Do you have an analysis to She Got Away?
Thank you for this question. I think if she got away as a Haylor song that had some details changed to make it a generic 1D song.
It is likely from February 2014 - fans first posted it was registered in November 2014 (after it didn’t appear on Four), although the band recorded it. While making WTNY and I Know Places with Taylor in Conway Studios he also saw Harry there (Four was in production)
Ryan has specified at least 4 other writing meetings with them:
29 January 2012 - W hotel in Westwood LA - to Zach Sang, that sounded early. 1D stayed at the W in 2012. No mention of a song just annoyed about the similar band names.
19 April 2013 - Manchester - to Capital FM - Right Now (OneRepublic was in London, One Direction in Manchester and Midnight Memories was in production. ...also after that date is when he went back to the US to get the Peace ring and Taylor wrote I Wish You Would). He says he wrote 'something else with one of them' presumably Harry as Right Now refers to CBBH and Harry loved it.
February 2014 - Conway Studios LA - to New York Post 2019 - when Taylor and Harry were there. The rest of the band was in the UK. I think this is when She Got Away was likely written. Harry wrote it with Ryan Tedder and Noel Zancanella, both who worked on Welcome to NY. Ryan also said he saw Harry and Taylor at the studio then (I know places & welcome to NY from the same sessions, we also know Harry was there when JABOYH was written while hanging around Conway in January 2014. Style, Shake it off were also recorded then. It’s widely reported this song was for Four, fan first posted about it being registered in November 2014 after Four released without it.
London hotel - to Ryan Seacrest - Solo Harry, he talked about him traveling with no entourage.
Jennie in She got Away seems like a composite rather than an actual person. She is enigmatic, contradictory and mysterious. She is very much of the Diana/Georgia Rose archetype who is a vessel that 1D's fans could see themselves in or aspire to be. Harry's love of older music is clear, it's very Bob Dylan-inspired storytelling through characters, wandering and the places named.
Verse One: Liam & Harry]
I met this girl the other night
On the streets of New Orleans
She said I'm trying to find myself
On the run from Tennessee
She had a diamond in one ear
And patches on her jeans
Oh yeah, oh yeah, the girl she got to me
The first verse reminds me of Taylor in the 'On the run from Tennessee' especially if the song is written in the same session as Welcome to New York, she was on the run from country music, the success of Red and her home of Tennessee.
The 'Diamond in one ear and patches on her jeans 'is a perfect description for this transitional era of Taylor - on the success of her last Country-pop album singing about moving to New York for a complete pop album. This line is very much Taylor at that time. It is a brilliant line as it works for the 1D listener who is an evolving young woman.
Jennie has a way with words
Yeah, she always speaks in quotes
She said that she ain't ever
Met a man like me before
She told me she just won a trip to Mexico
Oh yeah, oh yeah
On the radio
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Someday she will go
She has a way with words is a girl who writes, speaks in quotes is someone who writes heavily in references and metaphor... sounds like someone we know.
'She said she ain't never met a man like me before / she won a trip to Mexico' this sounds like the intended listener is fan fiction writers, coming up with the scenario where they meet Harry.
The 'never met anyone like me' line to me has me wondering how many of Taylor's Exes would come back to the studio to hear her next album be recorded and spend days collaborating on writing love songs about her while she does.. I think that's still a list of 1.
[Chorus: All]
When I close my eyes
I swear that I can see her
Then they open wide
And she’s a world away
And I swear she’s mine
So does every man who meets her
Oh yeah, oh yeah
She’s the girl that got away
Oh yeah, oh yeah
But she’s coming back someday
The chorus has Harry and the muse separated by the world, he is dreaming of her, it fits nicely with the fanfiction listener. There's a nice call out to 'half the world away'.
The 'so does every man who meets her' reminds me of Fool's Gold's 'you turn it on for everyone you meet' but here it is loving. And a nice 'she's coming back someday' adorable for writing this the same week as Style's 'Everytime we crash down we come back again'
[Verse Two: Harry & Niall]
Jennie likes a coffee late at night
It helps her sleep
She doesn't cook but
She's got a million recipes
She's got a tattoo
Doesn't know what it means
Oh yeah, oh yeah
When she was with me
Coffee late at night - need I say more?? The sleep also is a nice call back to Little Things. Jennie is chaotic and sounds hyperproductive... yeah...
The tattoo is cute, a clear 'not Taylor or anyone he'd dated.' unless the tattoo is on him and she doesn't know who it was for. 'when she was with me'
[Bridge: All]
What I feel, what I feel, I feel for her
Ain't going away
What I feel, what I feel, I feel for her
Ain't going away
What I feel, what I feel, I feel for her
Ain't going away
What I feel, what I feel, I feel for her
Feel for her, feel for her
The bridge is a nice resolution, Harry has made a decision he is committed. It is so much more hopeful than JALBOYH and WDBHG from the same sessions.
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