Thread by @tweetsricochet

ERAS TOUR LYRICAL ANALYSIS COUNTDOWN: DAY 6 (Reputation)

Time to put the money in a bag and steal those keys, because you and I are jet-setting on our way to analyze the next song in our #CountdownToTSTheErasTour series: the fan favorite and tour sensation, Getaway Car!

A🧵:

1) Taylor wastes no time introducing the central metaphor by beginning with an ominous, distorted vocal: "No, nothing good starts in a getaway car." Let's discuss the several possible meanings behind the term "getaway car," and how these meanings can be applied to a relationship.

2) In broad terms, the dictionary definition of a getaway car is "a vehicle used by a criminal to escape the scene of a crime." By immediately likening the relationship described in the remainder of the song this way, Taylor tells us a number of things about both relationships.

3) This implies that the situation she was "escaping" was a crime scene. The simple explanation is that the act of running away itself was the crime. She used her new partner to run away from her ex, and in so doing, left her old relationship in ruins, a crime scene wreckage.

4) I also think there is more to it. Maybe the old relationship was ALREADY ruined, a crime scene of what had previously been something real and beautiful, destroyed by one or both members of the original couple. Perhaps she just needed a means of escaping the existing wreckage.

5) The other interesting aspect of the "getaway car" metaphor is that, classically, one member of the criminal duo is the perpetrator, while the other lies in wait in the car, ready to escape at a moment's notice. This places the circumstances of the escape in a specific light.

6) This setup implies that this was a pre-meditated escape. The crime was pre-planned, and her new partner was her co-conspirator. They lay in wait, ready to initiate the getaway relationship as soon as the "crime" was committed--ie, the old relationship definitively exploded.

7) Later on in the song, she confirms that the specific getaway car she is comparing the relationship to is that of Bonnie and Clyde, a romantically involved criminal duo, which adds more credence to the theory that the "crime" of the previous breakup was planned by both parties.

8) With this context, we now have the appropriate frame of reference to begin. Given the opening lines, we also know that Taylor is describing this relationship with a word of caution, almost to chastise her co-criminal: "You should KNOW nothing good starts in a getaway car."

9) "It was the best of times, the worst of crimes, I struck a match and blew your mind, but I didn't mean it, and you didn't see it." Taylor begins by explaining to the listener how she enticed her new partner into participating in the crime of wrecking her old relationship.

10) She begins with a play on a Dickens quote: "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The excitement of her new partner made it the best of times, but the worst of crimes is more ambiguous. This COULD be referring to the crime of ruining the original relationship.

11) I also suspect this refers to the double meaning we already discussed. The EXISTING relationship was also the "worst of crimes." It used to be beautiful and flourishing, but she and her (soon-to-be) ex had desecrated it. It was nothing but a sad reminder of what used to be.

12) The clever wordplay "striking a match and blowing your mind" refers to how she struck a match of attraction with her new partner. With "but I didn't mean it," she implies that she didn't plan to use them as a getaway car when they first met--their connection was happenstance.

13) With "you didn't see it," Taylor also implies that her new partner was not aware that they would later be used as an accomplice to the crime of ruining her current relationship. Their mind was simply blown by their connection, and she later capitalized on this infatuation.

14) "The ties were black, the lies were white, in shades of gray in candlelight, I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason." "Ties were black" implies that she met her accomplice at a "black tie" event. As many have pointed out, this further localizes the setting to the Met Gala.

15) In sharp contrast, the "lies were white." Perhaps these were the lies she told to her accomplice about her motivations behind entering into a new relationship with them, or about her current relationship status. Perhaps these were "white" lies told to her soon-to-be ex.

16) The shades of gray highlight the (acknowledged) moral ambiguity of her actions, both towards her ex and her co-conspirator. As she says next, "I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason." She admits that in planning this crime, both partners were subject to some manipulation.

17) "X marks the spot where we fell apart, he poisoned the well, I was lyin' to myself." The "X" Taylor refers to is likely the previous scene: the day she met her accomplice was the day her old relationship became doomed. The poisoned well she follows up with is interesting.

18) At first look, this seems to imply that her ex ("he") poisoned the well of their relationship. She was in denial about their certain end ("lyin' to myself") UNTIL she met her new partner (X marks the spot), at which point she admitted this inevitability, and they fell apart.

19) An intriguing alternative is that "he" (her ex) was actually poisoning the well of her NEW relationship. She was lying to herself that this new relationship could work, when really it was just as doomed as her old one--doomed by the very fact that it was only ever an escape.

20) "I knew it from the first Old Fashioned, we were cursed, we never had a shotgun shot in the dark." I think most likely these lines refer to the doomed NEW relationship--she knew from the first happy, stolen moments as a couple that their problematic beginning would doom them.

21) Not to pick favorite lines, but mine is "shotgun shot in the dark". On one level, she knew this new relationship never had a "shot in the dark:" this idiom of course means that they had an incredibly low chance of success. But the addition of "shotgun" adds several layers.

22) On one hand, this was a "shotgun" relationship; like a "shotgun wedding," it was conceived on desperate, poorly thought-through, hurried terms in order to achieve a very time-sensitive end. Taylor desperately needed an escape, and this was her rash, shotgun exit relationship.

23) But where does the term "shotgun wedding" even come from? It was actually derived from the idea that the wedding was forced to happen rapidly because the groom was threatened with a shotgun from the father of the bride, usually in cases of pregnancy or compromised modesty.

24) So was Taylor the one holding this shotgun to her accomplice, forcing him to go through with this reckless escape? Was her ex the one holding the shotgun to Taylor through a totally intolerable relationship, forcing her to find a way to make a rapid exit with someone new?

25) Additionally, a shotgun is also known as a "scatter gun," because it shoots multiple bullets at once to maximize range and increase the chance of hitting the target. So not only did her new relationship not have a normal shot in the dark--it didn't even have a SHOTGUN shot.

26) The full metaphor comes in the chorus, a summary of all the points we already discussed about this doomed relationship: "You were drivin' the getaway car, we were flyin', but we'd never get far, don't pretend it's such a mystery, think about the place where you first met me."

27) As many have pointed out, there is also a clever play on words with the phrase "the place where you first met me." This line corroborates her previous use of "ties are black" to zero in the scene of the crime to the "Met" Gala, where she met her future getaway car accomplice.

28) "There were sirens in the beat of your heart, should've known I'd be the first to leave." Here, she continues to chastise her partner for ever thinking this relationship could last. The very beat of their heart (ie, love for Taylor) was stained by the crime they perpetrated.

29) I also wonder whether this is a subtle suggestion that the excitement of the crime was PART of the attraction they felt for her. The sirens (ie, thrill of the chase) was part of what motivated them to fall for her--and this sort of motivation would always doom them to fail.

30) "It was the great escape, the prison break, the light of freedom on my face, but you weren't thinkin' and I was just drinkin'." Taylor describes the initial euphoria of leaving the "prison" of her old relationship. But this joy was rash, fueled by recklessness on both sides.

31) But their euphoria was short-lived, as their crime soon caught up with them. As she sings next, "While he was runnin' after us, I was screamin’, "Go, go, go!," but with three of us, honey, it's a sideshow, and a circus ain't a love story and now we're both sorry."

32) These lines describe the intense media coverage surrounding her breakup and rebound relationship. The love triangle made them all the subject of ridicule, a "sideshow" in a cruel media "circus." How could any relationship survive (become a LOVE story) in these circumstances?

33) In the bridge, she moves on from the initial escape to the eventual betrayal of her accomplice. "We were jet-set, Bonnie and Clyde, until I switched to the other side, to the other side." They were an inseparable criminal couple, glorying in their heist, until she moved on.

34) She again chides her partner for ever trusting her. "It's no surprise I turned you in, 'cause us traitors never win." As attracted as she initially was, her accomplice's most important use to her was as the driver of the getaway car. After the getaway, they became vulnerable.

35) Which leads to the betrayal: "I'm in a getaway car
I left you in a motel bar, put the money in a bag and I stole the keys, that was the last time you ever saw me." Not only did she abruptly end their relationship, but she also "robbed" them of their blind trust and affection.

36) The fact that she stole the keys, and is now the driver of her OWN getaway car, is also very important. Taylor was in such a vulnerable position in the "prison" of her old relationship, that she NEEDED an accomplice to drive her safely away. She couldn't have done it alone.

37) But now that she has escaped that prison, she is capable of moving forward alone. She is no longer dependent--she no longer needs a reason from someone else. This last act of manipulation, of stealing the keys, was also an act of finally "taking the wheel" of her own life.

38) She then summarizes the entire progression of the story in the last chorus: as "riding," "crying," "dying," then saying "goodbye in" her getaway car. She began as the passive "rider", "crying" and vulnerable, desperate to escape the prison crime scene of her old relationship.

39) But she was also "dying" in the getaway car. The act of escape was also an act of rebirth, an act of taking control of her own life. She didn't want to continue to live a life of unhappiness and manipulation. Her old self died, and her new self said goodbye to her old life.

Calling all my Getaway Car and Reputation besties: @beyeight @taylorhitsdiff @carrington_c_ @happyswiftie92 @_aprilgloria @Srry713 @WhotheHellisF @rielynn1231 @urcanadianqueen @crimsondaiz @RepuTaytion132 @reds_reputation @reputamatt @reputallison13 @TVofkelly @tayIors_rep

I have so many Rep era moots, and I love it!! @reputation_rydr @Our_Reputation_ @getawaygaia @13GetawayCat @getawaycar449 @GetawayCaroline @_spider_swift_ @g0ldcage @IMN0TALLT00WELL @definedbyclean @MamaEmmerson @celestialswiftt @taylorslavender @tswiftmeowqueen @cowboy13likeme

If you want to read more, here is Day 5 (1989):

https://twitter.com/tweetsricochet/status/1634704912503144449?t=SIdda_iqrYl3zuMNmXmlAA&s=19

Day 4 (Red):

https://twitter.com/tweetsricochet/status/1634368874039717889?t=SIdda_iqrYl3zuMNmXmlAA&s=19

Day 3 (Speak Now):

https://twitter.com/tweetsricochet/status/1633948463724474368?t=SIdda_iqrYl3zuMNmXmlAA&s=19

Day 2 (Fearless):

https://twitter.com/tweetsricochet/status/1633544158420803596?t=SIdda_iqrYl3zuMNmXmlAA&s=19

And Day 1 (Debut):

https://twitter.com/tweetsricochet/status/1633248141943218181?t=SIdda_iqrYl3zuMNmXmlAA&s=19