I realized on Monday that is had been forever since my last entry. I am striving to teach myself a lesson in balance. I tend to go all in with one hobby for a time and then switch to another. I am working to devise a way I can do more than one at a time it is still a work in progress.

In an effort to play a bit of catch up I am going to write about each of the three albums that have been on a steady rotation on my turntable as of late. I am hoping that I will be able to do each of them justice.
The three albums in this list are: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) - Taylor Swift, ded - Lights, and Landlines - Lisa Ritchie.

You are not the exception

~

You will never learn your lesson

~

You are not the exception ~ You will never learn your lesson ~

There is a magnificent level of polish and cohesiveness that has emerged with the creation of all these re-released versions of Swift’s albums. They all feel like this singular vision of one artist and despite being released so close together they still paint this picture of the journey that Swift has taken with her music over the nearly two decades since she began releasing albums.

I am going to talk about a few of the new tracks that are present on this version of the album. The brilliant lyrics hit hard and had me really pondering over the past month or so since I began listening to the record.

Foolish One

I don’t know about the rest of you but I tend to be a slow learner especially when it comes to affairs of the heart; in order to learn a lesson a situation has to present itself many times over before the lesson finally sinks in. That track is about just that, it is honestly astounding how we as humans can all have such unique and different experiences yet you can come across a song that just feels like it was pulled directly from your own head. This is one such song for me.

This track really speaks for itself and does so in an eloquent manner, the narrative is laid out so well that I don’t have much to add myself.

My cards are on the table, yours are in your hand

Chances are, tonight, you've already got plans

And chances are I will talk myself to sleep again

You give me just enough attention to keep my hopes too high

Wishful thoughts forget to mention when something's really not right

And I will block out these voices of reason in my head

And the voices say, "You are not the exception

You will never learn your lesson"

I really enjoy this first verse and the imagery it creates. By the end of it you already know exactly what the track is going to be about. Then the pre-chorus comes in and I remember listening to it for the first time and thinking “yeah I’ve heard those voices, we are well acquainted.” What hits the hardest every time I listen is the bridge.

“Now I'm slidin' down the wall with my head in my hands

Sayin', "How could I not see the signs?"

Oh, you haven't written me or called

But goodbye screamin' in the silence

And the voices in my head are tellin' me why

'Cause you got her on your arm and me in the wings

I'll get your longing glances, but she'll get your ring

And you will say you had the best of intentions

And maybe I will finally learn my lesson”

This is powerful. How does Taylor manage to fit so many words into her songs and still make them work perfectly? I am consistently amazed by this. As is the case with all of her songs the track really sets the scene whether you have been there or not you know exactly what this looks like and probably have at least an idea of what it feels like. This track is written so beautifully and I find it so relatable it's almost tragic. Taylor has this ability to really just pull you into these stories that are being told as if you are starring in them yourself.

Timeless

There are lots of theories by Swifties in regards to this song so I guess this is me throwing my hat in the ring. While some think the track is about Taylor’s Grandparents on both sides of her family, which is of course a tear-jerkingly sweet idea, my theory is less sweet. I do think the relationships of her Grandparents likely provided inspiration for the track and it doesn’t seem unlikely to me that the first few verses of the track are dedicated to them. But I see that track as being just generally about all those love stories of the ages that you’ve heard about, stories in which the greatest of obstacles were overcome and the way everything managed to come together almost doesn’t seem like it could be real. Such stories can be a bit much if you aren’t in the right mood. Yet I think Taylor is sharing these stories as a way to tell people to go out and make their own timeless love story even if it is in a less storybook kind of fashion. Really I think Taylor is wishing that all her fans can find this kind of love. That they can find someone who they love with everything they have and who feels the same about them. If you manage to find someone who truly cares about you then perhaps you have found a love “which the very chains of Omnipotence themselves cannot break” and you have been lucky enough to find a love that is timeless.

Down the block, there's an antique shop

And somethin' in my head said, "Stop, " so I walked in

The fact that the both begins and ends the same way is what gave me this idea that Taylor is looking for others to add their own verses in order to keep the song continuing forever. Whether this theory has any traction or not the song beginning and ending the same does create this loop which would seemingly keep the track going forever making it timeless.

Don't leave me here

〰️

Beside myself

〰️

Don't leave me here 〰️ Beside myself 〰️

Sparky

Try me now you know I've been waiting for ya

Sleepless now 'cause I can't get myself down

Do you want a warning?

Hold me 'til the morning

If I'm going up

You know you're going up with me too

Mmm

You wanna start a fire?

You can't tell me nothing, you don't wanna start me

If I pipe up, it's gonna be sparky, you know

I wanna start a fire

We're gonna start a fire

You wanted it badly

Rather than be happy, safe to say

I never could take anyone's advice, anyway (yeah)

It's three in the morning, and I'm coming in hot (ooh)

Back in the city, and I'm dying to go off

This track just emanates a brilliant self-assured swagger; it pairs well with “Jaws” and “Salt and Vinegar” which I spoke on in my last write up though I don’t know that I really got it then. These tracks are about being comfortable with who you are and not being influenced to change. This can seem like a simple concept but the journey to truly get there is not an easy one but with this album and these tracks specifically Lights has left no room for doubt that she possesses an immense amount of inner-strength and that she is someone who is comfortable in her skin.

Rent

I know I already touched on this track the last time but every time I hear it it just hits me so hard. To me this track is about a break up but I don’t think that this track is actually any sort of call out to the other person, to tell them they no longer have a spot in your life. Rather I think it is about coping after the break-up and this track is perhaps to assure you that for whatever reason this other person just cannot be in your life anymore you have to move on and doing so was the right thing to do. “If you wanna live in my head, you gotta pay the expenses and honey, you can’t afford what the rent is” and before this it talks about keeping a checklist of offenses almost as if to say because of these things you have done the rent has gone up and you can no longer afford to live here. It is a straightforward and inventive analogy which I absolutely love.

Beside Myself

Those familiar with Lights are aware that the album ded is this chilled out reflection of the album pep and I find it interesting how the whole entire mood and feel of the album really is flipped. Lights even went as far as reversing the track list so Beside Myself closes out the album here rather than introducing it. That combined with the very chilled out ethereal feel give me some very different thoughts on this song particularly. As I have been listening to this record it has felt to me that the whole thing is this exploration of self and emotions, about the human condition, what it means to be human. With that in mind this track is so fitting to close out this album. As it is all about reflection: on your past experiences, on the influences of others in your life, on yourself as a person. It seems to come from this not necessarily emotional neutral zone but I suppose a more level emotional state. It’s not full of elation nor does it contain a deep sense of woe. In this track there exists a place that is nestled perfectly between those two emotional states somehow. It is not that things are perfect or anything but more that you are working on it and you have reconciled with your past and what may happen in the future. I feel a sense of peace as I listen.

Ghosts

Of us in the next life

Knowing what we know

On our last nights

Try to remind us

They remind us

To hold on tight

Hold me

Like it's the last time

Like you remember

How it felt the first time

I know we're dying

Tell me it's okay

Not to be alright

We hold onto the good times

And the right now in the long nights

And the hometown and the bright lights

As they guide us to the next life

Body is aching

Dreaming and waking

Don't leave me waiting

Don't leave me here

Beside myself

We skipped to the heart

/

the heart of life

/

We skipped to the heart / the heart of life /

Lucky You’re Mine

This is another track from my selections today that I feel like there is really not much that I can add. This track weaves this magnificently real tale of finding love and keeping it. It feels like one of those timeless kinds of love stories talked about earlier.

You're funny when I want to fight,

It’s those little things I like

I’m lucky that you like talking trash,

About obnoxious strangers we pass,

And sometimes the friends we have,

It’s wrong, but I always laugh

Sometimes, you get what you get, but you get it right

It is what it is, and it’s luck and I’m

Lucky you’re mine, lucky you’re mine

It’s clear, we did what we did, and we did it right,

We skipped to the heart, the heart of life

I’m lucky you’re mine, lucky you’re mine

Sometimes I wanna fight, sometimes we make fun of people that we probably shouldn’t and moreover I probably shouldn’t laugh so hard but I do. It is this part which gives the story this grounded empathetic feel and makes me think maybe something like this could happen to me. This is not some fairytale out of a storybook. It is much better because right from the start you get this sense that it is about real people and I find that much more enjoyable to listen to than any fantastical love that seems to be out of a storybook such as those mentioned earlier. Perhaps it is the cynic in me but I just don’t believe those kind of stories really happen to people. The narrative is tweaked to make things either beautifully tragic or hopelessly perfect. In this track you don’t feel that it is a tale that is engaging and wonderfully romantic.

Guns

This album is not yet released in digital format in its entirety outside of Bandcamp you can listen to three of the tracks two of which I discussed on Spotify as well as other major digital music platforms.

This is not going to be getting my standard treatment and you may be wondering why. You could be thinking things along the lines of “Does Brock not like this song?” or more likely “Does Brock just not get this song?” “What does he think of the writing in this track?” Well I can say definitely that the answer to the first question is no it has nothing to do with not liking it. As far as the second question, I will leave that up to you to answer. I will address the third question now.

I am not doing my standard treatment because this song is written, produced and performed so astoundingly that it hits me so hard and takes me to some places which I don’t necessarily want to go all the time. My music analysis; if you want to call it that, is a hobby that I use to forget about reality for a time but this track manages to simultaneously remind me of all the good and bad that exists in the world and it is heavy. I will admit to having listened to this track less than all the others on the album because every time I have done so it ends with tears in my eyes. I feel the cornucopia of different emotions that went into creating this track each time I listen and the sincerity is almost palpable. I feel that Lisa really put a part of herself into this album and specifically into this track. A good portion of this is due to the fact that because I have spent so much time in Lisa’s live streams I have a stronger connection to her music and a different feeling about what she is saying here than I would for the majority of artists. That was a long winded way of saying watching an artist on Twitch really makes their music hit differently and that was notably true here. In my opinion it is one of the best tracks she has written to date. There are so few song out there which affect me so deeply that I just can’t listen to them all the time as they take something out of me in the a most powerful kind of way.

Good Time

I will admit to feeling a bit bamboozled by this track. For quite a while the chorus of this track was the outro for Lisa’s live streams; it includes a choir which features members of Lisa’s Twitch community(I actually made a submission myself). The song has a very different feel if you only listen to this part of the song.

To me this track is about being trapped whether it be in an actual cult, in a family that is toxic, trapped by society and the pressures that can come along with it or any number of similar types of situations.

I’m in a cult

I’m waken

Freedom, God, and love

And I’m naked

With nothing to cover up

And nothing to wash it down

It’s an oath

That I’ve taken

Since I was a kid

No one made me

It’s just the way it is

I take this as perhaps an awakening to your surroundings, that you have now come to a realization you are trapped and you didn’t see it before. Things just are the way that they are and the way they have always been. This brings to mind the feelings of when I was an impressionable adolescent and was misled a number of times. That is all part of life I suppose which I think is part of the message here.

You’re free to relax and you’re free to believe

Everyone’s having a good time

There’s freedom to ask, and you’re free to agree

I don’t think I can leave

There seems to be this sense of defeat or acceptance that you have just given in to what you are feeling as you “don’t think you can leave” so you are just putting things in the hands of the powers that be “leave it to the stars, leave it to the states, leave it to the prayers that save, leave it to the blindest faith, leave it til we go insane” then it goes to say “you’re free to relax…” as if to say you can do all these but will any of it really matter?

I’ve been having a good time

I’ve been having a good time, baby

I’m having a good time

I’m having a good time, yes I am

Within the context of the song the chorus feels like a brainwashing chant of sorts; something that you say enough times in order convince yourself that things are okay. Like mindless lemmings marching to their doom. It doesn’t actually seem like anyone is having a good time. I want to iterate that I am not mad about being tricked; quite the contrary actually, I think it was brilliant for those participating in the choir to not know the full context of the song. Thereby making us akin to the brainwashed persons that the song speaks of. I don’t believe I could have sung the lines with any amount of gusto if I would have known what the song was actually about.

All that being said it is a very intriguing way to end an album and while I have some scattered thoughts on this there are no solid theories as to why this was done but it is certainly something I will continue to think on. I really don’t think I can say enough how outstanding this album is. From start to finish each track is exceptional and offers an entirely different kind of experience.

A foolish one