DECODING: LONG LIVE BY TAYLOR SWIFT

Speak Now, Taylor Swift’s new album, is one of my favorite records at the moment. All of her songs in this album were great and it is because it talks about her experiences that happened to her in the past two years, where we can surely relate to. From her new found love to the moment she felt her heart broken; these events on her life and emotions she have felt were artistically and beautifully translated into songs. Her songs may just seem to be talking about kings, queens, and Superman but if you try to dig deeper, you’ll be able to know more about her and her feelings towards the people and things around her.

            Taylor’s album was purely inspired by an event that happened to her friend’s life. And it was then that she realized that there are times in her life that she hadn’t grabbed the opportunity to speak up for herself. So with that, she decided to use it as her inspiration for her new album. And the end result of that, was a great album filled with confessions and revelations about things she haven’t said to a particular person at a particular time that have been or is part of her journey in life.

            King, Queens, Dragons, Hero, Kingdom these words are repeatedly mentioned in the song, Long Live. People may just think that this song is just a fairytale-inspired one. Well, yes. Knowing Taylor Swift, she will surely write about stuffs like that. But if you analyze what the song truly means, you’ll figure out that this song is dedicated for her band, The Agency.

The song Long Live talks about their journey as a band. She mentioned in the song the things that they had wished for from the start, the things that they traded in order for them to be successful musicians and the things that they are being thankful for.

In the opening line, “I said remember this moment, in the back of my mind. The time we stood with our shaking hands, the crowds in stands went wild” and the line “I said remember this feeling, I pass the pictures around. Of all the years that we stood there on the sidelines wishing for right now”, Taylor is constantly reminding her band to remember all the things, and the feelings that they’ve experienced from the beginning of their journey and up until now to where they are. It is serving as a preparation as to when the time comes that it will be the end of the road for them, at least they’ve got something to cherish and share their future families what craziness they had experienced being in a band and being on the road, all over the world.

Another line that struck me the most is “It was the end of the decade but the start of an age.” She was referring to the part that they were starting a new era on music; they will be opening up a whole new phase of music. And they really did live up with this; they’ve made the young generation appreciate Country Music. They made it a lot cooler, but I’m not staying that the country music back then was not good. They’ve just given country music a twist.

“Long Live the walls we crashed through, all the kingdom light shine just for me and you. I was screaming Long Live all the magic we made and bring on all the pretenders, one day...we will be remembered”, was the chorus part of the song, which just gives a shout out to the band. A thank you and at the same time an assurance that by the end of things of what they are doing right now; they will surely be remembered by the people because of their passion for music.

But the part that is really etched into my mind is where the song goes “will you take a moment, and promise me this. That you’ll stand by me forever. But if God forbid fate should step in. And force us into a goodbye, if you have children someday when they point to the pictures, please tell them my name. Tell them how the crowds went wild; tell them how I hope they shine.” The lyrics were just head-on powerful and how she sang it, really made me teary-eyed, especially when she sang this on her concerts. Her voice was pleading, begging for her band mates to share those stories to their future-families and everything that they went through as a band. She was looking straight into the future of the band. She knows that surely there will come a time that they will need to go on separate ways, for some or maybe all of them will decide to leave for the sole reason of already wanting a family or it could be other stuffs. It was just a preparation; at least she had already said her thanks and appreciation to them.

            This song was the last track off the album, it was the like the very special song from the album, and I think it means so much to Taylor. She sings this song on every concert she has on her tour and when she sings this, she makes it to a point that she introduces her band to the crowd. It was her own way of telling and showing the world that she loves and appreciates them so much.

            LONG LIVE…