Swift’s ‘Tis The Damn Season is as misunderstood as Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken

Summary

Decoding Taylor Swift Podcast Summary
Episode: “Swift’s ‘Tis The Damn Season’ is as misunderstood as Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken”
Hosts: Joe Romm & Toni Romm
Date: April 2, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this deep-dive, Joe and Toni Romm dissect Taylor Swift’s “’Tis The Damn Season” through the lenses of narrative ambiguity, meta-storytelling, and poetic allusion. They explore how Swift’s songwriting—comparable to Shakespeare’s in its complexity—cultivates emotional resonance, viral memorability, and layered interpretation, particularly in her usage of references like Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” The hosts also draw parallels with Swift’s personal philosophy, choices around fame, and recurring motifs across her discography.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Framing the Song

• Duality with “Dorothea”:
  • "'Tis the Damn Season" is paired with "Dorothea," the first told from Dorothea’s perspective, the latter from her old flame’s.
  • Joe: “The narrator of this song is Dorothea… the girl who left her small town to chase down Hollywood dreams. And what happens when she comes back for the holidays and rediscovers an old flame?” (01:02)
• Ambiguity of the Lover's Gender:
  • Taylor famously leaves the lover’s gender ambiguous, allowing listeners of all backgrounds to see themselves in the story.
  • Toni: “She left this up to interpretation. For queer people to be like, oh, could be lesbian, but for straight people to not feel alienated.” (04:26)

2. Lyrical Dissection and Thematic Layers

• Title Significance & Tone
  • “’Tis the Damn Season” is Swift’s first use of a swear in a title—signaling a biting, bittersweet return to her roots.
  • Joe: “It’s her only swear word that she’s put in a title.” (03:16)
  • The title is both sarcastic and melancholic, reflecting ambivalence about coming home.
• Relationship Dynamics
  • The song captures a mutual, unspoken agreement to rekindle a past relationship—“call it even”—knowing it’s fleeting.
  • Toni: “It's clear that it's a relationship that… they kind of wait for each other.” (03:38)
  • Joe: “She wants to be forgiven… but she also wants to have the fling while she's here.” (12:00)
• Regret & Nostalgia
  • The “road not taken” line is Swift’s twist on Frost’s poem—in the song, returning/nostalgia is the road not taken, not the individualistic choice.
  • Joe: “She’s flipping that and saying, well, now I’m regretting the road not taken and it always leads to you and my hometown.” (08:43)
• “Write this down” – Multiple Interpretations
  • Could be a plea to memorialize the relationship, a wry contract for the weekend, or commentary about truth versus memory.
  • Toni: “She wants her lover to write it down. So it'll... be proof that it happened.” (07:34)
  • Joe: “She's making a deal here... write this down.” (07:51)
• Parallels With “Cardigan” & Other Swift Songs
  • The characters’ roles are reversed compared to “Cardigan”; here, Dorothea leaves instead of staying.
  • Joe: “This is the reverse of ‘Cardigan.’ She keeps leaving. In ‘Cardigan’ she sings ‘giving me your weekends.’” (13:25)
  • Themes of regret, longing, and fame at the cost of love repeat in “Midnight Rain,” “Life of a Showgirl,” and more.

3. Meta Commentary: Art, Memory, and Storytelling

• Songwriting as Self-Reflection
  • Swift’s songs are often meta—about art and the act of writing itself.
  • Joe: “This is another meta. This is a meta song… she’s the writer, she wrote this.” (16:43)
• Living for the Story
  • Both Taylor and the hosts reflect on the inherently “writerly” impulse to immerse oneself in emotionally complex situations for the sake of richer storytelling.
  • Toni: “Part of being a writer is just living… that's like 90% of what writing is, is just living.” (36:30)
• Allusion and Irony in “The Road Not Taken”
  • The poem is not about bold individualism, but about rationalizing arbitrary choices after the fact; Swift’s use is deeply ironic.
  • Joe: “If you read what he wrote… as for the passing, there had worn them really about the same… So the point is they were the same… as the years pass... we tell ourselves, 'Oh, I had to do this.'” (31:33)

4. Notable Motifs & Literary Devices

• Circularity and the Hero’s Journey
  • The road not taken is a circular one, always looping back on itself—a nod to both “The Wizard of Oz” and the classic Hero’s Journey.
  • Joe: “The road not taken is actually a circular road.” (34:11)
  • Ties to T.S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding”:

    “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” (37:16)

• Poetic Devices
  • Anaclastic: using the same word (“even”) with shifting meaning.
  • Ambiguity: She “wants to have it both ways” but can’t.

5. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Toni, on ambiguity and queer coding:

  “I feel like it would have been nice to add like a she pronoun in there. Like, come on, it's not that hard.” (04:26)

• Joe, on self-inflicted heartbreak:

  “She isn’t the greatest human being in the world. Right. Just like in ‘Cardigan’... she wants what she wants.” (27:01)

• Toni, on writing and life:

  “To be a writer is just you have to live... that’s so cool. That's like 90% of what writing is, is just living.” (36:30)

• Joe, on meta-narrative and regret:

  “She’s making a very cold calculation. Here she is to leave the warmest bed I’ve ever known. So she's been in other beds and still this is the best one.” (25:07)

• Joe, reading Frost:

  “I shall be telling this with a sigh... Two roads diverged in a wood and I — I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” (29:19)

• Toni, on heartbreak’s utility:

  “Every writer should do that... as a writer, you have to put yourself in situations... so you can write about them.” (28:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:02] Overview of Dorothea, framing the song as a pair
• [03:16] Significance of the song’s title; discussion of ambiguity
• [04:26] Exploration of gender and inclusivity in the lyrics
• [06:18] Discussion of the central chorus; unpacking “call it even” and “write this down”
• [08:43] Analysis of “the road not taken” as a motif and its reversal
• [13:25] Parallels to “Cardigan”; continuity in Taylor Swift’s universe
• [16:43] Song’s meta qualities and commentary on fame
• [19:19] Reflection on storytelling through songwriting
• [24:53] The theme of fake friends and performative happiness (“faking smiles”)
• [25:07] The “warmest bed” and choosing fame over love
• [29:19] In-depth breakdown and recitation of “The Road Not Taken”
• [34:11] The road’s circularity; perpetual return to home/hometown
• [36:30] Toni’s reflection on what it means to be a writer

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Conclusion:

Joe and Toni conclude by reaffirming the song's many layers, meta-commentary, and emotional complexity. They tease upcoming episodes on Willow, Marjorie, and Champagne Problems—highlighting the connective tissue running through the sister albums, folklore and evermore. Listeners are left encouraged to look deeper, not just at Swift’s lyrics, but in their own storytelling and choices.

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Why Listen?
This episode is a masterclass in close reading and the art of viral storytelling, offering both Swifties and aspiring communicators nuanced strategies to make their own writing resonate and endure.

Transcript

[Toni]

Tis a damn season. Write this down. I'm staying at my parents house and the road not taking looks real good now and it always leads to you in my hometown.

[Joe Rome]

Hi, I'm Joe Rome and I'm his daughter Toni. Welcome to Decoding Taylor Swift where you'll learn the storytelling tools Swift uses that make her a modern day Shakespeare.

[Toni]

What can make you a better communicator so you can drive your mission and build your tribe?

[Joe Rome]

This podcast will not only transform how you think about Swift's songs, but also give you the life changing tools to lead, connect and change the world.

[Toni]

This episode we are talking about a song that I had kind of forgotten was in her ERAS tour set, but is nevertheless a song that as I listen to it, I really do enjoy. It's called Tis the Damn Season and it's the first in her Evermore Folklore set.

[Joe Rome]

This song is part of a pair with Dorothea.

[Toni]

Yes.

[Joe Rome]

Later in the album. And the narrator of this song is Dorothea. Dorothea is sung by her hometown love whose gender is not identified and Taylor said, Dorothea, the girl who left her small town to chase down Hollywood dreams. And what happens when she comes back for the holidays and rediscovers an old flame? This song is stacked with phrases that could mean more than one thing or that are somewhat ambiguous as to why they're there. And it also refers to repeatedly to the Robert Frost poem the Road Not Taken.

[Toni]

Yeah, the Road Not Taken looks real good now.

[Joe Rome]

Which adds to the problematic interpretation because that is the most.

[Toni]

Well, I would assume I'll explain when we get to the chorus, but someone

[Joe Rome]

wrote a famous essay called the Most Misread Poem in America about the Road Not Taken, so it will be very interesting to try to suss this out. Anyway, I do like this, this song and Antonia is going to sing. Yeah, but let's get into the singing of this song because I think it is the lyrics that are compelling but also subject to interpretation.

[Toni]

That's true. All right, I can get the first few notes. It's kind of deep, so bear with me.

If I wanted to know who you were hanging with while I was gone, I would have asked you. It's a kind of cold fogs up windshield class But I felt it when I passed you. There's an ache in you but there by the ache in me. But if it's all the same to you, it's the same to me.

And then. Yeah, nice stop there.

[Joe Rome]

It's a very sweet song. The title is interesting. We didn't talk about the title, but

[Toni]

Tis the Damn Kind of a holiday song. And obviously she's back for the holidays.

[Joe Rome]

Right. But the Tis the Damn Season tells you it's her only swear word that she's put in a title, at least up till that point.

[Toni]

Or vigilantes. So, anyway, yeah, it's very sweet.

[Joe Rome]

It's very sweet. But the opening line, if I wanted to know who you were hanging with while I was gone, I would have asked you.

[Toni]

Well, it's clear that it's a relationship that is. They both know that there's seeing other people, or they have, but they kind of wait for each other, you know?

[Joe Rome]

Right. And apparently he just told her about this woman he's seeing. Because if I wanted to know, I would ask you. Right, right. And it's. And then she says it's a kind of cold fogs up the windshield glass.

[Toni]

Well, she's talking about. I mean, clearly he's mad at her for leaving. That's something that we can see. And clearly he likes her more than his new girl.

[Joe Rome]

Well, you're assuming it's a he or she.

[Toni]

Okay, listen, you know that I'm the last person to be homophobic for lesbians, but here's the thing is, like, I don't know, just saying, she left this up to interpretation. For queer people to be like, oh, could be lesbian, but for straight people to not feel alienated. I feel like it would have been nice to add like a she pronoun in there. Like, come on, it's not that hard.

[Joe Rome]

For whatever reason, she chose not to.

[Toni]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rome]

But also, it's the kind of cold fogs up windshield glass. Well, of course, that also happens when you're smooching in a car and you get hot and heavy. So are they also getting hot and heavy now even though he's upset with her or. But I felt it when I passed you. Yeah, well, you know, there's an ache in you put there by the ache in me. So, yes, she left to go to. As we. We don't know this here, but since she, in the Evermore prologue, says that she left, you know, and it becomes obvious over time. But. But if it's all the same to you, it's the same to me. Which is ambiguous because it isn't. It's not the same to them. It's not the same to this person because they're the one who was left behind.

[Toni]

Right. Well, she's asking, you know, it's all the same to you. You know, I'm willing to still be

[Joe Rome]

with you, you know, for the weekend.

[Toni]

For the weekend.

[Joe Rome]

I mean let's, you know, get. Get to the true. We can get to the chorus because the chorus is the. Is sort of the key. Key thing in this song.

[Toni]

Right? Let me get those now.

So we could call it even. You can call me babe for the weekend. Tis the damn season. Write this down. I'm staying at my parents house. And the road not taken looks real good now. And it always lead in my hometown.

How'd that sound?

[Joe Rome]

That was great.

[Toni]

Great.

[Joe Rome]

So we could call it even, right?

[Toni]

Like it's fine that I left, but you're dating some bitch new, like I don't know.

[Joe Rome]

Right. And. And we. And later she will comment on, you know, I'm not gonna ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay. But even so, she is the one who left to seek fame and fortune. Now again. And it's true, he doesn't follow her.

[Toni]

There's an interesting analysis on genius for Write this down. I mean of course Tis the damcy is in their home for the holidays and it also could be cuffing season. But write this down. I mean later in the song they say, you know all my friends that'll write memoir or books about me if I make it. And she's afraid that perhaps this will be written out of the memoir. So she wants her lover to write it down. So it'll there. So it's proof that I raped happened.

[Joe Rome]

It is entirely possible that Write this down is her asking him to tell her story. It's a little.

[Toni]

It's also could be like ironic. Like write this down. Like how ridiculous this is, you know.

[Joe Rome]

Right. Or I was also thinking that the deal that she wants to make with him, he could write down we're making a deal here. The deal is you can call me babe for the weekend. But that's it. Right. This is what we're doing, you know, we're not gonna argue about it. You're not gonna come back to me, you know, at the end of the weekend. Right? Write this down.

[Toni]

Right.

[Joe Rome]

But so she's still staying at her parents house. So she's not.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

You know, I mean she could be. I know we're to think maybe she's in her 20s still.

[Toni]

Yeah.

Well, and.

Yeah,

[Joe Rome]

but. And the road not taken looks real good now.

[Toni]

Well, the road not taken is her staying, not leaving.

[Joe Rome]

Right. And she is twisting things, of course, because. And we'll get to this later, but in this poem is the narrator at the end is actually rationalizing to himself that taking the road less traveled by has made. Has made all the difference. And. But here she is flipping that and saying, well, now I'm regretting the road not taken and it always leads to you and my hometown. Now, this is critical because there's one question which isn't asked in this song, but it is asked when she tells you in the prologue that this is about Dorothea. And there's a later song as to why she has named this imaginary character Dorothea. And I believe, since the most famous Dorothy, of course, is from the wizard of Oz. And she famously runs away from home. And the lesson she learns at the end of her journey is there's no place like home. So I don't think it's an accident that she chose Dorothea for this character. But, of course, as we know, in this case, Dorothea is not staying. She doesn't learn the lesson. There's no place like home. She is just gonna have a fling when she gets home.

[Toni]

Exactly. We can go to the second verse now.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah, let's do it.

[Toni]

I parked my car right between the Methodists and the school that used to be ours. The holidays linger like bad perfume. You can run, but only so far. I skate it, too. Remember how you watched me leave? But if it's okay with you, it's okay with me.

[Joe Rome]

So park the car. Her school.

[Toni]

Park the car at Harvard Yard.

[Joe Rome]

Her actual school. One of the schools in Pennsylvania was next to a Methodist church. And the holidays linger like bad perfume.

[Toni]

I know, it's, like, sickening. They're supposed to sweeten things up, but, you know, they don't. It's a good, simple metaphor that gets the point across, has a deeper meaning that can be uncovered pretty easily.

[Joe Rome]

It's good you can run, but only so far.

[Toni]

Only so far because your head's always tethered to that place. I think that's true. No matter what happens to you, I escaped it, too.

[Joe Rome]

Remember how you watched me leave?

[Toni]

Yeah. Clearly she ran away.

[Joe Rome]

And then again. But if it's okay with you, it's okay with me, but.

[Toni]

Right. And then she's like, we could call it even.

[Joe Rome]

Right? This whole thing is. She's trying to have it both ways, right?

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

She wants to be forgiven, you know, for.

[Toni]

I know, Leaving. She's, like, so real.

[Joe Rome]

But she also wants to have the fling while she's here.

[Toni]

Can't have it both ways.

[Joe Rome]

Can't, really. I mean, you shouldn't.

[Toni]

Maybe for the weekend.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah.

[Toni]

But it'll always lead to him.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah. And look.

[Toni]

Or her.

Or them. You never really know, you know? I mean, like, yeah, it's.

[Joe Rome]

It's. I don't want to say she is using this person, but. Because he's got to agree.

[Toni]

Being manipulative, you know?

[Joe Rome]

Right. And.

[Toni]

And that's why she's fully aware of this. That's why it's kind of. It's not like he's being used or she. It's more like she recognizes it, but she's just too, like, blinded by affection and love to, like, care. It's just a sad situation.

[Joe Rome]

It is a sad situation. That's, you know. Tis the damn season. It is.

[Toni]

It is kind of a sarcastic. Right?

[Joe Rome]

Yeah. And damn. It's kind of a little help, like a hell. I mean, it's.

[Toni]

I mean, wait, that's so true.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah. I mean, you know, this. She wants what she can't have, but she's gonna have it for a little bit of time. She wants to be forgiven.

[Toni]

Right.

[Joe Rome]

For doing this. So you have to agree up front that this is all we're doing.

[Toni]

Exactly.

[Joe Rome]

Because I'm leaving you again.

[Toni]

Right, Right.

We're leaving again.

[Joe Rome]

But I just want to say one thing. This is the reverse of Cardigan.

[Toni]

Yes. Yeah. She keeps leaving instead of keeping.

[Joe Rome]

She keeps leaving. And because remember, in Cardigan she sings giving me your weekends.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

So she is the reverse character. Right. I thought you. Right. You're not getting me, but you are getting me for the weekend. So, you know, again, she doesn't do these things by accident. And particularly given that this album was somewhat a continuation, arguably, they're sister albums. That's what she calls them, their sister albums. Right. So again, she knows the lyric she used before a few months earlier. Right. She's using it here. Right. She is connecting this song to Cardigan. And that is bittersweet to say the least. If you. You know, we've talked about Cardigan. It is.

[Toni]

It is. It is a. Well. And we'll talk about it again.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah, right. It's a brutal song.

[Toni]

Okay, well, I can get to the chorus.

[Joe Rome]

Please.

[Toni]

Okay.

We could call it even. You could call me babe for the weekend. Tis a damn season. Write this down. I'm staying at my parents house and the road not taking looks real good now time flies. Messy as the mud on your truck ties Now I'm missing you, your smile. Hear me out. We could just. We could just ride around. And the road not taking looks real good now. And it always leads to you in my hometown.

Or I'll just redo that.

And it always leads to you in my hometown.

How about that?

[Joe Rome]

Yeah. And so the These. The chorus gets longer.

[Toni]

Yeah. It's just because it's coming more emotional. Like, it's like a. It's like she's rolling. These words are spilling out. It's coming out. Yeah.

That's why.

Longer choruses, like long, elongated choruses. The second chorus over. It's a good way to show the emotion of a song.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah. And, you know, write this down. It still leaps out as. As. As. As. As ambiguous. Right. I mean, she's. She's going to repeat it, but it

[Toni]

definitely feels like it works. You know, I don't know. I think it works, and I think that is very interesting. Just on the commentary of how hard it is to understand this song. I'm doing the musical for my university this quarter and discussion with the director who is, you know, it's all student run. It's very impressive. This is just a really good musical. Like, I'm. I'm constantly shocked by the fact that an actual human being who's like, my age wrote, like, something that's genuinely really good. I was talking to her and something that she said really resonated, which is that there was going to be a bridge that was given to a different character, but she decided to give it to me, even though she didn't know why. She just thought it felt more honest. And. And I'm just realizing, listening to a lot of songs and reading my own writing, you know, like, a lot of the things that you write or do in art don't immediately seem obvious why they work, but they strike an emotional truth. This song does work, and I think it works because some of the lyrics do hit at something more emotional.

[Joe Rome]

I like it. I mean, it's ironic, of course, as it often is, is she's the writer, she wrote this song and we're gonna get to her bad friends who want to write a book about her. And so this is another meta. This is a meta song. I mean, it isn't about her, but of course she does become famous. Right. And we know that.

[Podcast Narrator 1]

Well.

[Toni]

And Midnight Rain is also about this same type of thing. You know, she ends up being famous. She left the dude who didn't want. Who wanted her to stay put and be. Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

Yes. And after this, years later, she will finally, in the life of a showgirl, sing about the boy she left behind. Tragic. The most tragic of the songs on that album. Right. The boy who. What's the name of that song? The.

[Toni]

Oh, are you talking about Ruin the Friendship?

[Joe Rome]

Yes, Ruin the Friendship. Right. So she has an analog of having left a Boy behind. But in this case, she never connected with him. It's her regret. Right. Her deepest regret. Right. Is that she didn't ruin the friendship, that she didn't go out with the boy. She leaves and tragedy ensues. So it's certainly on her mind, this general idea of. And we get a better picture of the boy. He's got truck tires. This small town.

[Toni]

Yes, exactly.

[Joe Rome]

Supposedly it's Tupelo. We learn in the. Dorothea.

[Toni]

Yeah, Tupelo. Yeah, exactly.

[Joe Rome]

Tupelo, Mississippi. And so he's.

[Toni]

If it's like gay, kind of makes it more heartbreaking, you know, Mississippi's not. Not very famous for being welcoming to gay people.

[Joe Rome]

No. Now I'm missing your smile. So again, her.

[Toni]

Hear me out. She's like realizing that she can't have it both ways.

[Joe Rome]

Right.

[Toni]

She realizes that it's weighing on her. This is a good song because it's a very good story. Like the story wise is like. Even though it's structured like a regular song, it's not structured like this happened and this happened and this happened. As you can, you uncover it's. It's more structured. Here's the surface. Here's under the surface. Here's under the surface. Here's under the surface. And then in the bridge you get to.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah, this, this is, you know, many of the songs that. Of her best songs, and we've. We've certainly discussed many of her best songs already. I would say half of them at least have this underlying layer that you have to suss out that you have to parse. And the word choice is always incredibly, always incredibly important. Incredibly important. And again, the road not taken looks real good now. All right, let's.

[Toni]

I knew the bridge. Yeah, let me get that note. Let me just like listen to make sure I'm getting it right. Okay.

Sleeping half the day Just for old times sake I won't ask it away if you don't ask me to stay so I'll go back to LA and the so called friends who write books about me if I ever make it I learn about the only soul who can tell which smiles I'm faking and the heart I know I'm breaking is my own to leave the warmest bed I've ever known we could call it even. Even though I'm leaving

and I'll be

yours for the weekend Tis the damn season.

[Joe Rome]

Yep.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

Yup. And yup.

[Toni]

And you should cut it and like cut the pauses so they sound like less like pauses.

[Joe Rome]

Like you want me to cut. Which part?

[Toni]

Well, I'm not super acquainted with the song, so there's some gaps in like the bridge, I'm sure. Again, you guys, please, please head on over to the search bar of the application you're using. If you want to listen to the song like it's actually supposed to be sung, it's sung better than how I can do it.

[Joe Rome]

I think everyone, I don't think you'll take it personally to hear that everyone knows that Taylor Swift probably has sung better than you.

[Toni]

That's crazy. I don't know why you'd say that. Seriously, that's disgusting.

[Joe Rome]

Okay, continue.

[Toni]

Okay, well, yes, like, yeah, I mean, sleep in half the day for old time's sake. Yeah, right.

[Joe Rome]

This is very, very poignant. Sleep in half the day just for old time's sake. Well, you know what she's saying is stay in bed with you.

[Toni]

Right, right. Well, it's also, it's not like they're having sex. I think what it is is it's just they're being pure and happy. You know, they're sleeping in half the day together. I mean, they stayed up all night, but like, it's also like they're just sleeping in.

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[Joe Rome]

Yeah, well, again, it's like Very cute. They're a couple.

[Toni]

Yeah, exactly. Just for old time sake. Seriously.

[Joe Rome]

All right. She puts the bargain out there very bluntly. I won't ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay. Right. So this is what she wants to call it even. Right. This is what she wants maybe for him to write down, this is our deal again, I'm restating the deal.

[Toni]

Right. And she goes back to la. And in Dorothea, you know, the dude or person or girl sings, you got shiny friends since you left town. Friends don't try to. And then, this is why we can't have nice things. She talks about fake friends, which is friends don't try to trick you. Get you on the phone and mind twist you. And it's like, yeah, they're fake friends and, you know, they want to latch onto her success. So, you know.

[Joe Rome]

Right, well. And in Dorothea, she is clearly successful, but who write friend who'll write books about me if I ever make it? So they're sort of. They're not good people, but. And wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles I'm faking. Taylor. Faking smiles is a running theme in the song.

[Toni]

I can do it with a broken heart, et cetera.

[Joe Rome]

And also I save my fakest smiles.

[Toni]

Right, Right. And also the way I love Gio Taylor is like. He can't see the smile. I'm faking and my heart's not breaking because I'm not saying anything at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Joe Rome]

Right. So I went to the warmest bed I've ever known. She's an actress. And again. Right. She is, in this song, very, you know, clearly an actress. And so. And in some sense, this song is a confession of her choosing fame over love. A very classic thing we see in songs over and over again. Except this has, you know, the Midnight Train to Georgia. One of my favorite songs. Right. Is about the failure. The person who goes to Hollywood doesn't make it and comes home on the midnight train. And the heart I know I'm breaking is my own. So again, she's making a very cold calculation. Here she is to leave the warmest bed I've ever known. So she's been in other beds and still this is the best one. And again, we could call it even. Even though I'm leaving. So she's using the word evens.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

Differently. This is the. The anaclastic. What. What was it? Anyway? This is the figure of speech where you use the same word with a different meaning.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

And again, she understands that it isn't even. It's not even because she's leaving. And again, she didn't have to come home. I mean, you know, she does come home to see her parents. Well, we get that. Does she have to torture this person just to satisfy her nostalgia? You know, this is the question she's posing. You know, she's. This is not. She isn't the greatest human being in the world. Right. Just like in Cardigan.

[Toni]

Just like her shiny fake friends. But. Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

Right.

[Toni]

Well, who.

Who is?

[Joe Rome]

But, you know, she wants what she wants.

[Toni]

It's true.

[Joe Rome]

And I'll be yours for the weekend. Tis the dam season. So repeating the line. And now the line gets. This dam gets more and more meaning. This is kind of a little hell again. What she has described the place where you go and you're tortured with the thing that you want but you can't have. Right.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

Like the myth of Sisyphus. Right?

[Toni]

Yeah, sure.

[Joe Rome]

Everything's right out of reach.

[Toni]

Yeah.

But then why would you do this? You know? Is it worth it? Seems like it sucks, but I guess they're both, you know, is it better to not have had this happen or what?

[Joe Rome]

Well, you could ask the question, I think whether she is punishing herself. She's going through this torture.

[Toni]

Yeah.

Going back to your old high school.

[Joe Rome]

She's going back.

[Toni]

You miss your friends, but it's like, awkward.

[Joe Rome]

Purposefully reliving the. We're gonna have a brief relationship, and then I'm leaving again and I'm breaking. The heart I know I'm breaking is my own. Right, Right, right. She is, like, saying, I'm just gonna put myself through this heartbreak. And as you know, when we get to the Tortured Poets department. Right. One of the points of that song, as we uncover, is that she tortures herself so she can be a better songwriter. Right.

[Toni]

Exactly.

[Joe Rome]

Right.

[Toni]

Well, I think every writer should do that. That's my. I don't think it's very controversial. I think it might seem controversial to other people, but I feel like for writers, even in my creative writing class, our teacher was like, as a writer, you have to put yourself in situations. You just have to be in a lot of situations, and they have to be a little bit crazy so you can write about them. So that's what I try to do. Yeah. Instead of doing homework, I just say that it's like life experience for being a writer. Whenever I procrastinate to go to a bonfire or something, you know, And I

[Joe Rome]

don't think we can forget the repetition of the Road not taken. Right. Because that song is very famously right. Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and Sorry I could not travel both and be the one traveler long. I stood and looked down as far as I could to where it bent in the undergrowth. Then I took the other as just as fair and having perhaps the better claim because it was grassy and wanted wear. Though as for that, the passing there had worn them really about the same. And both that morning equally lay in leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day. Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere. Ages and ages hence Two roads diverged in a wood and I. I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.

[Toni]

And I didn't realize how much that poem eats like that was such. That was fire.

[Joe Rome]

It is a great poem, but as many people have written, it's one of the most widely quoted and cited and used as titles of TV episodes. But.

[Toni]

Well, hold on.

Not to do a little poem analysis, but it sounded like people had taken both paths. There are no footprints that day. Couldn't see where people had gone, though. And one was more overgrown with grass. It just seems like he took the one that must. That might seem like there was less of an obvious way to go. Not that it was less. I mean, it was less traveled by. Not in the sense that less people had taken it, but.

[Joe Rome]

Well, this is often interpreted as a poem about individualism. And I took the road less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. But if you read what he wrote.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

As for the passing, there had worn them really about the same.

[Toni]

Right. That's what I'm saying.

[Joe Rome]

Right. So the point is they were the same. He is telling this later with a sigh, ages and ages hence, he's rationalizing the choice that he made because these were the same. It wasn't the road less traveled by. But we all, as the years pass and we don't go back to home and try again, we tell ourselves, oh, I had to do this. I hadn't, you know, there was a reason for my choice and that's made all the difference. But the point is it was random. Right. So the interesting catch to the, you know, tis the damn season, is that she does want it both ways. Also, there were two paths.

[Toni]

Well, she keeps trying to go back. But the point is you can't.

[Joe Rome]

Right? You can't. But also she still wants to do it.

[Toni]

Yeah, right.

[Joe Rome]

She wants to do it for A weekend. Right. So she is reliving the choice only to make the same choice again, even though it's going to break her heart. She's going back to false friends from the warmest bed she ever knew. So it's, you know, this is a poignant. This is poignant in the reverse way that Cardigan was poignant. And it is a great song. I mean, it is, it is, it is. And you know, I think if you just want to finish the song.

[Toni]

Yeah, I mean, just finish the song.

[Joe Rome]

Yeah, just finish the song.

[Toni]

Okay.

We could call it even. You could call me babe for the weekend. Tis the damn season. Write this down. I'm staying at my parents house and the road not taking looks real good now Tom Fuzz. Messy as the mud on your truck ties Now I'm missing your smile. Hear me out. We could just ride around and the road not taken looks real good now and it always leads to you in my hometown it always leads to you in my hometown.

There you go.

[Joe Rome]

So interesting. So the road not taken is actually a circular road.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

Right. Because the road's not taken. Leads back to where it started.

[Toni]

Well, maybe the road wasn't going off to la. Maybe the road was going to LA and coming back and going to LA and going. Coming back, you know.

[Joe Rome]

Well, and this circularity, of course, is very much classic of the hero's journey story in the wizard of Oz. But. And so, you know, she is. Running away and coming back and it always leads to you and my hometown. Right. So this is, this is again, like Cardigan, it keeps, It's. It doesn't just happen once.

[Toni]

Right, right.

[Joe Rome]

And. And in fact, this is kind of like a Twilight Zone episode in some sense.

[Toni]

You know, it's kind of. Yeah. Terrible.

[Joe Rome]

Right.

[Toni]

Like Groundhog Day.

[Joe Rome]

Right. She's reliving the best moment and the worst moment and forcing herself, but this time. But she's choosing to.

[Toni]

Yeah.

[Joe Rome]

So it's a very, you know, it is. It is a poignant song.

[Toni]

And

[Joe Rome]

you know, write this down. Of course, the final meta is that she did write this down. Yeah, she wrote this down as a song. Right. This is, in some sense, this is the sequel to our song. Right. This is the bittersweet version of our song. I'm going to tell our story, which is circular and I'm gonna keep singing it.

[Toni]

Yeah, seriously.

[Joe Rome]

So she's very meta and she's a writer and she puts herself through stuff.

[Toni]

She does.

[Joe Rome]

Maybe as you say, because she's a songwriter. Right. So she is a writer and that's Part of her philosophy is, yeah, I'm gonna put myself through it, but I

[Toni]

just think writing is just one of the best careers you could ever have. I mean, like, in principle, maybe not money wise, but just because, like, to be a writer is just you have to live. I mean, like. I mean, it's. The concept of being a writer is crazy because it's like, write about what? Anything you want. You can literally write anything you want and you can just like live and be alive and then you write about that. And part of being a writer is just living. And that's so cool. That's like 90% of what writing is, is just living.

[Joe Rome]

Well, and living and remembering, you know, My parents were both writers, which is why I, as a.

[Toni]

And so are you.

[Joe Rome]

I am. But I did not pursue writing. I became a physicist because my uncle was a brilliant physicist, but also because I saw that neither of my parents were paid very well. My father was a newspaper editor of a small, medium sized town and notoriously not well paid. And my mother was a freelancer. I do want to read a quote from T.S. eliot, which is one of my favorite quotes. It's part of a poem called Little gidding, published in 1943. We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time, which is the hero's journeys. And you know, as you say, I did become a writer, so I ran away from being a writer and I ended up being a writer. So there you go. Yeah, yeah. There's a lot going on in this song. And oh, and I wanted to mention a couple lines from Dorothea where the writer says, the singer says, but are you still the same soul I met under the bleachers? I guess I'll never know. And you'll go on with the show. Right? And this again ultimately foreshadows the entire album of Life of a Showgirl. Right. It's a show and you made a choice. You chose the show rather than the real thing. And these are choices that she thinks about all the time. Right. They're never far from her mind. This path of fame means maybe I can't have real relationships or the relationship. Everything's gonna be warped by the show.

[Toni]

Right?

[Joe Rome]

Okay, well, really a great job. And oh, next week we're gonna progress to some better known songs.

[Toni]

Oh, my God, I love Willow. That's one of my favorite songs by her of all time.

[Joe Rome]

Great, great song. Followed by Marjorie.

[Toni]

Another wonderful song.

[Joe Rome]

Champagne Problems, another wonderful song.

[Toni]

I know how to play that song on piano.

[Joe Rome]

And champagne problems, of course. For those who've been to the Errors Tour or seen the movie, that's the stop the show moment, right? That's where she gets the long, long applause. She plays it on the piano and then finally tolerate it. Okay, great. We will see you next week.

[Toni]

We will see you next week.

Bye.

Bye.

[Podcast Narrator 2]

From the parents behind Law and Order comes a mystery the whole family can enjoy. Patrick Picklebottom Everyday Mysteries Step into the whimsical world of Patrick Picklebottom, a precocious 11 year old with a love for reading and an uncanny ability to solve mysteries. Inspired by the beloved children's book of the same name, this podcast vividly brings Patrick's tales of deduction and everyday adventures to life as he unravels baffling enigmas and solves clever cases. Patrick Picklebottom Everyday Mysteries is perfect for for kids and is just as entertaining for grownups who love a good mystery. The whole family can listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Narrator 1]

The war is over and both sides lost. Kingdoms were reduced to cinders and armies scattered like bones in the dust. Now the survivors claw to what's left of a broken one world, praying the darkness chooses someone else tonight. But in the shadow dark, the darkness always wins. This is old school adventuring at its most cruel. Your torch ticks down in real time and when that flame dies, something else rises to finish the job. This is a brutal rules light nightmare with a story that emerges organically based on the decisions that the characters make. This is what it felt like to play RPGs in the 80s. And man, it is so good to be back. Join the Glass Cannon podcast as we plunge into the shadow dark every Thursday night at 8pm Eastern on YouTube.com theglasscannon with the podcast version dropping the next day. See what everybody's talking about and join us in the dark.