"I took your matches before fire could catch me" This week we're going line-by-line through Taylor Swift's "Dear John" (Speak Now, 2010). We go through the WWII-era history behind the title, the epistolary letter form, and how a breakup letter becomes an act of reclaiming her own story. And surprisingly, we walk away realizing (spoiler alert) maybe this song isn’t as sad as we thought!

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Dear John, Nicholas Sparks (novel)
• Dear John (2010 film)
• "A Dear John Letter" — Jean Shepard & Ferlin Husky (1953)
• The Correspondent, Virginia Evans (novel)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone — wizard's chess scene
• "Your Song," Elton John
• AP Taylor Swift: "Dear Reader" episode

Episode Highlights:

[01:19] Why "Dear John" is such a track five

[01:42] What a Dear John letter actually is — the WWII-era origin of the phrase

[05:55] "Long were the nights"

[10:39] "You paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain"

[17:48] "don't you think I was too young to be messed with"

[36:33] "I took your matches before fire could catch me"

[45:53] The turn from "I should have known" to "you should have known"

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This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.