#I DONT LIKE A GOLD RUSH

[gingerale2017]

gold rush is so kaider

[rogueinparadise]

✩˖ ࣪‧₊˚໒꒱⋆✩ Gold Rush, Lyrical Analysis

(Taylor Swift, Evermore)

Track 3: Gold Rush

In Track 3 of Evermore, titled ‘Gold Rush’, Swift describes the anxiety which accompanies loving someone. She has previously addressed this anxiety she feels in relationships in other bodies of work, most notably in her 4 albums predeceasing Evermore in songs such as ‘Cruel Summer’, ‘Delicate’, ‘Dancing With Our Hands Tied’, and ‘Out of the Woods’ -- to name a few. In this track she speaks about the kind of anxiety in which she attempts to keep a relationship secret, whilst being held witness to everyone else pine after her lover. This secrecy is explored heavily in her last 5 studio albums, connecting them and tying them to the same muse by popular argument. In this song, she compares the way in which others are drawn to her lover as a ‘Gold Rush’, using a term used for when multiple parties are attracted to a site due to its production of gold to create a beautiful, yet anxiety inducing, metaphor for her emotional reaction to this situation. In her prior studio album Lover, she describes love as “golden” (‘Daylight’), and also admits in the title track that she is “highly suspicious” that everyone who sees her muse “wants” them. In Lover, she explores these emotions with upbeat melodies and cadence, however, in accordance with the themes of the Evermore album, these emotions are now overcome with heartache, explored in a forlorn manner through the lens of Swift’s now apparent hurt. 

“Gleaming, twinkling, eyes like sinking ships on waters. So inviting, I almost jump in” 

Taylor Swift: Gold Rush, Evermore (2020)

The opening lines of the track begin with a mystical and dreamlike melody describing the magnetic pull of her lover’s appearance (“You should think about the consequence of your magnetic field being a little too strong” -- Gorgeous, Reputation). We can instantly recognise that this song is being written in the past tense, as a reflection, much like the rest of the songs included on this album as this is evidenced in the use of the word “almost”. The use of this word highlights the temptation she felt in this relationship. It could be argued that the temptation here was to throw it all to the wind and admit her love publicly, but as discussed on later tracks on this album and in prior and following bodies of work, it can be concluded that Swift never quite gets to do this. Furthermore, the way in which she compares her muses eyes to sinking ships begging her to go down with them suggests a relationship in which she stands a lot to lose, especially through public admission of her love, which is a theme explored heavily throughout her discography.

“But I don’t like a gold rush, gold rush. I don’t like anticipating my face in a red flush. I don’t like that anyone would die to feel your touch.Everybody wants you. Everybody wonders what it would be like to love you. Walk past, quick brush. I don’t like slow motion, double-vision in a rose blush. I don’t like that falling feels like flying ‘til the bone crush.Everybody wants you, but I don’t like a gold rush” 

Taylor Swift: Gold Rush, Evermore (2020)

The connective tissue of Swift’s song whilst writing about this specific muse is seemingly tied into every lyric featured in track 3 of Evermore. The song features intense themes of insecurity within her relationship as she battles with her own perception of her lover, and how others share this perception, reducing its uniqueness and the value of her opinion (in her eyes). It could be argued that this is mostly born from the pedestal she places her lover on, evidenced in the repetition of the line: “everybody wants you”. This mantra is repeated several times throughout the song, highlighting her deep insecurity within the relationship and the idea that it could be taken, or stolen, from her at any moment. The idea of putting her lover on a pedestal is further explored in the contrast between personifying her lover as a ‘Gold Rush’ whilst reducing herself to just another person magnetised to their beauty and value, especially in the eyes of the public. Swift appears to be hiding her admiration for her muse as much as possible, but often failing, and anticipating her failing in this becoming obvious to others whilst also resenting that others will recognise the speciality and perfection of the one she loves. The contrast between the perfection of her lover and the idea of her being just another onlooker struck with awe is telling of how she views herself and the value and high standard she holds her lover to, which is what makes the degradation of their love story all the more heartbreaking: “I don’t like that falling feels like flying til the bone crush.” 

“What must it be like to grow up that beautiful, With your hair falling into place like dominos? I see me padding ‘cross your wooden floor, with my Eagles t-shirt hanging from the door. At dinner parties, I call you out on your contrarian shit, and the coastal town we wandered round had never seen a love as pure as it.And then it fades into the grey of my day old tea, ‘cause you know it could never be...” 

Taylor Swift: Gold Rush, Evermore (2020)

The placement of her muse on this pedestal continues into the chorus of the song, where she details a manner of perfectionism that she herself will never be able to attain, but her lover commands effortlessly, seemingly their whole life. Swift's regard for her lover is telling of her insecurity not only within the relationship, but also within her own self-perception, which we can observe her battle with in other songs such as ‘The Archer’ and ‘Anti-Hero’. The use of the word ‘dominos’ is another example of the so-called “connective tissue” linking these albums and their respective songs to the same muse as in ‘Mastermind’ (a track from Midnights), she speaks about the orchestration of her relationship and “the dominoes cascading in a line”. Swift’s metaphorical use of the word ‘domino’ appears to be used when she speaks of planning and perfectionism, so it is useful to imagine these songs as being linked, despite the past tense of this track, which will later be explained. On the topic of past tense, there is a certain nostalgic and reflective tone running throughout the vein of the album, featuring heavily in this song. The chorus details Swift reflecting on the events and dynamic of their relationship until it inevitably fades away due to forces outside Swift's control and also due to Swift's own actions. It is undecided which she blames more, as she goes between both narratives throughout the course of the tracklist. It is ultimately up to the listener to draw their own conclusions. 

In the final chorus of the track, Swift changes the lyrics slightly, a technique used throughout her songwriting to indicate finality or a change in narrative -- a conclusive ending: 

“My mind turns your life into folklore, I can’t dare to dream about you anymore. At dinner parties, won’t call you out on your contrarian shit. And the coastal town we never found will never see a love as pure as it. ‘Cause it fades into the grey of my day old tea, ‘cause it will never be...” 

Taylor Swift: Gold Rush, Evermore (2020)

Firstly, the lyric “my mind turns your life into folklore/ I can’t dare to dream about you anymore” is extremely significant for many reasons. The implication here that her prior studio album, said to be the “sister album” of this album, titled Folklore, was used to turn the events of their relationship into songs is extremely telling of who the muse is, but also that their relationship has now ended, as she cannot dream about this person anymore, she cannot make any more stories to be passed on (“and just like a folk song, our love will be passed on” -- Seven, Folklore). Her lover is now absent from the dinner parties they once attended together, and she now must carry on without them, hosting independently without her lover at her side. She will no longer lovingly debate with them over the dinner table, as this part of her life has now drawn to a close. Furthermore, the trip they took together privately may as well not exist, and the love they found together also goes down with this ship. With no public commemoration of their love, it dies with them. 

[faaun]

what draws you back to your country what draws you back to your land when i was a kid i told myself if i ever left iran i'd never go back 2 years into living in the UK i started looking at news on iran again 10 years in and i visited it for the first time again and today i heard an iranian mother talk in farsi to her child on the train to london the way my mother used to and i wanted to cry i wanted to ask her whether they're still cutting the mountaintops whether the lakes are still drying today i showed the person i was with pictures of waterfalls and palaces and forests and snow-white north something odd pulls me back with increasing force i can't ignore it ever again

[dayurno]

every time gold rush comes on i have to sit down and imagine the kevin day amv with intense accuracy. What must it be like to grow up that beautiful...........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cherryberry1403]

Gold rush is remus trying to stop himself from falling for the great sirius black because everyone worships the ground he walks on and remus does not like slow motion double vision in a rose blush

[anisohtropy]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Kaveh thinks he’s Taylor singing Gold Rush about Alhaitham but it is in fact the opposite because of the two of them Alhaitham is the more ordinary one and Kaveh is the famous one that everyone adores and Alhaitham is the pining fool head over heels in love go listen to the song and come back and admit I’m correct

[pen-papers]

Accidentally clicking QUIT instead on CONTINUE after finally reaching the top of Death Mountain in OOT

Remembering that there's the secret path back to Goron city through the Lost Woods

[graceful-not]

No actually all of you need to sit your asses down bc I just watched the legacy shorts and. HOW HAVE I NEVER HEARD ANYONE SAY ANYTHING ABT THEM OTHER THAN GOLDEN HOUR AND SWEATING TO THE GOLDIES???? HOW HAS NO INE SAID A SINGLE THING ABOUT THE GOLDEN LEGEND SHORT?? OR THE ANIMATION STYLE OF GOLD RUSH???? I could have gone my whole life without watching those do you understand that. Why are we, as a fandom, not taking about these more, or like, AT ALL. we should be insane about this. We should be insane about this, right??? RIGHT??????

[millenari]

Drop a wip update? It’s been a minute 👀

Well I've made very little progress on the Tugger pov gold rush. I've been stuck on the Skimble argument scene for weeks at least, though I worked on part of it a few days ago. Luckily after this single hard scene is like 20-30k or so of easy scenes that I'll be able to breeze right through.

Otherwise I started editing my human/celeb/soulmate au and I've discovered that the first draft is actually in excellent shape in comparison to my other first drafts. I've gone through 60k worth of the first round of editing for that one in like three days. And admittedly 60k of 300k doesn't feel that impressive in context but for the Tugger pov gold rush I'm basically killing it if I edit 1k a day.

Haven't made significant progress on anything else other than a new fic I started writing; it's a shorter one about the junkyard flooding. It looks like it'll come out to around 40-50k and it's more of a tribe fic than a tuggoff fic. I initially started out with this one with the intent of giving every single character a chapter but I Dont Think That Will Be Happening.

[doodlboy]

Hrm...do demons have Gem associations or should I fuck around and see what happens

[jentlemahae]

[cloudprincesslady]

this is what you came for x gold rush? taylor swift comes out every show of pride month challenge

[nomaishuttle]

so embarassing when i go to lyrics post and then realize with great shame that ive lyrics posted that exist same lyric like 5 times b4

[sophiagrimes]

this is likely no surprise but i accidentally let myself develop a real crush on my coworker like fully and it has ruined my life. and its all my fault. because i tried to tell some of my besties like “i think hes cute/sweet/funny kinda like a crush but i dont wanna date a coworker haha so im being cool about it” and they were like “aw but yall are cute!” but then like that was it right and thats all it will be. and literally one of the other girls at work came in drunk (off the clock, to eat at the restaurant) and was saying how cute he was and then like laughing it off and some of my friends were like “theyd be a pretty couple! like ken and barbie!” and its like. ah. hm. hfnfbmmbbbmnngngn. he just joined the dnd party and its fun and everyone likes it so i wont ruin anything and hes very nice and cool so i wont let myself make up imaginary shit that will fuck up my perception of him irl. because i am a grownup :)

[camelots-daffodil]

Sometimes self care is going for a drive in the middle of the night so you can blast that one song that perfectly describes what you’re feeling while parked next to an empty field where no one can hear you.

[crunchycrystals]

im actually here for the surprise songs tonight but :((((( i dont have a livestream