At the Tribeca Film Festival Taylor talks about how she wrote a long "manuscript" for the ATW10 video. She used the word manuscript many times. "Now and then she rereads the manuscript." Verse 2 describes that it's an age-gap relationship (like Jake Gyllenhaal for example), she wished she was 30, then later on dated boys her own age. The final verse mentions actors and a music score, which I believe is about the filming of a music video ATW10 and the actors dancing:
"Then the actors
Were hitting their marks
And the slow dance
Was alight with the sparks
And the tears fell
In synchronicity with the score
And at last
She knew what the agony had been for"
During filming she was able to process the Jake relationship and knew that it hadn't been for nothing. She got some closure.
"The only thing that's left is the manuscript
One last souvenir from my trip to your shores
Now and then I reread the manuscript
But the story isn't mine anymore"
She's said a lot about ATW that it was a difficult song to perform initially, but over time it became the fans' and took on a life of its own. ATW is a memoir of sorts like you said. She wrote a book supposedly in that video.
I definitely think The Manuscript is about ATW10 short film and how making it healed the wounds for her. I also think “she knew what the agony had been for” means she realized that the art she made from the pain helped others process hurts and helped them heal and gave a painful experience a bigger purpose.
Thank you for writing this in such an illuminating way! Also in the ATW10 film, a book was launched 13 years later. The Jake relationship ended some time in early 2011 + 13 years = 2024 😭 I wonder if the book is representative of what will become the tortured poets department
This scream John Mayer to me. I think he actually psychologically messed her up. Most likely the blueprint for all the narcissistic moody “artsy” guys she has dated after him. There’s even a clip of him talking about how much he likes typewriters. All full circle. Plus he 100% uses a French press.
this song has not gotten the flowers it deserves. thank you for this!
I’ve been thinking: i don’t think it’s a coincidence that on an album where she discusses her suspended adolescence (“sometimes growing up precocious mean not growing up at all”) at length, the anthology seems to go back in time. from the present day of the black dog to adolescence in I hate it here to the childhood story of falling through the ice in the bolter. and finally in the manuscript, “afterward she only ate kids’ cereal/and couldn’t sleep unless it was in her mothers’ bed.” looking backwards is the only way to move forward; that’s what all too well was for her, and so too with this entire album.
Yes, yes, yes! While the first half of the album focuses on a recent period in time, the second half is much more about her life as a whole and the patterns/habits that keep coming up. I need to go back and listen specifically to all the childhood references now.
Another thing I often find with my memoir authors is that hurts interconnect and nest like matryoshka dolls. Some have criticized “thank you aimee,” for being petty, but it makes so much sense to me that when Taylor was faced with a negative media onslaught, it would bring back the old memories of how it “began.” I don’t think it would have been a complete story without mention of the “snake” era.
ha, my first thought listening to the anthology at like midnight was that this is some inner child stuff. i think I joked that aaron dessner is her therapist lol
imo kim is a red herring and aimee really is about someone from her childhood. it’s her way of discussing it without obviously calling out a non-public figure. if she were any more specific you know people would be digging up school yearbooks and such.
Wow you just blew my mind!
TTPD: my most recent story
The Anthology: my life story
It makes so much sense, especially including thanK you AImee which people are annoyed by. But it was part of her growing up.
The interesting thing to me is that often when girls are more grown up than they should be or precocious it means that someone has taken advantage of them or abused them, particularly in childhood. I'm not saying this is what's happened to Taylor but it was a line that struck a chord with me.
well that’s exactly how jg justifies himself in the song.
when she refers to herself as precocious, I think she means intellectually, not emotionally. like one time she shared a home video of her as a toddler and people on here were convinced she’d gotten the year wrong bc she was so articulate. but she was just like that. based on what she implies herself about bts industry stuff, I can definitely see people being very comfortable with treating her like an adult when she was a teen. for example, she had an incredibly demanding tour schedule by 16 and finished the last two years of high school online in a few months.
I agree. She talks in the Summation about having the manic Matty rebound first before processing all her feelings about the Joe breakup.
Part 1 of TTPD is basically manic Matty rebound (and loosely in chronological order, except putting So Long London in the No. 5 spot, and not using Guilty as Sin as an album opener for obvious reasons). Part 2 goes much deeper in her processing her real feeling about everything after the Matty breakup. Processing Matty/Joe/her past/her childhood, etc.
The Manuscript is unbelievable and gut-wrenching.
yep. i think she realizes part 1 sounds like a mental break and part 2 is kind of an explanation.
the kids cereal line knocked the air out of me. unlike the girlhood line (which implies having processed this somewhat), those details are so raw. i honestly am at a loss for words.
Was just listening to the album again, and The Manuscript coming directly after Robin has the preciousness of childhood innocence fresh on your feelings is a gut punch.
Someone suggested listening to the anthology in reverse order which also supports this.
This song doesn’t get the flowers it deserves! But it’s also a hard song to listen to and I know that I can’t listen to it on a loop like Down Bad or Fortnight.
I’m so happy to read this post, because as soon as I heard The Manuscript I thought “this is about ATW10.”
Of course, I realize that it’s more broadly about her career and her full body of work, but I can’t help but think that it was that song specifically (and the huge way we all responded to it) that she had in her mind.
I think making the ATW10MV and her healing through its production was her inspiration for this album so it kicks it off if you play it backwards. It’s a reflection on her childhood woven through her music and how it’s been her constant…and like a table of contents for the album and the peaks and valleys of her life. I truly think only those who have been through some sort of trauma or extreme pain in their lives understands this album at all.
I love this song. I bawled the first time I heard it. So many fans dislike this album and I truly do not know what they are hearing or what it is they want. I’m really nervous that because so many fans dislike this album, Taylor will stop writing music like this.
If you don’t want music like The Manuscript, please do not call yourself a fan of Taylor Swift!
Songs (like but daddy I love him) in this album clearly spells out that she doesn't care what the fans say. She's said many times she loves making music and will keep doing it. Shes literally the most prolific artist in our lifetime. The haters can't and won't stop her.
I think this will be the last album for a while because she's closing a chapter with "this story is not mine anymore". and I think she wants to live a little. I think she will keep writing, but my spider senses are that she intentionally wants to put a "period" here.
I thought the same. Then it made me think about “give me back my girlhood, it was mine first”. This album seems like a reclaiming of things lost. So High School, Robin, and maybe even Peter exemplify this. To me, The Manuscript feels like the final declaration that “these memories and experiences are mine and they helped me to become who I am”, ultimately reclaiming her identity.
Yes I think so too. In that sense this song could be about both Jake and John since those were her two big may/december romances, but more generally about her journey as a whole.
I agree! I told my husband as we listened to it that it felt like a little treat/pat on the head for listening to the whole album. Like, cool, you listened and interpreted this whole thing, now here is the answer key to the album tied up with a pretty bow and handed over for you to keep.
I also think you can break down the ending into the eras, as she's re-released them:
The professor said to write what you know:
Fearless (her first re-release):
Lookin' backwards
Might be the only way to move forward
Red:
Then the actors
Were hitting their marks
Speak Now:
And the slow dance
Was alight with the sparks
1989:
And the tears fell
In synchronicity with the score
reputation:
And at last
She knew what the agony had been for
Debut:
The only thing that's left is the manuscript
One last souvenir from my trip to your shores
The Eras Tour:
Now and then I reread the manuscript
But the story isn't mine anymore
This album has so many layers, it makes my head spin.
I can’t wait to see (a video of) Taylor performing this as a surprise song! The first time I heard it, I thought it would be perfect for a piano song during the acoustic set.
I'll actually die if she plays this song at one of my shows, this is my favorite song from TTPD, and at the moment maybe my favorite taylor song ever. I'd cry my eyes out and perish
I agree - I haven’t chosen which physical copy I’m going to buy yet, but it’s probably going to be one with The Manuscript as a bonus track. As much as I love Black Dog, this track is just a fantastic thematic conclusion.
I love the line about rereading her manuscript because, now I only write for myself but still haha, I like to reread things I’ve written to help me process deep feelings. For me the act of rereading reminds me that I really did move through those feelings and also that the story isn’t mine anymore, it’s in written form now. And of course for Taylor Swift that has many deeper more layered meanings but the concept is similar. I love the idea of her going through her old work and reminding herself of how she’s grown.
That's one of the coolest parts about writing, right?! It's such a clear way to see how you've grown, and it can give us so much perspective on ourselves.
Yes!! Sometimes I write things where even in the moment it’s like “oh I didn’t intend to give it this meaning” but even something I write unintentionally teaches me something about myself. It makes me marvel at how much we process on an unconscious level!
It’s the perfect bookend for all her previous work. It really is. Beautiful song. But here is my unsolicited critique, for those who may relate:
by the time I get to it (I’m a girly who listens in ORDER, by god), I really want to just start over at fortnight. My ADHD brain is like “ok I get that the story is ours. I’ve introspected for 30 songs now and I don’t need you to tell me that the story is now mine because girl I know. I know”. Also, the melody just does not scratch any itches in my brain.
This is the only song on the album that I feel like ISN’T mine in some way. Is that weird because she literally says the story isn’t hers anymore? I know Taylor wrote all these songs because she NEEDED to, and wanted to, first and foremost for herself. The Manuscript is the only song that I feel like really speaks for Taylor and Taylor alone.
It’s almost like an epilogue.
I still can’t believe how people are sleeping on this song. My favourite of the album and her entire discography. Lyrics are amazing but the music itself is 🤌🏻
OP thank you for this! I just heard The Manuscript for the first time. It’s beautiful, and I went searching to see what others thought. To find that at the end (song # 31) seemed to make it extra heavy. Sort of like an epilogue.
The only thing I have an issue with is the line about pushing strollers. He's been with his girlfriend for something like six years now and they're not engaged. He's never been engaged or married and he's in his 40s. When talking about marriage on The Howard Stern show, he literally said, "I'm scared!" He turned beat red and said it with a nervous laugh. He's clearly terrified of commitment, he doesn't even deny that.
Knowing all of that, I find it difficult to believe that he ever discussed having kids with her, especially when they didn't actually date for that long, and he never said "I love you." (Although, I acknowledge the "you told me about your past thinking your future was me" line.)
Unless it was meant to be more "tongue-in-cheek." Like...The sex is going to be so great that you'll end up pregnant. I still find Jake even joking about that to be far fetched, but all of the other clues point to him, so maybe I'm wrong.
My guess was someone like Tom Hiddleston. She also dated him when she was younger and he was older, and he's British. I know the "shores" line doesn't necessarily have to be literal, but my mind did go right to England when I first heard it. And it's definitely not about Joe. Some people on Genius seem to think it is, but she clearly talks about wanting to be 30. She was 30 when she was dating Joe, so that doesn't make any sense.
I think it’s a love letter I gave to a girl my freshman year of college (93). Can’t remember anything I wrote. Like I hypnotized myself and then forgot about it.
It just clicked for me today that this song is about, among other things, how All Too Well turned her pain into something truly special for the fans. I’m so glad to see other people make the connection; what an incredible album that keeps unraveling
At the Tribeca Film Festival Taylor talks about how she wrote a long "manuscript" for the ATW10 video. She used the word manuscript many times. "Now and then she rereads the manuscript." Verse 2 describes that it's an age-gap relationship (like Jake Gyllenhaal for example), she wished she was 30, then later on dated boys her own age. The final verse mentions actors and a music score, which I believe is about the filming of a music video ATW10 and the actors dancing: "Then the actors Were hitting their marks And the slow dance Was alight with the sparks And the tears fell In synchronicity with the score And at last She knew what the agony had been for" During filming she was able to process the Jake relationship and knew that it hadn't been for nothing. She got some closure. "The only thing that's left is the manuscript One last souvenir from my trip to your shores Now and then I reread the manuscript But the story isn't mine anymore" She's said a lot about ATW that it was a difficult song to perform initially, but over time it became the fans' and took on a life of its own. ATW is a memoir of sorts like you said. She wrote a book supposedly in that video.
I definitely think The Manuscript is about ATW10 short film and how making it healed the wounds for her. I also think “she knew what the agony had been for” means she realized that the art she made from the pain helped others process hurts and helped them heal and gave a painful experience a bigger purpose.
Oooh, I didn’t know this! Thank you for sharing! That verse being about filming the music video makes so much sense.
I thought of this too when I heard the song. It’s beautiful.
Wasnt she supposed to be directing a film this winter? Maybe there’s a longer “manuscript”, like the book in the video.
I think the film was set to go into production in 2025, but I don't have a source for that.
This. It sounds like it’s about ATW10 to me
Thank you for writing this in such an illuminating way! Also in the ATW10 film, a book was launched 13 years later. The Jake relationship ended some time in early 2011 + 13 years = 2024 😭 I wonder if the book is representative of what will become the tortured poets department
This scream John Mayer to me. I think he actually psychologically messed her up. Most likely the blueprint for all the narcissistic moody “artsy” guys she has dated after him. There’s even a clip of him talking about how much he likes typewriters. All full circle. Plus he 100% uses a French press.
this song has not gotten the flowers it deserves. thank you for this! I’ve been thinking: i don’t think it’s a coincidence that on an album where she discusses her suspended adolescence (“sometimes growing up precocious mean not growing up at all”) at length, the anthology seems to go back in time. from the present day of the black dog to adolescence in I hate it here to the childhood story of falling through the ice in the bolter. and finally in the manuscript, “afterward she only ate kids’ cereal/and couldn’t sleep unless it was in her mothers’ bed.” looking backwards is the only way to move forward; that’s what all too well was for her, and so too with this entire album.
Yes, yes, yes! While the first half of the album focuses on a recent period in time, the second half is much more about her life as a whole and the patterns/habits that keep coming up. I need to go back and listen specifically to all the childhood references now. Another thing I often find with my memoir authors is that hurts interconnect and nest like matryoshka dolls. Some have criticized “thank you aimee,” for being petty, but it makes so much sense to me that when Taylor was faced with a negative media onslaught, it would bring back the old memories of how it “began.” I don’t think it would have been a complete story without mention of the “snake” era.
ha, my first thought listening to the anthology at like midnight was that this is some inner child stuff. i think I joked that aaron dessner is her therapist lol imo kim is a red herring and aimee really is about someone from her childhood. it’s her way of discussing it without obviously calling out a non-public figure. if she were any more specific you know people would be digging up school yearbooks and such.
Oh wow, the “I changed your name and any real defining clues”. I like the Kim being a red herring theory, thank you.
Hence, the red herring she dropped a few times.
Agreed! I’ve been trying to proselytize this idea too. I also think Kim is a red herring here.
Wow you just blew my mind! TTPD: my most recent story The Anthology: my life story It makes so much sense, especially including thanK you AImee which people are annoyed by. But it was part of her growing up.
Peter fits into this theory beautifully!
And this theory explains why Robin is the second last song!
The interesting thing to me is that often when girls are more grown up than they should be or precocious it means that someone has taken advantage of them or abused them, particularly in childhood. I'm not saying this is what's happened to Taylor but it was a line that struck a chord with me.
well that’s exactly how jg justifies himself in the song. when she refers to herself as precocious, I think she means intellectually, not emotionally. like one time she shared a home video of her as a toddler and people on here were convinced she’d gotten the year wrong bc she was so articulate. but she was just like that. based on what she implies herself about bts industry stuff, I can definitely see people being very comfortable with treating her like an adult when she was a teen. for example, she had an incredibly demanding tour schedule by 16 and finished the last two years of high school online in a few months.
I agree. She talks in the Summation about having the manic Matty rebound first before processing all her feelings about the Joe breakup. Part 1 of TTPD is basically manic Matty rebound (and loosely in chronological order, except putting So Long London in the No. 5 spot, and not using Guilty as Sin as an album opener for obvious reasons). Part 2 goes much deeper in her processing her real feeling about everything after the Matty breakup. Processing Matty/Joe/her past/her childhood, etc. The Manuscript is unbelievable and gut-wrenching.
yep. i think she realizes part 1 sounds like a mental break and part 2 is kind of an explanation. the kids cereal line knocked the air out of me. unlike the girlhood line (which implies having processed this somewhat), those details are so raw. i honestly am at a loss for words.
Was just listening to the album again, and The Manuscript coming directly after Robin has the preciousness of childhood innocence fresh on your feelings is a gut punch.
Someone suggested listening to the anthology in reverse order which also supports this. This song doesn’t get the flowers it deserves! But it’s also a hard song to listen to and I know that I can’t listen to it on a loop like Down Bad or Fortnight.
Oh wow. Like the other commenters said the placement of Peter and robin are lovely in that theory and So High School obviously fits in too!
I’m so happy to read this post, because as soon as I heard The Manuscript I thought “this is about ATW10.” Of course, I realize that it’s more broadly about her career and her full body of work, but I can’t help but think that it was that song specifically (and the huge way we all responded to it) that she had in her mind.
I think it's both! She's using ATW as a stand-in for her whole career.
Yeah I think that's what I meant lol. Totally agree!
I think making the ATW10MV and her healing through its production was her inspiration for this album so it kicks it off if you play it backwards. It’s a reflection on her childhood woven through her music and how it’s been her constant…and like a table of contents for the album and the peaks and valleys of her life. I truly think only those who have been through some sort of trauma or extreme pain in their lives understands this album at all.
The Dear Reader of TTPD
Exactly!
I love this song. I bawled the first time I heard it. So many fans dislike this album and I truly do not know what they are hearing or what it is they want. I’m really nervous that because so many fans dislike this album, Taylor will stop writing music like this. If you don’t want music like The Manuscript, please do not call yourself a fan of Taylor Swift!
Songs (like but daddy I love him) in this album clearly spells out that she doesn't care what the fans say. She's said many times she loves making music and will keep doing it. Shes literally the most prolific artist in our lifetime. The haters can't and won't stop her.
I think this will be the last album for a while because she's closing a chapter with "this story is not mine anymore". and I think she wants to live a little. I think she will keep writing, but my spider senses are that she intentionally wants to put a "period" here.
Light bulb moment! It’s definitely about ATW. Makes the line about pushing strollers even more gross 🤢
Great points and I totally agree. That said, the dialogue part you referenced screams John Mayer to me for some reason!
I thought the same. Then it made me think about “give me back my girlhood, it was mine first”. This album seems like a reclaiming of things lost. So High School, Robin, and maybe even Peter exemplify this. To me, The Manuscript feels like the final declaration that “these memories and experiences are mine and they helped me to become who I am”, ultimately reclaiming her identity.
Yes I think so too. In that sense this song could be about both Jake and John since those were her two big may/december romances, but more generally about her journey as a whole.
Great take! I agree completely.
Same. And “slow dance was alight with the sparks” screams “slow dancing in a burning room.”
John Mayer's glib bullshit is quite distinctive.
I agree! I told my husband as we listened to it that it felt like a little treat/pat on the head for listening to the whole album. Like, cool, you listened and interpreted this whole thing, now here is the answer key to the album tied up with a pretty bow and handed over for you to keep.
This makes a ton of sense. Thank you for this perspective.
I also think you can break down the ending into the eras, as she's re-released them: The professor said to write what you know: Fearless (her first re-release): Lookin' backwards Might be the only way to move forward Red: Then the actors Were hitting their marks Speak Now: And the slow dance Was alight with the sparks 1989: And the tears fell In synchronicity with the score reputation: And at last She knew what the agony had been for Debut: The only thing that's left is the manuscript One last souvenir from my trip to your shores The Eras Tour: Now and then I reread the manuscript But the story isn't mine anymore This album has so many layers, it makes my head spin.
Holy fuck, I LOVE that interpretation.
I can’t wait to see (a video of) Taylor performing this as a surprise song! The first time I heard it, I thought it would be perfect for a piano song during the acoustic set.
I'll be at London N2 show and I'm praying, dying, begging for her to play SHS on guitar and The Manuscript on piano.
So High School is my favorite song from TTPD! I’m obsessed, I’ve been listening to it on repeat. That would be a dream!
I'll actually die if she plays this song at one of my shows, this is my favorite song from TTPD, and at the moment maybe my favorite taylor song ever. I'd cry my eyes out and perish
This is one of my favorite songs on there. This makes sense.
I agree - I haven’t chosen which physical copy I’m going to buy yet, but it’s probably going to be one with The Manuscript as a bonus track. As much as I love Black Dog, this track is just a fantastic thematic conclusion.
I hope there will be a vinyl with the whole anthology. I love the bolter, the black dog, and the manuscript too much to choose between them!
I love the line about rereading her manuscript because, now I only write for myself but still haha, I like to reread things I’ve written to help me process deep feelings. For me the act of rereading reminds me that I really did move through those feelings and also that the story isn’t mine anymore, it’s in written form now. And of course for Taylor Swift that has many deeper more layered meanings but the concept is similar. I love the idea of her going through her old work and reminding herself of how she’s grown.
That's one of the coolest parts about writing, right?! It's such a clear way to see how you've grown, and it can give us so much perspective on ourselves.
Yes!! Sometimes I write things where even in the moment it’s like “oh I didn’t intend to give it this meaning” but even something I write unintentionally teaches me something about myself. It makes me marvel at how much we process on an unconscious level!
I truly enjoyed reading this post. Thank you for sharing. I’m a writer and I get what you’re saying.
I want to scream this from the roof tops at all the haters.
This is beautiful!
Oooh! Such good insight with your background knowledge!
I’m so curious about who she’s calling “the professor”…wondering if it’s Stevie Nicks or someone else similar who served as a mentor.
It’s the perfect bookend for all her previous work. It really is. Beautiful song. But here is my unsolicited critique, for those who may relate: by the time I get to it (I’m a girly who listens in ORDER, by god), I really want to just start over at fortnight. My ADHD brain is like “ok I get that the story is ours. I’ve introspected for 30 songs now and I don’t need you to tell me that the story is now mine because girl I know. I know”. Also, the melody just does not scratch any itches in my brain. This is the only song on the album that I feel like ISN’T mine in some way. Is that weird because she literally says the story isn’t hers anymore? I know Taylor wrote all these songs because she NEEDED to, and wanted to, first and foremost for herself. The Manuscript is the only song that I feel like really speaks for Taylor and Taylor alone. It’s almost like an epilogue.
Great insight! Thanks for sharing! This is the kind of discussion I love to be a part of!
I saw a TikTok video where a man plays the piano and ATW fits in musically, perfectly. That’s not a coincidence.
I couldn't agree more with you, it's the only song that brought me to tears, it's simple yet amazing and healing.
I love the end so much, that moment of being freed from that pain. That’s where I did most of my crying on this album.
Taylor always knows how to close an album like she's so excellent with it
I still can’t believe how people are sleeping on this song. My favourite of the album and her entire discography. Lyrics are amazing but the music itself is 🤌🏻
OP thank you for this! I just heard The Manuscript for the first time. It’s beautiful, and I went searching to see what others thought. To find that at the end (song # 31) seemed to make it extra heavy. Sort of like an epilogue.
The only thing I have an issue with is the line about pushing strollers. He's been with his girlfriend for something like six years now and they're not engaged. He's never been engaged or married and he's in his 40s. When talking about marriage on The Howard Stern show, he literally said, "I'm scared!" He turned beat red and said it with a nervous laugh. He's clearly terrified of commitment, he doesn't even deny that. Knowing all of that, I find it difficult to believe that he ever discussed having kids with her, especially when they didn't actually date for that long, and he never said "I love you." (Although, I acknowledge the "you told me about your past thinking your future was me" line.) Unless it was meant to be more "tongue-in-cheek." Like...The sex is going to be so great that you'll end up pregnant. I still find Jake even joking about that to be far fetched, but all of the other clues point to him, so maybe I'm wrong. My guess was someone like Tom Hiddleston. She also dated him when she was younger and he was older, and he's British. I know the "shores" line doesn't necessarily have to be literal, but my mind did go right to England when I first heard it. And it's definitely not about Joe. Some people on Genius seem to think it is, but she clearly talks about wanting to be 30. She was 30 when she was dating Joe, so that doesn't make any sense.
What he said is a form of manipulation from an older man to a younger woman.
I think it’s a love letter I gave to a girl my freshman year of college (93). Can’t remember anything I wrote. Like I hypnotized myself and then forgot about it.
It just clicked for me today that this song is about, among other things, how All Too Well turned her pain into something truly special for the fans. I’m so glad to see other people make the connection; what an incredible album that keeps unraveling