Taylor Swift: Love Story Meaning

Song Released: 2008

Love Story Lyrics

We were both young when I first saw you.
I close my eyes and the flashback starts:
I'm standing there on a balcony in winter air.


See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.
See you make your way through the crowd
and say...

1. singdancewrite

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   Jun 14th 2009 !⃝

   What I think she is saying is that the song and the relationship of hers are completly oppisite, that she wanted the song to have really happened but sadly the fairytail came to an end when she was at school staring at the guy.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
2. petiitefours

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   May 4th 2009 !⃝

   The song says she was "a scarlet letter", and from what I've looked up, it means she was a cheater. (she was cheating on something)
   
   "And my daddy said stay away from Juliet" might mean that she already had a boyfriend only she wanted to see/date Romeo, but her dad knew she was going out with someone else, so he told Romeo to stay away from her.
3. anonymous

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   Apr 17th 2009 !⃝

   I think that this song is about a girl who met a boy probably on vacation one summer while she was young, "We were both young when I first saw you." They went the school year without seeing each other and then see each other again during the summer and they get close. He has to leave every summer earlier than she does, "And I was crying on the staircase, begging you please don't go," Before he leaves every summer they go to a garden wherever they are and talk for a while- most likely about how they were going to grow up, run away, and get married and live a fairy-tale life, "Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone I'll be waiting all there's left to do is run You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess It's a love story baby just say yes." Then one summer when they're probably in their teens they go out at night and hang out, but they'll get in trouble if their parents find out, "So I sneak out to the garden to see you We keep quiet cause we're dead if they know." Her Dad didn't really aprove of him and his parents didn't approve of her either. Her Dad didn't want her to become the next Juliet, but she still loved him anyway and didn't care about her outcome, hence, "And my daddy said stay away from Juliet But you were everything to me." Her Dad wants her to marry some other guy, but she loves her 'Romeo' and refuses. Her father says marry this song's approximation of 'Paris' or marry no one. "Romeo save me, they try to tell me how to feel This love is difficult, but it's real, Don't be afraid We'll make it out of this mess It's a love story baby just say yes" "Romeo save me I've been feeling so alone" Then she finds out that she's pregnant "Cause you were Romeo I was a scarlet letter" and 'Romeo' uses that to get her father to let her marry him, and so he proposes. "Marry me Juliet you'll never have to be alone I love you and that's all I really know I talked to your dad go pick out a white dress It's a love story baby just say yes" In the end, 'Juliet' marries 'Romeo' and everyone's happy.
4. Corny

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   Mar 31st 2009 !⃝

   The pronouns change in the last verse; from "You were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles..." to "He knelt to the ground...You'll never have to be alone..." With reference to confusion, being told what to feel and feeling alone in between.
   
   Although the idea of equating a scarlett letter with single momhood/pregnancy in our society intrigues me, I think the reference to the scarlett letter means that she either gave in and married or at least promised herself to the guy that her dad picked out for her; but she's still in love with Romeo (at least in the idea of Romeo).
   
   Its a song that can be interpreted in many ways, it's unrequited love or a happy ending, or maybe both. Which is what we all want out of Romeo and Juliet!
5. dwiizie

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   Mar 26th 2009 !⃝

   Well Romeo and Juliet is a good metaphor for "forbidden love" I think Romeo got her into unwed pregnant teen status and her dad was furious and told him to get away from them, maybe even planning to "take care of" the family's new problem. She, wanting to keep the baby AND romeo, freaks out and runs away, and dad goes to find Romeo to get to her, and Romeos like what? I stayed away like you told me... Then they realize they both love and worry about the young impregnated girl, dad tells Romeo to go find her and make an honest woman of her. He obviously doesn't know whats going on or what they're doing, hes just trying to do the right thing "I love you and thats all I really know" I think it is a nice love story, I do hate the scarlet letter reference but I think, in my interpretation of it all, it serves its purpose. And we were both young when I first saw you shows how much they've been forced to grow up over a short period of time. Maybe even the repeat of this at the end shows that they're still together 40 years from now.
6. anonymous

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   Mar 26th 2009 !⃝

   I tend to agree with those who say the scarlet letter means she was pregnant. The narrative of the song has them meet at a party in the first verse. The second verse where she has snuck out to the garden to see him "We keep quiet 'cause we're dead if they knew" seems to imply that something is going on. In the very next bridge she refers to herself as a scarlet letter, which could easily imply that she's pregnant. When they finally meet on the outskirts of town and he tells her that he has spoken to her father, and he has apparently consented to the marriage. One good reason for this quick turnaround may be to save the shame of a baby out of wedlock. If this is the case though, there is a very ironic suggestion to "pick out a white dress." Though perhaps that is intentional to keep up her image virginity. This has the potential to be a very ironic representation of a girls infatuation with a guy, which leads to an unfortunate marriage of necessity. Also it is perhaps a satire of how people always seem to believe that their own romances are worthy of Romeo and Juliet (which we all know does not end that well) and are always blinded by their position within their own relationships. If this is the case the song writer may just be having a quite laugh at the thousands of couples who have probably already chosen this as "their song." Because overall it is a very pleasant sounding song, and has amazing depth if any of these hints and ironies are intended. If it is intended to be taken at face value as a "love song" then it has some serious flaws with its writing, and poorly placed, possibly unnecessary references. Still like the song though.
   
   Jarryd Lee, New Zealand
7. delilahjosephine

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   Mar 26th 2009 !⃝

   maybe "the scarlet letter" ment she was preggo. it's a nicer way of putting it and unless you've read it you wouldn't know.
8. anonymous

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   Mar 16th 2009 !⃝

   Everyone thinks *their* particular love story is worthy of Romeo and Juliet. However, the Juliet's father would have never would have let Romeo marry Juliet. This is just a case of an cautious and perhaps overprotective father- and an overreacting daughter who blows an infatuation way out of proportion. - and to make a good song out of it, she invokes the name of Romeo and Juliet and the first other piece of literature that happens to pop into her head.
   Because, the random reference to the Scarlet Letter doesn't make sense, either. The Scarlet Letter, an "A," stood for adultery. Neither "Romeo" nor "Juliet" in this story are married. S=| Unless it's just a reference to illicit s**, which it might be, I guess.
   It sounds like she married this guy a few weeks or months after she met him- and didn't even date him at all. That sounds like a surefire recipe for divorce: a rushed marriage.
   Just because a song is ooey gooey and full of "summer air, ballgowns, princes and princesses" doesn't mean it's well put together.
9. anonymous

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   Feb 1st 2009 !⃝

   I think this is a song about what Taylor hopes for herself. As someone said before, one of her favorite plays was Romeo&Juliet and she would want that happily ever after for herself. Thats why in the music video it keeps on having flashback to present time, because thats her "dream".
10. anonymous

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    Nov 18th 2008 !⃝

    I think its like romeo and Juliet obviously but that she is having a flashback of her former life because in the music video its modern and then it goes to her in a old fashioned dress.
11. jess96

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    Nov 9th 2008 !⃝

    Well obviously it is almost like Romeo and Juliet. She and the man she loves can not see each other because her dad tells him that he can't (And my daddy said stay away from Juliet). But in the end he ends up asking her to marry him ( and pulled out a ring and said marry me Juliet).

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