: We could follow the sparks, I’ll drive
- London Boy: Show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride
- Paper Rings: I want to drive away with you
'folklore’ (8 mentions, 7 songs)
- The 1: I thought I saw you at the bus stop, I didn’t, though
- August: Remember when I pulled up and said, “Get in the car”
- Betty: Standing in your cardigan, kissing in my car again
- Betty: She said, “James, get in, let’s drive”
- Cardigan: To kiss in cars and downtown bars was all we needed
- Invisible String: Bad was the blood of the song in the cab on your first trip to L.A.
- Mad Woman: What do you sing on your drive home?
- This Is Me Trying: Pulled the car off the road to the lookout
'evermore’ (6 mentions, 5 songs)
- Champagne Problems: You Midas touch on the Chevy door
- Cowboy Like Me: You’re a cowboy like me, never wanted love, just a fancy car
- Marjorie: And I complained the whole way there, the car ride back, and up the stairs
- No Body, No Crime: And I noticed when I passed his house his truck has got some brand new tires
- ‘Tis The Damn Season: I parked my car right between the Methodist and the school that used to be ours
- ‘Tis The Damn Season: Time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires
'Midnights’ (5 mentions, 3 songs)
- Hits Different: Like waiting for a bus that never shows, you just start walking on
- Hits Different: I slur your name ‘til someone puts me in a car
- Vigilante Shit: And she looks so pretty driving in your Benz, lately she’s been dressing for revenge
- Vigilante Shit: And she looks so pretty driving in your Benz
- You’re On Your Own, Kid: From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes, I called a taxi to take me there
'TTPD' (7 mention, 6 songs)
- The Bolter: But it always ends up with a Town Car speeding/Out the drive one evening/Ended with the slam of a door/Then he'll call her a whore
- But Daddy, I Love Him: Just screeching tires and true love
- But Daddy, I Love Him: I'm telling him to floor it through the fences
- Florida: And this city reeks of driving myself crazy
- Imgonnagetyouback: I'm an Aston Martin/That you steered straight into the ditch
- The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived: You crashed my party/ in your rental car
- So High School: Get my car door, isn't that sweet? (That sweet)/Then pull me to the backseat
Other Songs written by Taylor (1 mention/song)
- I Don’t Wanna Live Forever: Now I’m in a cab, I tell him where your place is
BIG THANKS TO:
From <https://taylorswiftandx.tumblr.com/post/177083553710/taylor-swift-and-cars>
Total mentions = 90
Total songs = 61
Most referenced = Red 17/9
Least referenced = Speak Now 4/3
Avg mentions per album across catalog = 90/11 = 8.1818