Taylor Swift: Clean Meaning

Clean Lyrics

The drought was the very worst
When the flowers that we'd grown together
died of thirst
It was months and months of back and forth
You still all over me like a wine stained dress
I can't wear anymore
Hung my head as I lost the war
And...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Sep 25th 2017 !⃝

   Clean is such an incredible song from 1989 and deserves so much more credit. Since owning 1989 I've changed my ideas about her songs because my life has changed so much in the last few years so my perspective on her music has as well. When first listening to clean I decided it was about ending a bad relationship which is somewhat true but it's also so much more. Clean is about being free and finally being able to breath after being trapped for so long. It's about awakening and being able to end something that you once adored and hoped for. Taylor has always been able to describe her pain through such poetic lyrics and I think that clean is so important for a lot of us. It describes something that no other artist or lyricist has been able to do. Being in not necessarily a bad relationship but one that isn't meant to be and will only destroy you if you push it further than it's supposed to go. In this song Taylor uses a lot of water references because she had felt like she was always thirsting for more or she was never fully satisfied. Like when drinking a glass of warm water, it's good enough when you're quenched because it's water but it's still not that refreshing cold water you want. The last lines in the song have to be my favorite
   "I think I am finally clean"
   This is an incredible way for her to end it because she's ending it on a good note. Her slates are finally clean and she's finally able to move on from something that affected her so much and I think that we all can relate to this song whether it's about drugs, alcohol, a relationship. Its that feeling you get when you wake up one morning and you realize that you don't want whats bad for you anymore and you can finally breath without gasping for air.

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   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jan 5th 2015 !⃝

   I believe the song is about letting go of someone/something you love, she's saying that yes it can be hard but you can overcome it. You're becoming "clean" of your past.

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   #3 top rated interpretation:
   Stargazer

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   Jan 27th 2015 !⃝

   Clean is about the ending of a relationship for good by Taylor. Although it is a about relationship, she wrote it in a way that anyone can apply to their own life…the ending of anything that can be self destructive for you, whether it be relationships, drugs, alcohol, cutting, etc. Her metaphors in this song tell the tale of going "cold Turkey," and also to her mourning the death of that relationship, where she is eventually "clean" of that "wine stained dress". She lets herself feel they pain through her tears in the form of water references(which are numerous in 1989). Once she is clean, she is not risking going back, no matter how much she misses him. If you listened to all of 1989, you would know that that this was an off and on relationship where they guy would come back and want to try again, only to leave again.
4. anonymous

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   Sep 12th 2021 !⃝

   The lyrics of this song not only applies to romantic relationships, but you can relate it to something else as well. The song means finally being free from something that used to haunt you. It's closure.
   
   It means being able to go to places, remember stuff from the past, and do the things that used to be special to you without feeling hurt. It's like being able to ride a bike after being scared for some time because you kept falling down.
5. anonymous

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   Dec 15th 2017 !⃝

   It's about coming off drugs and the relationship that was associated with it. A struggle to"let go" of both, so intertwined a loss. Often the words have more to do with Drugs,though. My thought is that it was about Drugs much moreso than a warped and sick connection in love. There is an Illness in its' overwhelming, alluring and hypnotic nature,seemingly impossible to disengage from.

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