Taylor Swift’s All Too Well (10 minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)

(From The Vault) Analysis By ADELE COTTON

Written by Taylor Swift and Liz Roze, this song is the long-rumored uncut version of her 2012
track from Red (album) It comes to us by way of Red (Taylor’s Version) the second of Swift's
re-recorded albums to be released as part of her ongoing process to own the rights to all of
her old masters. Crafted to get over her heartbreak with Jake Gyllenhaal, this masterpiece
has become the singer-songwriter’s magnum opus thanks to her signature storytelling skills
while layering symbolism through her powerful lyrics. She jumps through time to reflect on
her best and worst memories with her ex, making the listener feel as though they were
there with the couple.

1/ Title
Starting off with breaking down each word of the title, All meaning “everything”, Too
meaning “and more”, and Well used to describe how one is feeling or their knowledge: “I
know it all too well”, which is a phrase used when one learns a lesson from an experience.

2/ Verse 1
“I walked through the door with you, the air was cold
But something ‘bout it felt like home somehow”

This may imply that Taylor and Jake physically walked through a door; however, there is a
symbolic significance behind it. She uses the hero’s journey archetype to represent the
adventure, the romance she would go through with this person. The cold air gives a sense of
unfamiliarity. She walked through the door like she crossed the threshold into the unknown,
however despite that, “you” made her feel warm, “like home”.

“Left my scarf there at your sister’s house

And you still got it in your drawer, even now”

The plaid scarf Taylor has been seen wearing when she was dating Jake holds an important
symbol in this track (which will be mentioned later in the song). It is Gyllenhaal’s memento
of this relationship. Leaving it in a drawer would signify that while he may think back to their
romance fondly, it was no longer a big part of his life. Throughout, Swift is reminiscing on
very specific instances of their relationship, insisting on details such as the drawer.

“Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze

We’re singing in the car, getting lost upstate”

She uses alliteration (more specifically, sibilance): “sweet disposition”. The “s” has a
whispering quality, creating a sense of closeness. Later on, Present-Taylor, as she is
seemingly reflecting on the past, describes her old self as “wide-eyed”, giving a sense of
naivety, innocence: she does not know what she is getting herself into.
 Their “singing” lets us know how comfortable they were with each other, and it is also a
symbol of freedom. Again, Taylor uses literal “events” to layer them with figurative
meanings. “Getting lost”, another symbol of freedom, could imply that they were lost in
each other, in the moment, in reality and fantasy, not worrying about anything.

“Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place

And I can picture it after all these days”

Seasons have always been symbolic in literature: ephemera (short time). Fall is vibrant,
colorful and magical but also, it [symbolizes] an upcoming end, as winter is right after. The
vibrancy turns into harsh cold. In this track, fall (or seasons) is almost used like dramatic
irony as the audience and present-Taylor are aware that it will end but the naive “wide-
eyed” girl did not. She again uses alliteration: “pieces into place", like pieces of a puzzle,
which pronounces on the perfection of the moment in her eyes.

3/ Pre-Chorus 1
“And I know it’s long gone and
That magic’s not here no more
And I might be okay but I’m not fine at all”

The “magic” is gone. Fall is over. Winter has come.

She plays with words, using “okay” and “fine” (considered synonymous) in a contradiction.
She is physically healthy (=okay) but “fine” is a much more nuanced word. She is not fine.

4/ Chorus 1
“'Causе there we arе again on that little town street
You almost ran the red 'cause you were lookin' over at me
Wind in my hair, I was there
I remember it all too well”

This chorus encapsules, using imagery, the sense of freedom she felt due to their
intoxicating love. The audience can feel the wind, they can picture this “scene” in the car
with Jake and Taylor. She states the obvious, “I was there” because she feels as though it
was surreal, mixing reality and fantasy.

5/ Verse 2
“Photo album on the counter, your cheeks were turning red
You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-sized bed
And your mother's telling stories 'bout you on the tee-ball team
You taught me 'bout your past, thinking your future was me”

The word “red” is recurring throughout this album Red for obvious reasons. It symbolizes
love, anger and passion. Taylor uses more imagery to paint a picture for the audience,
revealing specific details she remembers. The songwriter then uses antithesis with the
 words “past” and “future”, playing on words to let us know how unexpected the breakup
was.

“And you were tossing me the car keys, "f*ck the patriarchy"
Key chain on the ground, we were always skipping town”

Here, again she uses literal events and layers them with deeper meaning. The keys could be
interpreted in multiple ways: “tossing” them to her could mean giving her control and them
ending up “on the ground” could suggest that she did not expect to have to carry so much of
the relationship herself. It could also suggest that he dropped his façade and revealed who
he truly was to Taylor after putting up this “pretense” as the feminist guy.

“And I was thinking on the drive down, any time now

He's gonna say it's love, you never called it what it was”

This lets us know that Gyllenhaal did not admit the depth of his feelings and that perhaps
Taylor had stronger feelings for him than he had for her.

“'Til we were dead and gone and buried

Check the pulse and come back swearing it's the same
After three months in the grave
And then you wondered where it went to as I reached for you
But all I felt was shame and you held my lifeless frame”

Taylor uses here a metaphor, death, for the end of their relationship in order to embody it.
This intensifies the breakup. She reifies herself as a “lifeless frame”. This suggests how
hollow she felt. She changes the connotation of “frame”, which is supposed to be familiar
(e.g. containing a picture, etc.) into something negative,“lifeless”.

6/ Pre-Chorus 2
“And I know it's long gone and
There was nothing else I could do
And I forget about you long enough
To forget why I needed to”

7/ Chorus 2
“'Cause there we are again in the middle of the night
We're dancing 'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light
Down the stairs, I was there
I remember it all too well”
The singer uses more imagery: the audience can see the refrigerator light; they can hear it.
There is also more symbolism as dancing is liberating. Just like in the first chorus, it lets us
know how close and comfortable they were with each other.

“And there we are again when nobody had to know

You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath
Sacred prayer and we'd swear
To remember it all too well, yeah”

Swift uses “religious” diction: “oath”, “sacred”, “prayer”.

She also marks the contrast between “secret” and “oath”, how a secret is much frailer than
an oath, which could suggest that Gyllenhaal may have taken the relationship less seriously.

8/ Bridge
“Well, maybe we got lost in translation
Maybe I asked for too much
But maybe this thing was a masterpiece
'Til you tore it all up”

Taylor uses an allusion to the 2003 movie Lost in Translation about two strangers forming a
personal yet short-lived relationship. However, “lost in translation” is also a phrase
suggesting 2 people not hearing each other, in this case. She again uses more imagery and
another metaphor, calling the relationship a “masterpiece” that Gyllenhaal “tore”. This line
has a resentful tone - she is blaming him. Additionally, there is alliteration: “tore it” which is
bluntly harsh and short sound.

“Running scared, I was there

I remember it all too well
And you call me up again just to break me like a promise
So casually cruel in the name of being honest
I'm a crumpled-up piece of paper lying here
'Cause I remember it all, all, all”

The singer uses a simile “break me like a promise”, suggesting that she felt like she was
important to him. Furthermore, she uses alliterations: “casually cruel”, “piece of paper”.
The “k” and “p” sounds are loud and intrusive. On top of that, Taylor uses another
metaphor, saying she was a “crumpled-up piece of paper”. This could suggest that she was
scarred by this heartbreak, as a crumpled-up paper cannot be uncrumpled-up.
She uses repetition as she echoes “all” over and over again, building up tension and
emphasizing on how well she remembers it.

9/ Verse 3
 “They say all's well that ends well, but I'm in a new Hell
Every time you double-cross my mind”

The songwriter is making an allusion to Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well, in which 2
people end up together despite their struggles, however her haunting heartbreak offers a
stark contrast. “double-cross” has two meanings in this line: it could mean betraying
someone, or it additionally means that she could not stop thinking about him due to the
context.

“You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine
And that made me want to die
The idea you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you”

Swift again reifies herself as a jewel that shows him every version of himself. This suggests
that Gyllenhaal projected himself onto her. It could also be a reference to her young age as
he saw her as a trophy and less of a person.

“Not weeping in a party bathroom

Some actress asking me what happened, you
That's what happened, you”

(…)

“But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willing you to come
And he said, "It's supposed to be fun turning twenty-one"

The singer alludes to her other Red song, The Moment I Knew, in which she recounts how
her then-boyfriend did not attend her 21st birthday party.

(…): “You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes

Sipping coffee like you're on a late-night show”

This lets us know how important and serious the relationship was to each other, as
introducing our parents to our significant other is considered the next step of a
relationship.

10/ Chorus 3
“Time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it
I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it”

Taylor adds a twist to the phrase “time flies”, saying that time is not elapsing and is instead
frozen. This suggests that time was not healing her as it usually does. She was so impacted
by this heartbreak that she could not find herself.
 “After plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own
Now you mail back my things and I walk home alone”

This implicitly lets us know about the intimacy between them. We can see the contrast at
the end of both lines: “made me your own” is very intimate but on the contrary, “walk
home alone” gives a sense of coldness. We can also see that the word “mail” depicts a very
detached act.

“But you keep my old scarf from that very first week
'Cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me
You can't get rid of it”

Swift mentions the symbolic scarf, representing their relationship. The fact that he kept it
and “can’t get rid of it” shows that the breakup hurt both parties. “innocence” shows that
there was a sense of nostalgia when he was with “wide-eyed” Taylor.

“'Cause you remember it all too well, yeah

'Cause there we are again when I loved you so
Back before you lost the one real thing you've ever known”

“you’ve lost the one real thing you’ve ever known” has a resentful/prideful tone as she put
the blame on him for the breakup. She made him feel guilt for ending this “masterpiece” as
she was “the one real thing [he’s] ever known”. This put her on the pedestal.

11/ Verse 4
“And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punch line goes
I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age”

Swift uses sarcasm to call him out on the age gap between his relationships (there was an 8-
year gap with Taylor and now there’s a 15-year gap between Jake and his partner).

“From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones

I'm a soldier who's returning half her weight
And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?”

The songwriter uses multiple metaphors: calling herself to a soldier which compares the
impact of war on a solider to the impact of their ended relationship. It’s worth mentioning
she developed an eating disorder towards 2012-2014.
She then questions if the pain that came with the heartbreak also hurt him with a
metaphorical bruise. There are two meanings to “paint you blue” as blue symbolizes
sadness and melancholy but it could also be part of the metaphor as bruises are blurple.
Thus “paint you blue” could also mean that he was covered in metaphorical bruises.

“Just between us, did the love affair maim you, too?
'Cause in this city's barren cold
 I still remember the first fall of snow
And how it glistened as it fell
I remember it all too well”

Their relationship started in fall shown in“autumn leaves” and ends in winter, the downfall.
“the first fall of snow” could represent their first fight as it was the “fall” in winter which
symbolizes death. She then says “it glistened as it fell” suggesting that their relationship
shone but underneath everything it was slowly falling to its grave.

12/ Outro
“Just between us, did the love affair maim you all too well?
Just between us, do you remember it all too well?
Just between us, I remember it (Just between us), all too well

Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there

Down the stairs, I was there, I was there
Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there 3x
It was rare, you remember it all too well”

Taylor uses repetition to create an illusion of echoes, her ghostly flashbacks. This shows that
she is looking back at the relationship and reliving it in full colors.

13/ Conclusion
To conclude, Taylor Swift uses many different literary devices to encapsulate all the
memories and emotions that came with this relationship, notably imagery. She has the
ability to tell a factual story through layered symbolism, adding figurative significances
behind her words.
It is also worth noting that the choice of verb tense she sings in plays an important role in
this track. She switches between the past and present tense. When she uses the present
tense, it shows how vivid her flashbacks were, she was reliving her memories. Much of All
Too Well fluctuates between different tenses to illustrate the power of Swift’s flashbacks
and memories.

14/ Sources
- https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-all-too-well-10-minute-version-taylors-version-from-
the-vault-lyrics
- https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-all-too-well-lyrics
- https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/music/a38235122/taylor-swift-10-minute-
version-all-too-well-lyrics-meaning/ (to copy-paste the lyrics)
- https://youtu.be/SyNvO-kglQQ