This is beautiful, and also it’s interesting to see which songs Taylor picks to cover since they both serve as a simple case study of how the lyrical tropes Taylor tends to use have been used by other artists and throughout pop music’s history, and, for songs Taylor grew up listening to, it shows how the specifics of these songs have influenced her songwriting. So:
Taylor Swift’s lyrical tropes on display in Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September”
The specificity of dates, times, ages, and seasons
Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”: “Do you remember the 21st night of September?" “Now December found the love that we shared in September.”
Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw” (2006): “September saw a month of tears...”
Taylor Swift, “Back to December” (2010): “I think about Summer, all the beautiful times” “Realized I loved you in the fall” “You held me in your arms that September night / the first time you ever saw me cry” “And I go back to December all the time”
Taylor Swift, “Last Kiss” (2010): “I still remember the look on your face / lit through the darkness at 1:58 ... That July 9th, the beat of your heart...”
Taylor Swift, “Innocent” (2010): “It’s okay, life is a tough crowd / 32 and still growing up now” “Time turns flames to embers / you’ll have new Septembers”
Taylor Swift, “Begin Again” (2012): “I’ve been spending the last eight months / thinking all love ever does / is break and burn and end / but on a Wednesday in a cafe / I watched it begin again.”
Taylor Swift, “Fifteen” (2008) and “22” (2012): [Everything specific to these ages]
Taylor Swift, every song she’s written (2006-2018): “2 am...”
NB: This trend of Taylor songwriting with specific dates, times, and numbers sprinkled into the lyrics ends with the albums 1989 and reputation, albums which marked the eras in which Taylor became more protective of her personal life and stopped clueing her fans into how her songs related to events in her life with specificities and revealing “secret messages” hidden in her liner notes.
The idea of “pretenders,” especially those conquered by love:
Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”: “Love was changing the minds of pretenders”
Taylor Swift, "Long Live” (2010): “I was screaming ‘long live all the magic we made’ / and bring on all the pretenders / I’m not afraid.“
Taylor Swift, “Call It What You Want” (2018): “All the jokers dressing up as kings / they fade to nothing when I look at him.”
Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”: “Do you remember...?” “Remember how the stars stole the night away. ... Say that you’ll remember. . . . Remember the true love we share today.”
Taylor’s songs often mention memory in one of the three ways EWF’s lyrics do above: Asking a lover if they remember a certain event; imploring a lover to remember an event or the relationship as a whole; and/or imploring them to remember an event or relationship in a specific manner.
Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw” (2006): “When you think Tim McGraw / I hope you think my favorite song / someday you’ll turn your radio on / I hope it takes you back to that place / when you think happiness / I hope you think that little black dress / think of my head on your chest / and my old faded blue jeans”
Taylor Swift, “Fearless” (2008): “In this passenger’s seat / you put your eyes on me / in this moment now / capture it / remember it”
Taylor Swift, “Mine” (2010): “Do you remember we were sittin' there by the water?...Do you remember all the city lights on the water?...you said ‘I remember how we felt sittin’ by the water.’”
Taylor Swift, “Enchanted” (2010): “This night is sparkling / don’t you let it go”
Taylor Swift, “Last Kiss” (2010): “And I hope the sun shines / and it’s a beautiful day / and something reminds you / you wish you had stayed.”
Taylor Swift, “Long Live” (2010): “I said remember this moment / in the back of my mind...I said remember the feeling” “Promise me this...if you have children someday / when they point to the pictures / please tell them my name / tell them how the crowds went wild / tell them how I hope they shine.”
Taylor Swift, “All Too Well” (2012): I was there, I remember it all too well...you were there, you remember it all...”
Taylor Swift, “Wildest Dreams” (2014): “Say you’ll remember me / standing in a nice dress / staring at the sunset, babe” “you’ll see me in hindsight / tangled up with you all night / burnin’ it down”
Taylor Swift, “Out of the Woods” (2014): “Remember when you hit the breaks too soon? ... remember when we couldn’t take the heat?”
NB: There’s also not much to the theme of memory presented on Taylor’s newest, reputation. It’s worth noting that the few specific details and events that are present on reputation (“Dive bar on the east side, where you at?” “Whiskey on ice / Sunset and Vine” “I’m spilling wine in the bathtub / you kiss my face and we’re both drunk” “All these nights we're spending / up on the roof with a school girl crush / drinking beer out of plastic cups”) are either verbless, ripped from time, or else described -- unlike virtually all of Taylor’s past work -- in present rather than past tense, giving the sense of actions and a relationship that are immediate and ongoing. Taylor’s telling change of Earth, Wind & Fire’s line “the 21st night of September” to “the 28th night of September” on this Spotify single calls back to the fearlessness of an earlier Taylor, one unafraid of sharing details of her life for the fear of the media and fandom-led scavenger hunts they might inspire. The tranquil self-assurance on display in that lyric change is, to me, the ultimate representation of Taylor’s newfound, “You Are in Love,” “Call It What You Want” and “New Years Day”-like understanding of the nature of a soft, quiet, confident real love.
