Day 57: Oh My My My

In general, I prefer Taylor's newer music to her older stuff. She's learned to keep her most of her greatest strengths around while also improving her weakest aspects, making for much better songs on average. But there are just some things a modern Taylor Swift can't do and I'm fine admitting that. Mary's Song (Oh My My My) is one of the few songs that makes me feel this way. It's pacing, tone, distance from Taylor's life, and optimistic tone gel so much better with the country style than Taylor's more modern approach to songwriting.

Mary's Song is a pretty basic song from Taylor first album about a couple who have known each other for literally 80 years, an amount of time five times longer than the lifespan of the girl who wrote this song. Hmmm. Anyways, it's just an honest look at young love in a small town. Does it get any more country than that? There are so many lines like this that really show off the innocent, almost pure, nature of this relationship.

"Take me back when our world was one block wide
I dared you to kiss me, and ran when you tried
Just two kids, you and I
Oh, my, my, my, my"

Well golly-gee-willikers, isn't that just adorable? It's not just a story about kids though, it takes a couple honest looks at relationships later too. It doesn't try to challenge anything, but still lets us know that even the best relationships aren't 100% roses.

"Take me back to the time we had our very first fight
Slammin' of doors 'stead of kissin' goodnight
You stayed outside till the morning light
Oh, my, my, my, my"

It's really not much, but I like this line because it is accurate. Fights are inevitable and this is literally the kind of action that results in a healthy, long lasting relationship. Well, I guess we really don't know quite enough about the circumstances to say for sure, but the fact that Taylor is recalling it in a positive way shows mutual appreciation rather than holding grudges.

This song is exactly what it sounds like, and it does a good job of being what it is. It's both nostalgic and optimistic, something difficult to achieve outside the country music style. It's not exceptional by any means, but it certainly is good. And it definitely isn't one of the worst Taylor Swift songs as the Rolling Stone claimed in their list where they ranked every Taylor Swift song.

That's 107th out of 126. Ouch.

I may have to talk about this list at some point in the future. I only stumbled upon it while researching this post and they made some pretty big moves. You can read it if you want but I would recommend holding off if you can resist. If I ever get to it, it's going to be ugly.

See you tomorrow,
-C