Day 48: Get Away, Car!

I like the song Getaway Car by Taylor Swift. I like listening to it while walking through town. I like listening to it when I'm in the shower. When I hear it come on I think to myself "Yes". When it ends, I think to myself, "No".

The reason I recall this song so fondly is because it shows what a modern Taylor Swift song looks like tied together with a neat bow. One theme you repeatedly in Reputation compared to Taylor's earlier albums is how she is the one to take charge of relationships rather than being the one pulled in. Some have tried to frame this as an active vs. passive role, but I don't think that quote does it justice. Here, just look at this line from Getaway Car.

"He was the best of times, the worst of crimes
I struck a match and blew your mind
But I didn't mean it
And you didn’t see it"

First off, this is just great writing. The cadence in this song is fantastic, and it one of my favorite things about Reputation. Usually, this flies under the radar because Taylor's writing for her hooks has always been fantastic, but starting in 1989 and really shining in Reputation, her writing over the course of a whole song has gotten much stronger.

Going back to my previous point, Taylor is the main aggressor in this relationship. All evidence points to her being the one who starts and kindles the relationship, and later the ones who wants to end it. 

"The ties were black, the lies were white
And shades of grey in candlelight
I wanted to leave him
I needed a reason"

Overall, I think this song just does a great job of telling a more complex story than lots of Taylor's other works. What I like most is how this doesn't sacrifice from the pure catchy enjoyment of the song in return for detail, the way many of her earlier songs do. There are several levels to this song to dive into, and the deeper you go the better it gets.

Layer 1: GETAWAY CAR GETAWAY CAR YEAH YEAH YEAH
Layer 2: Oh shit, Taylor is actually being kind of a dick and she knows it! There's some complex emotions going on here!
Layer 3: Did she cheat on him? Wait hold on I need to listen to this some more.
Layer 4: ?????

The comparison of a relationship to a crime duo works much better than I would expect at first, but there's way more going on here than just that. I actually may come back to this song at some point because there are some really good sections that could have their own post to themselves, but we don't have time for that now. Let me know if that seems interesting and I will consider it.

See you tomorrow,
-C