Where the spirit meets the bone

I'm not a real swiftie.  I barely know who she dated (yes,  I know she just got married!) and I like her songs,  my car is almost permanently on Taylor Swift Radio,  but I don't know all her lyrics by heart or all her songs.

Then I started listening to the Swiftie and the Scholar,  on youtube.  It's a deep dive (about an hour an episode and each episode covers only one song) on random songs. 

I'm not listening to them in any order,  but I've been watching about one a week.  

Last one was about Ivy,  I song I realized I barely knew.  I had listened to it once or twice on Evermore,  but it hadn't gotten it's hooks on me, though some of the phrases I really liked. 

I had noticed the phrase,  where the spirit meets the bone,  it's so evocative.  And then the poetry professor tells us it's not unique to Taylor,  it comes from this poem:

From The Ways We Touch: Poems. 

Isn't that a beautiful phrase in a beautiful poem? And I love the song so much more now!  I didn't realize the Emily Dickinson connection and was fascinated to learn about it. 

So if you want to do a deep dive,  this is a fun away to while away an hour... 

Taylor Swift

I've always liked Taylor Swift but don't consider myself a Swiftie - I only listen to her songs,  I don't look at how they relate to her life or who she could be alluding to. 

I'm also more active on social media now than before,  so I'm threads most days and she's in my algorithm,  and my goodness, what I am seeing! 

It's astonishing to me,  how people can get so enraged over a singer.  She's exploiting her fans!  She's a ruthless capitalist,  there are no good billionaires,  she's racist.  And on and on and on. 

And I'm bewildered.  If you don't like her,  don't buy her stuff.  She's offering things to her fans.  No one has to buy any of them.  There is complete choice here. She's not selling essential medical care. She's offering you different album covers.  I've never bought any physical albums from her and still get to listen to all the music. 

I guess I just want people to buy what they like,  and leave what they don't.   

 

Taylor Swift

Sometimes you just want to be part of a cultural moment.  Sometimes you want to stand outside the cultural moment.  I've certainly had both feelings.  But I was watching the MTV WMA's in 2009 and saw Kanye West jump up on stage live and saw what he did to a girl I didn't know much about,  and my heart just melted for her.  I literally could not imagine anything worse.  It's like one of those nightmares where you're walking around naked,  but you get to wake up from them!  So she leapt up on my radar in a big way then.  And when 1989 came out,  I became a firm fan.  I just loved her lyrics,  and her courage.  I was walking up and down the West Side Highway, loving every song.  And I've listened to her ever since.  I loved If I were the Man,  and then really loved her last few albums.  Antihero is just a perfect song, but the video makes it even better! 

I'm not a true Swiftie.  I don't know the meanings of all her songs and I don't look for all the Easter eggs.  Instead,  I just listen to her music on face value and see how it speaks to me,  rather than what part of her life it relates to.  I've read some great articles about her - My Delirious Trip to the Heart of Swiftiedom, from the New York Times was one of my favorites - and just enjoyed the cultural phenom that she was becoming. 

So when I had a big birthday,  I just wanted one thing - that's right,  Taylor Swift concert tickets.  We couldn't get the cheap ones,  they were already gone,  so we splurged on the expensive VIP ones (it was that big a birthday!) I'm going to her Sydney show this Saturday.   I'm really looking forward to it!