#writing of speak now

[backup-baby-backup]

Writing of Speak Now

Rampant speculation warning! Since Speak Now was basically a solo project, there aren't any other songwriters to spill the beans on the songwriting process, so most of this is inference and/or rampant speculation. Don't take this as being 100% factual. There are also some details about her personal life in this account, which I recognize is not warmly received by all, so do avert your eyes if you don't.

The years that each song was written are plucked from the US Copyright Office, so at least they should be accurate.

Often-used sources: @tswiftmyspace, @10yearsoftaylor

31 October 2006: Taylor opens for Jake Owen in Portland, Oregon at a bar.

2 November 2006: Taylor writes Sparks Fly.

The above message seems to have been posted by Steve of the IC, who despite his many flaws is generally a pretty accurate source.

On 13 June 2010, Taylor would hold a 13-hour meet and greet at the CMA Fest, where she would be pestered by fans to include Sparks Fly on her next album.

October 2008: Joe Jonas breaks up with Taylor over a 27-second phone call.

8 March 2009: John Mayer tweets about wanting Taylor to sing on his song Half Of My Heart. Taylor happily agrees.

April 2009: Taylor writes If This Was A Movie with Martin Johnson.

Not much proof for this date aside for the "six months gone and I'm still reaching" line. Since the copyright file gives a creation date of 2009, this song could only be about Joe Jonas.

This song could have also been one of the songs she recorded on March 19th or the songs she wrote "a few weeks before" May 29th.

Either way, I still think it's more likely that If This Was A Movie was the first song written for Speak Now, according to her account of the songwriting process for the album, where she gradually gave up on making cowrites.

24 April 2009: Taylor writes Haunted.

Speculation: here Taylor said she got the idea for a song "at 3:00 a.m. in Arkansas". I think this is Haunted, as she also explicitly said elsewhere that she "ended up waking up in the middle of the night writing this song about it".

Taylor performed in Jonesboro, AR on thid day on the Fearless tour.

22 May 2009: John Mayer makes a surprise appearance on the Fearless tour, where he and Taylor perform White Horse and Your Body Is A Wonderland. Superman is possibly written about this encounter.

Taylor said this about Superman before the one time she played it live:

This is about, well, a guy, as usual. And this was a guy that I was sort of enamoured with, as usual. The song actually got its title by something that I just said randomly in conversation. He had walked out of the room, when I looked over at one of my friends and I said, "Man, it's just like watching Superman fly away."

Since Superman is obviously about John Mayer (for example, its lyrics are the secret message for Dear John), this was probably an interaction with John backstage on this day, where her friends would be there (not so for the other interactions they had in December).

Also, Superman was registered with Better Than Revenge, Last Kiss and Mr. Perfectly Fine in the Sony/ATV catalogue, which points to a creation date of early 2009.

I also don't like the implications of them singing Your Body Is A Wonderland at all.

23 May 2009: John Mayer tweets a picture of Taylor. They were likely recording Half Of My Heart.

Thanks to this masterpost by @silkchifffon!

30 May 2009: Taylor records some songs she wrote a few weeks before. One of these might be Last Kiss.

Not much proof for this date, just that I don't think if she had been aggravated by Much Better already, she wouldn't be writing Last Kiss.

12 June 2009: Much Better by the Jonas Brothers is released. It includes a not-very-subtle reference to Taylor Swift.

1 July 2009: Taylor is "recording a bunch of new songs". One of these might be Better Than Revenge, which would mean the song was written in June 2009.

Better Than Revenge references Much Better, but also claims that Camilla still "has him", which means it was written before the two broke up, which was reported on July 27th. Therefore, Better Than Revenge must have been written between June 12th and July 27th.

30 July 2009: Taylor (Swift) meets Taylor (Lautner) on the set of Valentine's Day.

August 2009: Taylor writes Never Grow Up.

The content of the song suggests that this song is about her first night in her self-bought Nashville condo (NOT the house she used for secret sessions, which was bought in 2010). According to public records, she bought this apartment on August 6th, so she probably spent a night there in the same month between her Omaha performance on the 9th and leaving for London on the 19th.

The secret message suggests she moved out in July, which I think means that she "officially" moved out and stopped living with her parents in July 2010. This could be because her condo was still under renovation as late as the May 2010 Vogue issue.

13 September 2009: Just guess.

15 September 2009: Taylor attends an Adam Young concert in New York City. That night she writes Enchanted in her hotel room.

For extra proof, compare the dress she wears in these candids and the one she wears in Adam Young's (in)famous Tumblr post.

Early December 2009: Taylor writes Ours shortly before her 20th birthday.

11th December 2009: Taylor performs Half Of My Heart with John Mayer at the Z100 Jingle Ball. Rumours of her dating John start to circulate after this.

13th December 2009: Taylor (Swift) turns 20. Taylor (Lautner) attends her birthday party and gets dumped shortly after.

Early January 2010: Taylor records some songs again. One of these might be Speak Now.

This obviously relies on the common theory that Speak Now is about Hayley Williams watching her ex-boyfriend Josh Farro get married, so obviously if that's wrong this entire section is wrong too.

Hayley and Taylor were hanging out a lot in late 2009/early January, one instance of which is seen in the linked Myspace post above. I think Hayley told Taylor about Josh Farro marrying someone else during this period.

26th January 2010: Taylor is photographed leaving John Mayer's show.

I personally think they broke up shortly after this (IIRC they weren't even photographed together afterwards until the CMT Music Awards), especially as the February 13th Lover Journal entry kind of implies she wasn't seeing anyone at the time. But that's for another thread.

28th January 2010: Taylor is seen with Cory Monteith for the first time.

31st January 2010: Taylor wins Album of the Year at the Grammys for Fearless. She duets with Stevie Nicks and is widely panned.

1st February 2010: Bob Lefsetz reviews her Grammys performance.

11th February 2010: Taylor (Lautner)'s birthday passes and Taylor (Swift) doesn't call.

22nd February 2010: "I've been writing a lot of songs." Some of these might have been Mean and Dear John.

This placement is mainly because after Scott Borchetta heard Mine he told her to write more songs like that, saying that she had found "true north" with the song (see below). Dear John and Mean are clearly not like Mine so they probably came before that encounter.

Scott Borchetta was out defending Taylor on February 4th, which probably points to the writing of Mean around this time.

The timing of Dear John obviously depends on when she broke up with John Mayer, so your mileage might vary. (I am partial to this timing though, as this would mean that she came up with Dear John on tour, which might remind people of another track 5.) I think that she had broken up with him by February 13th, however, due to the Lover Journal entry where she's waiting for someone amazing to come into her life.

Late February 2010: Taylor writes Mine and plays it to Scott Borchetta, who loves the song.

Taylor was in Australia on February 3rd and returned on the 22nd, so she probably played Mine for Scott Borchetta late in the month.

March 2010: Taylor finishes Innocent.

According to this article, it took six months for Taylor to write a response to the VMA incident. This article also mentions that Innocent was written between February and June, so it checks out.

Late March/Early April 2010: Taylor writes Back To December.

More rampant speculation: here Taylor says the first verse was based on an actual conversion, so Taylor (Lautner) did make time to see her. I suspect that was on March 24th, when they had a lunch date in Beverly Hills. So she probably wrote Back To December shortly after that day when that memory was still fresh.

3 April 2010: Josh Farro and Jenna Rice get married. Taylor is in attendance.

13 April 2010: [Lover Journal] Scott Borchetta rejects the idea of using Enchanted as the album title. Taylor picks Speak Now instead.

5 June 2010: Taylor performs her last Fearless Tour show at the Gilette Stadium. That night she writes Long Live.

Speculation: I think this was the song she conceived of at midnight in Boston.

Fun fact! Long Live was originally going to have the subtitle We Will Be Remembered.

9 June 2010: Taylor runs into John Mayer at the CMT Music Awards. That night she pens the first line of The Story Of Us.

16 June 2010: [Lover Journal] Taylor finishes The Story Of Us.

15 July 2010: Taylor records the strings for Back To December and Haunted at Capital Studios, arranged by Paul Buckmaster. [credit: @taylor-on-your-dash]

For proof, compare the dress she wears in these candids and the one she wears in the NBC Thanksgiving Special while recording Haunted.

25 October 2010: Speak Now is released.

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[rottiens]

I want to be in a threesome with both bi men talking about me as if I'm not present, "Look how wet she is." "How bad do you want to fuck her?" "What position do you want her in?" "She's got you so hard, look at you, you're throbbing."

[abstractfrog]

Happy 1 year anniversary to Mr Sherlock Holmes! Here's a litttleee celebratory comic from me

[bluerosefox]

Her Astrophel and Sterling

hmmm

Hmmmmmmmm

You know what.

You know those AU's where the Batfam finds or learns about either hidden or thought to be dead Al Ghul Danny! with a deaged/daughter Dani (Ellie) (I should know, I created a few of those storylines) but what if, now hear me out, what if instead of them finding Danny first its Talia.

Do I want Talia discovering her thought to be dead son to be alive? Yes. Do I want her to find him while investigating Amity Park when the League gets reports of 'Lazarus creatures/water'? Yes.

DO I WANT HER TO KNOCK ON THE FENTON'S DOOR, fully ready to pretend/honey talk her way into the house to uncover what the Fenton's know, ONLY TO MEET A LITTLE ELLIE?!

YES.

Ellie whose eyes and hair look like a copy of her Beloved but she can see bits and pieces of herself as well. Talia knows the child in front of her was not fully her's though but everything makes sense when she hears a voice, a voice she hasn't heard in ages but as a mother just knows, speak out.

"Ellie! I thought I said do not answer the door my Sterling."

"But Daddy, yous was busy fighting the hotdoggys!"

Talia's eyes widen when she finally catches sight of familiar black hair and blue eyes.

and she could only lightly whisper a old nickname she hasn't dared uttered in ages, a name she secretly gave her son due to his love of the stars "Astrophel..."

[choccy-milky]

seb about to learn every language there is 📚📚

[starry-songs-canvas]

Take Care of Him

The boy, who had Damian’s face, couldn’t be more different than Dick’s (alive?) baby brother.

Aside from his Snow White hair, he smiled and laughed freely, making puns on top of his embarrassing story about his supposed twin brother.  

(“Clones don’t have childhood memories right?  So if I have an embarrassing story or two, that’ll give you a way to check that I’m not a clone AND give you ammunition for teasing!”)

“—And that’s how his face—and his pride—was forever wounded by Sparta the warrior cat!”  Danny finished his story with a flourish, cracking up immediately after.

“Huh, and to think he left it at “training”, obviously he didn’t think anyone would let the cat out of the bag.”  Dick said, laughing even as he eyed the lookalike.

Danny snorted.  “Yeah, I doubt he thought anything as Cat-astropic as that would happen.”

They sat in silence for a moment, overlooking the buildings below, with the Dalv. Co. Labs smoking in the distance and the breeze blowing past the two, yet only seeming to affect Nightwing and not the phantom beside him.

“Is he safe?  Is he happy?” Danny murmurs as he looks up at the stars, looking every bit the forlorn ghost he claimed to be.

“…We keep each other safe.  And I’d say once he got past the stabbing faze, he’s pretty happy in Gotham.”

“But I’m sure it’d make him happy to see you again.”  Dick thought back to the comments the vampire-ghost they’d fought earlier.  It didn’t sound exactly, “happy” or “safe” for Danny.  Or anyone else involved.

Danny shook his head.  “Nah.  He’s… moved on.  And with how crazy my after-life is?  I’m already dealing with ghosts, ghost-hunters, and my—err—that frootloop from earlier.  I do not need to add furries and murder-ninjas to the mix.”

Danny sighed as he floated into a standing position.  “Speaking of which, if you could just, maybe not tell him you saw me?  Better to let dead dogs lie.”

Danny’s piercing Lazarus green eyes looked at Dick and he saw the exact same expression B had on whenever he “had to do it alone”.

“Just, take care of him, Kay?  Or I’ll haunt you to the ends of the universe!”  He said, throwing up a peace sign as he turned invisible.

Dick snorted, “Yeah, sure kid.”

Dick got up and started off toward the bat-plane.  He had a brother to interrogate, and another brother/clone of his brother to find.

[tiniest-hands-in-all-the-land]

Been playing FFXIV recently desperately searching for my cunty lil man :)

I love my tiny little friend who insists I come with him for all of his political negotiations where I just sit and nod and occasionally smack a dude senseless

[sugarcoatednightshade]

thinking about how Humans Are Space Orcs stories always talk about how indestructible humans are, our endurance, our ability to withstand common poisons, etc. and thats all well and good, its really fun to read, but it gets repetitive after a while because we aren't all like that.

And that got me thinking about why this trope is so common in the first place, and the conclusion I came to is actually kind of obvious if you think about it. Not everyone is allowed to go into space. This is true now, with the number of physical restrictions placed on astronauts (including height limits), but I imagine it's just as strict in some imaginary future where humans are first coming into contact with alien species. Because in that case there will definitely be military personnel alongside any possible diplomatic parties.

And I imagine that all interactions aliens have ever had up until this point have been with trained personnel. Even basic military troops conform to this standard, to some degree. So aliens meet us and they're shocked and horrified to discover that we have no obvious weaknesses, we're all either crazy smart or crazy strong (still always a little crazy, academia and war will do that to you), and not only that but we like, literally all the same height so there's no way to tell any of us apart.

And Humans Are Death Worlders stories spread throughout the galaxy. Years or decades or centuries of interspecies suspicion and hostilities preventing any alien from setting foot/claw/limb/appendage/etc. on Earth until slowly more beings are allowed to come through. And not just diplomats who keep to government buildings, but tourists. Exchange students. Temporary visitors granted permission to go wherever they please, so they go out in search of 'real terran culture' and what do they find?

Humans with innate heart defects that prevent them from drinking caffeine. Humans with chronic pain and chronic fatigue who lack the boundless endurance humans are supposedly famous for. Humans too tall or too short or too fat to be allowed into space. Humans who are so scared of the world they need to take pills just to function. Humans with IBS who can't stand spicy foods, capsaicin really is poison to them. Lactose intolerance and celiac disease, my god all the autoimmune disorders out there, humans who struggle to function because their own bodies fight them. Humans who bruise easily and take too long to heal. Humans who sustained one too many concussions and now struggle to talk and read and write. Humans who've had strokes. Humans who were born unable to talk or hear or speak, and humans who through some accident lost that ability later.

Aliens visit Earth, and do you know what they find? Humanity, in all its wholeness.

[backup-baby-backup]

On this day 13 years ago, Taylor finally finished writing the last song on Speak Now (chronologically), The Story Of Us.

[stealingyourbones]

My favorite thing about getting into the Gravity Falls fandom is simply Not Understanding why folks had such great hate for Mabel and Ford.

Mabel didn’t start the wierdpocalypse. She’s an easily manipulated child and is fucking 12. She’s self centered but what kid isn’t?

Ford had a reason to be mad and not thank Stan in the heat of the moment when the portal opened. His brother could have easily accidentally let Bill through with his recklessness to bring his twin back. Also bitch that isn’t your house anymore. You lived in it for 6 years and your twin lived in it for 30. He paid a majority of your mortgage. It’s his now.

[mydairpercabeth]

One thing I’m really looking forward to seeing is how they convince Percy not to join Luke. Up until the end of episode 4, Percy doesn’t have any faith in his dad or the other gods. He resents them all for abandoning their kids and doesn’t like their excuses. He is disgusted by how Athena treats Annabeth. He detests the whole claiming system and that the gods can just choose to claim them if they feel like it. And he is also being actively targeted by Zeus. What will be the turning point for him to not join Luke?

[ask-spiderpool]

Hey mod, are you okay? It’s been a while since you posted (no judgement!) and I just wanted to see if something was wrong. Love you and I hope you stay strong🫶🏼

Bless you anon! I appreciate you checking in! I don't post a lot of personal updates here, but I have been going through the wringer lately... hough.

Lately I've been battling with anxiety, you know, same as everyone. It's kind of made things that I used to enjoy kind of stressful for me. Everything becomes stressful for me. Even not having things to stress about makes me stressed. I'm at my most Peter Parkeriest, in the worst sort of a way.

I thought it was a brain thing – that it was all in my head. I have a new, stressful job, and a stressful living situation, and some family issues I'm dealing with. It'll pass. So I kind of tried to power through, until my body shut down on me last year. And as it turns out, when I got checked out by the doc, it's not just a brain thing. I have a tumor (her name is Lamar, and she's benign, buuut...) she's producing 5x the normal amount of stress hormone in my body. The doctors think it's insane. I think it's hilarious. I feel like it's some kind of joke.

I've been battling this ridiculous chronic stress for years, thinking it was all in my head, but actually, biologically, I'm an overflowing reservoir of stress, and it's something that can be measured in my bloodstream. And it's been going on for years!

So, lately I've been devoting a lot of time to forcing myself to relax. Doctors orders. I can't get stressed about things. Every day I have to effectively diffuse a bomb. And the bomb is me. I'm so pumped up with involuntary stress, and I have to devote my time to keeping it at a manageable level. And so there are a lot of backflips I have to do to keep myself human right now, and not turn into a bomb.

See... posting to the blog doesn't exactly calm me down. It makes me anxious, most of the time. So I've been telling myself it's okay. Only post when you feel good. You have enough things to worry about, and the blog can't be one another thing to worry about. It can only be for fun. If it doesn't feel like fun, don't do it.

I need to do a million little calming activities to function. The blog used to calm me. But it doesn't, anymore. I still love it, and I still have so many scripts I'm excited to do, but... I just have to be patient with myself, right now. I can't bug my head over something that can wait. It can wait. Right now isn't the time. My health is the most important thing. I can't get that back, if I lose it.

Right now I'm about keeping my head above water. Keeping calm. Doing meditative things, that aren't necessarily productive... (trust me, I am SO upset about not being productive. I miss it a lot) but they force me to take it slow and force me to not worry. I'm learning the banjo (she calms me), and I spend a lot more time in nature, having staring contests with ducks and pigeons, and befriending beetles and bugs.

I'm a very positive person, and I know I'll make it through, and I love myself for all the effort I'm making to keep myself from breaking. Because I know if I didn't force myself to calm down, I could snap like an elastic band. I – I don't want to break, like I did last year. I need to be good to myself. And relaxing is an effort. It takes a lot for me. And certain calming routines work for a little while, and then stop working, and I need to make the effort all over again to find something new. It's kind of insane how much time I need to calm back down again. I remember, once upon a time, it being baseline.

Luckily there's a surgical solution, so hopefully I'll be normal again soon, and there won't be any more bees buzzing in my brain!

I hope you'll all be patient with me! And hopefully I'll make it out alive and stronger than ever, soon.

[bunnwich]

Yeah, I missed the stinky cat man's b-day, but have a WIP.💋

[whimsimmortal]

first DP screenshot redraw! 🫣

What if the rings were portals? I hear y'all on electricity core AU, that's extremely legit, and I do respect the Danny Is the Portal AU, but is there,,, portal core AU yet? 👀 (links or it didn't happen)

[wasabi-gumdrop]

oh

i am. unwell.