While listening I had some theories/other notes about each song, plus my favorite lyric from each:
the 1 - Even though Taylor said there are only 3 songs on the album about the Betty/James love triangle, I feel like this song may also be about Betty reflecting on their relationship years later. Either that, or a blend of truth and fiction with some of Taylor's own reflections on her past relationships.
Favorite lyric: "If you never bleed, you're never gonna grow"
cardigan - it's about the relationship from Betty's perspective, there are lyrical parallels later on with Betty ("high heels on cobblestones" --> "I was walking home on broken cobblestones", "when you are young, they assume you know nothing/I knew everything when I was young" --> "I'm only 17, I don't know anything", "when I felt like an old cardigan under someone's bed" --> "standing in your cardigan", "to kiss in cars" --> "kissing in my car again")
Favorite lyric: "Tried to change the ending, Peter losing Wendy"/"I knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired"
the last great american dynasty - it's about the woman who lived in Taylor's Rhode Island home before her. It's said that her nickname was Betty, which leads me to wonder if it's the same Betty in these other songs or just a coincidence? Are there 2 different Bettys? There seem to be parallels with this song and mad woman ("free of women with madness"/"there goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen" --> "no one likes a mad woman, what a shame she went mad")
Favorite lyric: "They say she was seen on occasion, pacing the rocks, staring out at the midnight sea, and in a feud with her neighbor, she stole his dog and dyed it key lime green. Fifty years is a long time, Holiday House sat quietly on that beach, free of women with madness, their men and bad habits, and then it was bought by me"
Bonus fact: Apparently the real story is that she dyed her neighbor's cat green, not a dog. But Taylor probably changed it because she loves cats so much lol Plus that's kind of the point of folklore is that the details of stories change slightly as they are passed down.
exile - this song really reminds me a lot of The Last Time and many fans have made that comparison. Especially because it's a male-female duet. The bridge is SO TRAGIC. "You never gave me a warning sign (I gave so many signs)"
Favorite lyric: "You never gave me a warning sign/I gave so many signs"
my tears ricochet - ok so there is a fan theory that it's about her feud with Scott Borchetta and Big Machine and I think once you read the lyrics it makes 100% sense. She is comparing the end of their friendship/partnership to death. There are so many lyrics I could try to explain in this that support that theory but it would be a whole ass post on its own. But what also supports the theory besides the lyrics is that it was the first song she wrote for this project, probably long before she knew it was going to be a folk album mostly about fictional characters, and she also wrote it alone. It's also track 5, which is traditionally the most emotional song on the album.
Favorite lyric: "You wear the same jewels that I gave you as you bury me" This line is SO TRAGIC!!!! I believe this lyric means that because of Taylor, she made Big Machine (and in turn, Scott) hugely profitable. It was this privilege that allowed him to sell her out for millions. If it wasn't for her, the label probably would have failed. The irony is that she made him rich, which he then used to his advantage to sell all her work. TRAGIC I TELL YOU.
mirrorball - I still kind of don't know what this song is about, it might be about her own insecurities.
Favorite lyric: "And they called off the circus, burned the disco down, when they sent home the horses and the rodeo clowns"/"I'll show you every version of yourself tonight"
seven - this song is definitely a nostalgic song about her childhood or some fictionalized version of it. One of my favorites, it's so folksy and rootsy.
Favorite lyric: "I was high in the sky with Pennsylvania under me"
august - this is about the love triangle from the other girl's perspective. It has some lyrical parallels with Betty ("August slipped away into a moment in time" --> "Would you trust me if I told you it was just a summer thing?", "Will you call when you're back at school?" --> "Betty, I won't make assumptions about why you switched your homeroom, but I think it's 'cause of me", "Remember when I pulled up and said get in the car" --> "Just thinking of you when she pulled up, she said 'James, get in, let's drive'"). I also love how at the end the bridge just keeps echoing "For the hope of it all" and it's echoing in the background and fading away because it's like a memory that just keeps fading and was never meant to last. This song also reminds me of being at the beach on a breezy summer day for some reason, so it makes me love it even more! I don't see people talking about this one very much, very underrated IMO.
Favorite lyric: "But I can see us lost in the memory, August slipped away into a moment in time"
this is me trying - at first I thought it was about Taylor apologizing for sometimes writing mean songs about people ("My words shoot to kill when I'm mad, I've got a lot of regrets about that"), but then there was a theory that it was about a recovering addict which I guess makes more sense. This is one of my favorite songs, but I don't see many people talk about it as a favorite.
Favorite lyric: "They told me all of my cages were mental, so I got wasted like all my potential" WHAT THE FUCK SHE IS A GENIUS
illicit affairs - so I initially thought this was the third song about the love triangle from the other girl's perspective but august seems to be confirmed to be that song instead. So no clue who this is about. Maybe it's about the other girl, but years later when she is reflecting back on the relationship. August is like how you'd feel about a breakup as a wistful teenager, pining over what could have been, this is definitely more mature. Maybe she is still having affairs even as an adult and this is her perspective as an adult.
Favorite lyric: "What started in beautiful rooms, ends with meetings in parking lots"/"You leave no trace behind, like you don't even exist"
invisible string - I think this is definitely about her and Joe, one of the very few personal songs on the album. It's about all the ways they were connected with each other without even knowing each other yet. It was confirmed in an interview that Joe did work at a yogurt shop as a teen to make extra money lol
Favorite lyric: "Bad was the blood of the song in the cab on your first trip to LA" He was listening to Bad Blood!
mad woman - this goes back to my theory that it could be about the same woman from tlgad. It could also be about Taylor and how the media liked to portray her negatively or would write sexist headlines about her. But the curious thing is that she references an affair again, like "wanting me dead has really brought you two together," or "The master of spin has a couple side flings, good wives always know." So if it's about an affair again, is this about Betty again or about the Betty from tlgad?
Favorite lyric: "I'm taking my time 'cause you took everything from me, watching you climb over people like me"
epiphany - ok so I have a LOT to say about this one, mostly 'cause it's my top favorite and I don't see many people talk about this one. So I think the first verse is about a soldier in WWII who witnesses a fellow soldier die (I heard Taylor's grandfather was a veteran and his picture is the one that appears in the cardigan music video). Then the second verse is about all the doctors and nurses who are treating COVID patients but watching them die. This song is just so powerful and raw and real. It is about witnessing death and how it can fuck you up emotionally, even with people you don't even really know and aren't close to. When you are a soldier or medical professional, you are going to witness death over and over and over again and it's literally part of your job. It's about the emotional and psychological trauma of witnessing death multiple times and trying to make sense of it. Soldiers in combat and medical personnel work around the clock, they don't get much time to sleep and process anything.
She does this odd thing with her vocals at the ends of the lines "Here's your rifLEEEE" and "Someone's mothEEERRR." I feel like the reason why she does this is because on the word "rifle" it sounds like a drill sergeant yelling "ten HUT!!!" and perhaps on "mother," it's like someone's about to yell "motherFUCKER!" Like the reaction you have when something tragic happens. That one's admittedly a stretch though.
At the end you can hear these slight drum beats that fade into the background. IMO they double as a drum march like in the military but also a heartbeat. HER FUCKING MIND.
Favorite lyric: "Only twenty minutes to sleep, but you dream of some epiphany, just one single glimpse of relief, to make some sense of what you've seen"
betty - obviously about the love triangle from James's perspective. So something that I noticed in the details that I loved so much is how the key transposes up at the last chorus to make it sound kind of hopeful and happy, like he is very hopeful she will forgive him. This is one of my top favorites as I think it is for most of the fans. It's very country/yeehaw Taylor lol The songwriting and general structure/composition of the song is BRILLIANT. And she writes pretty perfectly from the perspective of an immature teenage boy. I think that's why Joe probably helped her write it, to get the true perspective of someone who was once an immature, stupid teenage boy. For some reason I like to imagine this song taking place back in the 1950s and it makes me love it that much more.
Favorite lyric: "If you kiss me, will it be just like I dreamed it?"/"I don't know anything, but I know I miss you"
peace - I think this is the other song clearly about her and Joe. She is asking him if he's ok with them never having a normal life because she's famous. I feel like this would have made a better closing track than hoax, it's so raw, rootsy, bluesy, soulful, painfully vulnerable. The way she uses her vocals on this is unlike anything she's done before, it's sort of like a blues/soul-influenced melody.
Favorite lyric: "Robbers to the east, clowns to the west, I'd give you mu sunshine, give you my best, but the rain is always gonna come if you're standing with me" Ok so she subtly shades Scott/Scooter and Kayne (clowns to the WEST) and also, "the rain is always gonna come if you're standing with me" - you have to love someone very much if you're willing to stand by their side and take the shitstorm right along with them, I just love that because I think my boyfriend and I have that kind of love and relationship, we'll stand by each other no matter what
hoax - this one still confuses me. The lyrics are very sad, implying the person in the song was cheated on but she still desperately wants to believe in their relationship. I doubt it's personal as I don't think Joe would cheat on Taylor. Maybe it's about the demise of her relationship with Scott, despite their 13 years of friendship and partnership, he sold her out, and that hurt her terribly, but she still wants to believe someday they can reconcile maybe?
Favorite lyric: "You knew it still hurts underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart" - I feel like this is a reference to the 2016 drama when she was "canceled"