We went over each instance of car/drive and related word in Taylor’s catalog from Debut to...
Swiftionary: Cars/Driving & related [B. Meaning 3-Don't Belong]
There are a lot of songs for this Swiftionary entry so I think it’ll get too long if we go over the meanings all in one post as we have for the other words. I already put them into categories so we’ll do a small series within the series to keep things readable.
Doesn't belong/tourist
--> sidenote: I was looking for a better word to describe this and wouldn't you know it, a lot of the synonyms are words she's used a lot: Betrayal, cold, crook, desertion, divorce, Double-cross, faithless, forsake, traitor, etc…
- Taxi cabs and busy streets that never bring you back to me [Come Back… Be Here/Red]
- This other person is in flux and doesn't have their own ride. They're also in a city that has taxis.
- Call a cab, lose my number [Girl At Home/Red]
- Taylor doesn't even care enough to give a ride. She wants this person to find their own way home.
- In a place large enough to have cab service.
- Now I’m in a cab, I tell him where your place is [I Don’t Wanna Live Forever]
- This person is making Taylor miserable, yet she can't stay away
- She doesn't belong with this person, yet here she is
- Bad was the blood of the song in the cab on your first trip to L.A. [Invisible String/folklore]
- He was hearing one of Taylor's hit songs when he was on the way to visit her
- He's alone in the car, she didn't pick him up or accompany him
- Show me a gray sky, a rainy cab ride [London Boy/Lover]
- These are not desirable things.
- Taylor is using satire to describe dreary things about London.
- Touristy
- From sprinkler splashes to fireplace ashes, I called a taxi to take me there [You’re On Your Own, Kid/Midnights]
- Taylor couldn't depend on a ride
- She had to take the trip into her own hands and arrange for transportation
- She didn't belong in that small town
- You crashed my party/ in your rental car [The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived/TTPD]
- This person doesn't belong at the party, and isn't even from the area.
- They don't have their own ride.