As she has with previous albums, Taylor Swift gifted fans with a prologue, adding contextual clues to help unlock “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Only this time, there’s a prologue and an epilogue.
For the opening of “TTPD,” Swift mentor and muse Stevie Nicks, whose handwritten, untitled poem (other than deeming it “for T … and me”) prefaces the 16 songs on the album.
According to Nicks’ notes, the poem was started Aug. 13, 2023 in Austin – she performed in the city two nights later – with a second time stamp of 8:50 p.m. Sept. 13.
“She was on her way to the stars. He didn’t say goodbye,” Nicks writes, an unsubtle reference to the broken relationship that fuels Swift’s new album.
While Nicks’ words are primarily aimed at Swift, it’s impossible not to read into Nicks’ history and tempestuous relationship with long-ago love and former bandmate Lindsey Buckingham with lines such as: “She was just flying thru the clouds where he saw her … she was just making her way – to the stars – when he lost her.”
If fans aren’t left in a puddle after absorbing the emotional blows on Swift’s 11th album, they’ll next be confronted with an essay – or, rather, a summation – from Swift, writing from her position as The Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.
Her “debrief” is a cryptic explanation of the content.
“As you might all unfortunately recall, I had been struck with a case of a restricted humanity,” she writes. “Which explains my plea here today of temporary insanity.”
As Swift writes about “lovers” who “spend years denying what’s ill fated,” likely referring to her relationship with Joe Alwyn. Later, in a line that will have fans speculating on if she’s talking about Alwyn or Matty Healy, she says, “I was out of the oven and into the microwave.”
No matter who she’s writing about, “He never even scratched the surface of me. None of them did.”
Then, with Swiftian style, she proclaims, “A smirk creeps onto this poet’s face because it’s the worst men that I write best.”
The mutual admiration society between Swift and Nicks can be traced to 2010, when the pair shared the stage at the Grammy Awards (the performance was not universally beloved) and later that year, when Nicks penned an essay about the burgeoning superstar for Time magazine.
“Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and childlike nature,” Nicks wrote. “This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John.”
The most Taylor Swift song ever:‘I Can Do it With a Broken Heart’ (track 13 on ‘TTPD’)
Zip ahead 13 years and Nicks found new reason to be touched by Swift’s work.
Following the late 2022death of Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac keyboardist and one of Nicks’ dearest friends, Nicks spoke often about how Swift’s “Midnights” track, “You’re on Your Own, Kid,” brought her comfort as she grieved her friend.
In May 2023, Nicks shared during a live show in Atlanta, “The two of us were on our own, kids. We always were. And now, I’m having to learn to be on my own, kid, by myself.”
Read on for the full text of the prologue and epilogue to ‘The Tortured Poets Department’:
He was in love with her
Or at least she thought so
She was broken hearted
Maybe he was too
Neither of them knew.
She was way too hot to handle
He was way too high to try
He couldn’t even see her
He wouldn’t open his eyes
She was on her way to the stars
He didn’t say goodbye
She looked back from her future
And shed a few tears
He looked into his past
And actually felt fear.
For both of them
The answers would never be
Ever clear
Don’t ask questions now
Do that later
She brings joy
He brings Shakespeare
It’s almost a tragedy
Says she
Don’t endanger me
Don’t endanger me
He really can’t answer her
He’s afraid of her
He’s hiding from her
And he knows that he’s hurting her
She tells the truth
She writes about it
She’s an informer
He’s an X-lover
There’s nothing there for her
She’s already gone
There’s nothing that can stop her
She was just flying
thru the clouds
Where he saw her
She was just making her way
To the stars
When he lost her…
At this hearing
I stand before my fellow members
of the Tortured Poets Department
With a summary of my findings
A debrief, a detailed rewinding
For the purpose of warning
For the sake of reminding
As you might all unfortunately recall
I had been struck with a case
of a restricted humanity
Which explains my plea here today
of temporary insanity
You see, the pendulum swings
Oh, the chaos it brings
Leads the caged beast to do
the most curious things
Lovers spend years denying what’s ill fated
Resentment rotting away
galaxies we created
Stars placed and glued
meticulously by hand
next to the ceiling fan
Tried wishing on comets.
Tried dimming the shine.
Tried to orbit his planet.
Some stars never align.
And in one conversation, I tore down the whole sky
Spring sprung forth with dazzling freedom hues
Then a crash from the skylight
Bursting through
Something old, someone hallowed,
who told me he could be brand new
And so I was out of the oven
And into the microwave
Out of the slammer and into a tidal wave
How gallant to save the empress
from her gilded tower
Swinging a sword he could barely lift
But loneliness struck at that fateful hour
Low hanging fruit on his wine stained lips
He never even scratched the surface
of me.
None of them did.
“In summation, it was not a love affair!”
I screamed while bringing my fists
to my coffee ringed desk
It was a mutual manic phase.
It was self harm.
It was house and then cardiac arrest.
A smirk creeps onto this poet’s face
Because it’s the worst men that I write best.
And so I enter into evidence
My tarnished coat of arms
My muses, acquired like bruises
My talismans and charms
The tick, tick, tick of love bombs
My veins of pitch black ink
All’s fair in love and poetry
Sincerely,
The Chairman
of The Tortured Poets Department
