November 12, 2025 • 34 mins
In “Father Figure,” Taylor Swift unravels the story of a mentor who molds, controls, and ultimately fears the very protégé he created.
We see the rise and fall of this business relationship through their two conflicting points of view: the father figure who sees dollar signs, and the son who seeks independence. In the end, the mentor becomes the monster, and the protégé holds the power.
But what is this narrative really about? How does this song tie into the major themes of The Life of a Showgirl? And what is Taylor really saying here?
In this episode of the Swiftly Sung Stories podcast, we’ll break down Taylor’s storytelling, symbolism, and characters to understand the emotions and lessons at the heart of Father Figure.
We’ll explore some crucial backstory around the masters dispute, Swift’s relationship with former label manager Scott Borchetta, and then dive into our line-by-line analysis of this song.
Along the way, I’ll point out lyrical connections, suggest different meanings and interpretations, and help you draw your own conclusions about what Taylor is really getting at in this track.
✨ Swiftly Sung Stories dives deep into Taylor Swift’s storytelling craft, exploring her lyrics through the lens of literature, emotion, and the art of songwriting.
📚 Subscribe for more Taylor Swift lyric analysis, literary breakdowns, and storytelling deep dives.
✏️ Check out the full TS 101 Lesson Series, along with lyrical analysis of 250+ songs, close readings of all of Taylor’s prologues, lyric quizzes, and more at SwiftlySungStories.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to the SwiftlySung Stories podcast.
I'm Jen, your Swiftie English teacher,and today we are tackling track four in
my track by track analysis of the lifeof a showgirl, and we're diving straight
into the epic narrative of Father figure.
In my last few episodes, I analyzedTaylor's prologue poem and the first
three tracks of this album, so youmight wanna go and check those out.
(00:22):
It lays a lot of groundwork forunderstanding the themes and motifs in
this album that Taylor's really exploring.
And a quick PSA.
All of this content is availableon my website if you want the text
version with annotated lyrics.
And if you're watching this onYouTube, you can also find me wherever,
get your podcasts and vice versa.
Okay, let's roll straight intofather figure line by line.
(00:45):
Welcome to swiftly sung Stories wherewe unpack the Taylor Swift Universe
one era album and lyric at a time.
Think of it like English class,but it's all Taylor Swift
and none of the boring stuff.
I'm Jen, your Swifty English teacherand classes in session, so come
on in and meet me in the margins.
I lied.
I have a caveat First, if you watchany of my previous videos, you will
know that I don't talk about TaylorSwift's personal life unless it's
(01:08):
crucial to breaking down the meaningof her lyrics or unless she's quite
obviously pointing to something personal.
I'm not here to discoverwhat Taylor Swift did.
I'm trying to discover what theart does and what the art says.
This track father figure, unlikethe previous three songs on the
album, doesn't seem to discussany romantic relationships at all.
It seems to be strictly an allegoryabout her career in the music industry.
(01:32):
That's my read of it, and I thinkthat's kind of the general consensus.
So I think it's important that we setup a little bit of context in that
regard so we can understand the themesand the undertones of these lyrics.
Father figure is an interpolationof George Michael's.
Legendary song Father Figure, which issimilarly about a power struggle between
a father figure and his pseudo son.
(01:55):
In that song, George Michael writesabout the son as a romantic partner, but
Taylor has taken out all of the romanceand inserted a business relationship,
and there's one business relationshipshe has had in her career that maybe
probably inspired this track, andthat's what we need some context around.
I did a full deep dive on themaster's dispute in my timeline
of Taylor Swift's career videos.
(02:17):
So check that out ifyou want the full story.
But the long and the short of it is Taylorhas been on a quest for the past six years
or so, and it is the quest to reclaimand finally own her master recordings.
Of her first six albums, justthis past May, 2025, she announced
that she had finally done that.
(02:38):
But here's how this whole thing started.
Taylor Swift signed with bigmachine records owned and run
by Scott Borchetta in 2005.
This was a brand new label, and she wasone of his first and only artists, and
these two had a very father figure andmentor type of relationship according
to everything she revealed back then.
(02:59):
But keep in mind, she was 15 whenshe signed a 13 year contract.
That was essentially, as she calls itin these lyrics, a deal with the devil.
The contract gave her label and notherself ownership of her life's work,
and her life's work would go on tobecome incredibly, incredibly valuable.
(03:21):
Taylor left big machine after shereleased reputation in 2017, and we
don't know the full story around why.
It could have just been that hercontract was up and she found greener
grass elsewhere, but it could bebecause some of the themes that
she is discussing in this track.
After she left, Scott sold the labeland therefore the master recordings
of Taylor's first six albums,and he sold it to Scooter Braun.
(03:44):
Who was the bullish manager behindKanye at the time, and he was
generally seen as just a sleazy dudewho was incredibly disrespectful,
not only to Taylor, but to all women.
Taylor voiced her anger at her life's workbeing traded like stocks, but we never
really got to know how That really feltto be betrayed by a person who you not
(04:07):
only worked with, but with whom you hadthis kind of familial close relationship.
And though she's probably writtenabout this situation before in songs
like My Tears Ricochet and Mad Woman,and It's Time to Go Father Figure
really lays it out all really clearly.
Now, this is only my assumptionand Father figure could have been
(04:27):
inspired by something else entirely,or it could just be a general
allegory about how the industrypreys on young artists in general.
But to me, the anger inthis song feels personal.
It feels close to home, justlike the anger in Mad Woman
and in my tears ricochet.
And I'm gonna dissect it through this lensbecause it makes the most sense to me.
But if you have alternativeinterpretations, please, please
(04:49):
leave 'em in the comments.
There are no right or wrong answers.
My opinion is different than youropinion, and that is the whole point.
Art is subjective, and what the songmeans to you is really what matters.
We may never get to know exactly whatinspired Taylor to write it, but it's
really more about the feelings thatit inspires in you and inspires in me
because that's what art is supposed to do.
(05:10):
Okay, let's get into thefirst verse of Father Figure.
The first verse begins when I found you.
You were young, wayward lost in the cold.
So we are inside the point of viewof the father figure right now,
but Taylor is gonna switch up thepoint of view towards the end.
But right now we are inside thisolder, wiser character and he's
(05:31):
narrating, finding this lost waywardsoul that he thinks he can rescue.
If you think you've heard this storybefore, it is a well worn trope.
A powerful savior finds avulnerable person and needed help.
And in his view, thisperson needs guidance.
They're wayward, they're lost inthe cold, but as we will learn
shortly, he has ulterior motives andthis is all a game of exploitation.
(05:55):
Pulled up to you in the Jag.
It continues.
He's metaphorically sending his chariotto pick up this young person and
whisk them away to a life of glamor.
He turned your rags into gold, meaning hetook something shabby and made it shine.
But to turn rags into gold also reminds usof Rumpelstiltskin, which was a fairytale
(06:17):
popularized by the brothers grim.
And in that fairytale, a father brags thathis daughter can spin straw into gold.
The greedy king kidnaps this daughterand locks her in a tower, which
towers are gonna come up elsewhereon this album as well, until she
turns all of his straw into gold.
This is of course, an impossibletask until Rumpelstiltskin
(06:39):
appears out of nowhere.
Kind of like pulling up in the Jag.
This little elfin trickster says he canspin the straw into gold, but it'll cost
this girl, it'll cost her her necklace.
Her ring jewelry is also a big theme onthis album and, and her firstborn child.
She agrees because there's noother way out, and the gold is
(07:01):
spun and the king is satisfied andeveryone goes on about their lives.
But later in life, shegives birth to a child and
Rumpelstiltskin comes to collect.
Unless she can guess his name,he says he will take the baby.
She does end up guessingand Rumpelstiltskin kind of
disintegrates before her eyes.
(07:23):
We can see a lot of parallels betweenthe story of Father Figure, Taylor's
professional life, and Rumpelstiltskin.
They're all stories about power struggles.
But this fairytale also named theso-called Rumpelstiltskin principle, which
states that true power lies in a name.
If you can name something, youhold a position of power over it.
(07:45):
So we have to ask, howpowerful is the name?
Taylor Swift.
And how powerful is thename Scott Borchetta?.
Okay.
After the father figure, whisksaway the youngster, the winding
road leads to the chateau.
The metaphorical road to success willlead to riches symbolized by the chateau.
(08:06):
But important to note is that the fatherfigure is in the driver's seat here.
He's behind the steering wheelof the Jag, the golden chariot,
and he's fully in charge.
You remind me of a younger me.
She goes on.
I saw potential, but as is oftenthe case with controlling parents,
they're trying to live out theirfailed dreams through their offspring,
(08:28):
and this father is no different.
So there's lots of.
Of foreshadowing going on, we cansee that nothing is quite right and
this'll play out more in the chorus.
So the chorus begins.
I'll be your father figure.
I drink that brown liquor.
He's establishing this power dynamic here.
He's older as illustrated by hisvery adult choice of alcohol.
(08:51):
He's more worldly.
He'll guide his protege through the world,but as we will learn later, he doesn't
ever want his son to actually grow up.
If this song was intended as atale about Taylor's former manager,
Scott Beta, this could be a clue.
Scott Borchetta owns Big MachineDistillery, which is kind of kind of not
(09:11):
affiliated with big machine records, Iguess, which Brew Bourbon, A Brown liquor.
We can also look at this liquormetaphor as he picked his poison,
like pick your poison babe, andpoison either way, and it'll come back
around in the final chorus where thatinterpretation feels a bit more obvious.
I can make deals with thedevil because my dick's bigger.
(09:33):
He's boasting that his ego and hisclout are so oversized that he can
sell souls willy-nilly, never havingto see any real repercussions.
He's too big to failas illustrated by his.
Quote unquote manhood.
But in making deals with the devil, she'simplying that he's already sold his soul.
(09:53):
He is already soulless, and we can tellthat this character is pretty soulless.
He says, this love is pure profit.
This is finally sayingthe quiet part out loud.
Now we see his true intention,although we kind of knew what it was
before, but he's in it for the money.
He sees his protege as a cashcow, and calling it this love
(10:16):
really reveals this deception too.
He's disguising hisgreed as familial love.
Then he says, just step into my office.
This love is pure profit.
Just step into my office.
This is the big bad wolf dressing upas grandma, but by the time Little
Red Riding Hood sees who he reallyis, you know my what big teeth you
(10:40):
have, grandma, it'll be too late.
He's luring his child into a businessrelationship as illustrated by the office,
and we get the feeling that what happensbehind closed doors will not be good.
We don't get to find out exactlywhat, but it's, it's ominous.
I dry your tears with my sleeve.
He's pretending to be the caringfather to get what he really wants,
(11:02):
but it's really only a ploy toget the young boy to trust him.
This is an intimate gesture.
He's not getting a Kleenex,he's not getting a handkerchief.
He's gonna use his own sleeve,but it's all a play to get this
young boy to love and trust him.
So I'll dry your tears with my sleeve,and then he says, leave it with me.
(11:24):
In business speak, this is justmeans I'll take care of it.
You know, leave your problemshere and I'll make 'em go away.
But leave it with me is a loadedphrase, and it's gonna change meaning
a few times as the song goes on.
But here it's referring to tears.
Leave your sorrow with me and I willmake whatever is making you sad.
(11:45):
Go away.
But Taylor has referred tothe tears of this particular
relationship, or the relationship.
We assume that this song is about,um, before, and she referred to it in
it's time to go, 15 years, 15 milliontears begging till my knees bled.
I gave it my all, hegave me nothing at all.
(12:05):
Then wondered why I left.
She did leave her tears with him.
But he was this false prophet.
He wasn't a savior.
He caused the tears.
And in the very end of the chorus,he says, I protect the family.
As we've already found out,his idea of family isn't based
(12:26):
on love or caring for him.
The family is pure profit.
He's only protecting his own wealth,and he'll pretend to be happy family to
get what he wants out of his children.
What exactly the family means though willalso shift and change as the song goes on.
Just like we'll get differentmeanings of Leave it with me,
(12:47):
so we'll come back to that.
The second verse starts, I pay the checkbefore it kisses the mahogany grain.
We're still inside the mind ofthe father figure, and the literal
meaning is that he'll pick up thecheck and take care of it before the
server even comes and plops it down.
It's prearranged that he's gonna paythe bill, but the larger meaning is
(13:10):
that he's, he'll take care of problemsbefore his son is even aware of them.
And the mahogany grainimagery is a really clever.
Piece of imagery because it tells usthat we're in this fancy restaurant
without saying it outright, butwe're in this fancy restaurant
and he's gonna pay the check.
But whose money is paying forthat very expensive check?
(13:31):
Who earned that money?
So he goes on.
Said they wanna see you rise.
They don't want you to reign.
He's saying this directly to his protege.
The industry wants to see him entertain.
He's telling the protege, but theydon't want him to have any real power.
So we can see that he's tryingto keep this power, balance and
(13:52):
check by sort of cutting downany big ideas before they bloom.
The use of reign is really interesting.
Reign, as in a rule, like rulethe kingdom, and this ties into
so many similar metaphors inTaylor's universe where she's
often used fairytale and monarchymetaphors to represent her career.
(14:16):
In Long Live, we were the kingsand queens in, call it what you
want, my castle crumbled overnight.
There's the entirety of the Bejeweledmusic video, and so on and so on.
Her career is often her castle orher kingdom, but the father figure is
trying to prevent her from reigningover that metaphorical kingdom.
(14:37):
She's also used this particularmetaphor before to refer to
this business relationship.
Also in it's time to go, she says "Nowhe sits on his throne in his palace
of bones, praying to his greed. He'sgot my past frozen behind glass, but
I've got me." So we can imagine thesetwo metaphorical castles, one in which
(14:58):
Taylor reigns and the crowd is your king.
And then there's this juxtaposingcastle, this palace of bones, which
this villain character has built forhimself In one kingdom, the crowd
rules, and in the other greed rules.
He goes on in the second verse.
I showed you all the tricks ofthe trade, which basically means
(15:19):
I taught you everything I know.
And this echoes in linefrom Taylor's prologue poem.
We learn these tricks of the trade,but we get the sense he's not doing
it out of the kindness of his heart.
He wants payback.
He wants this young boy to besuccessful so that he can profit.
And in turn for all this mentoring,all I ask is for your loyalty.
(15:43):
My dear protege, and what thisreally means is I will give you
success beyond your wildest dreams.
And all I ask is, yousell your soul to me.
It's threatening.
It's not even really vaguely threatening.
It's don't cross me because I builtyou up and I can tear you down.
(16:05):
But it's also the languagehere is Infantalizing.
The way he talks to theboy is my dear protege.
It's not just dear protege,it's my dear protege.
The boy's identity is only inrelation to the father figures.
It's as if he doesn't even have hisown name or his name doesn't matter.
(16:26):
We move into the second chorus wherethe first five lines remain the same.
I'll be your father figure.
I drink that brown liquor, et cetera.
But our narrator then changesthe last line instead of, I
dry your tears with my sleeve.
Instead, it's, they'll knowyour name in the streets.
They'll know your name throughout theland he's saying, but we also know that
(16:48):
he doesn't want his protege to reign.
He promises fame, but he only promisesthat the boy will have notoriety.
He doesn't promise success or legacy oran adoring public or any kind of power.
The undertone is they will know my namebecause I'm the one who created you.
(17:08):
I'm the great and powerful Ozbehind the curtain, and you're
just the face of this operation.
I'm really the one who pulls the strings,so it's, they'll know your name in
the streets and then leave it with me.
Repeats this time, leave itwith me, is about his name.
Leave your name with me, whichmeans leave your reputation, your
(17:29):
career, your success, your money,your legacy with me, I own you,
is essentially what he's saying.
And in the context of the masterheist, this is pretty chilling.
The second chorus closes out with another.
I protect the family.
But after all of these threateningpromises, the family starts to
(17:49):
feel really mafia coded, and thefather figure is this head honcho.
And what happens in organized crimewhen the underlings don't play
by the rules, they're taken out.
This connotation will become a littlebit clearer later on when we hear
from the protege's point of view,and that protege is also going to
use this sort of mobster language.
(18:11):
But the whole of the second chorusis essentially saying, I own you, and
don't bite the hand that feeds you.
It's a threat.
I've, I've built you up.
I can tear you down.
But this power dynamic is about to changeand it changes right here in the bridge.
So as we enter the bridge, this iswhere we get to see the protege,
get a little bit of independence.
(18:32):
I saw a change in you.
The father figure says the protegehas gotten wise to his tricks.
It's not you're growing upor look how far you come.
It's, you've changed and I don't like it.
Or, um, you started talkingback and you need to shut up.
It's, it's threatening.
It's, go back to the waythings were, my dear boy.
(18:54):
They don't make loyalty like they used to.
There's that infantalizinglanguage again with my dear
boy speaking to him like baby.
But the key word there again, is my,which is reinforcing his ownership.
They don't make loyalty like theyused to, is a really indirect way of
saying you and your generation aren'tplaying by the rules of the old guard.
(19:19):
He's upset because he is losing control.
The boy isn't obeying anymore,but instead of their relationship
evolving with time, the father figurejust wants it back the way it was.
So it goes on.
Your thoughtless ambitionsparked the ignition.
On foolish decisions, whichled to misguided visions.
(19:39):
So thoughtless ambition meansthat the boy has these lofty
aspirations, but the father figurethinks it's just silly or stupid.
This stupidity is what led to what hethinks are foolish decisions made on
the basis of these misguided visions.
We got a lot of rhyming,tongue twisters here.
The connotation though is you werethinking on your own again, weren't you?
(20:04):
I told you that.
I'm only allowed to thinkthoughts about your career.
You can't be thinking again.
But what he can't see isthat these misguided visions
only look that way to him.
For the boy, the pathforward is perfectly clear.
There's just something in the way.
And what's in the wayis the father figure.
(20:24):
So the misguided visions arethat to fulfill your dreams,
you had to get rid of me.
The boy thinks that the onlyway forward to have the career
and the life that he wants.
Is to sever ties with thecontrolling and abrasive and
possibly abusive father figure.
(20:45):
And he's right and get rid of him.
He does because it's at thispoint that we no longer hear
from the father figure at all.
He disappears from thenarrative altogether.
You had to get rid of me.
And then our narratorswitches to the protege.
The father figure is totally gone.
The protege gets rid of the fatherfigure in this narrative and in his life.
(21:08):
So there's kind of a metamoment going on here.
And then the next line is my favorite.
I protect the family, andthis is a whispered line.
We've swapped narrators and points ofview, and this is really the most chilling
and potent line in the whole song.
Even though we've heard it before thistime, the meaning is totally different.
(21:30):
The boy is now fully grown,is now our narrator, and the
rest of the story is from.
His perspective.
He's in control now and heprotects the family, his life, his
legacy, his reputation, his work.
But what this also means whenhe says, I protect the family,
it's you are no longer my family.
(21:51):
You were my father figure,and now you are a nobody.
But what makes this line so powerful?
Is the use of multiple pointsof view or switching narrators
while she's telling the story.
And she's used this a few times beforein songs like The Last Great American
Dynasty and When Emma Falls in Love.
But for me, this is the mostpowerful time she's ever used it
(22:14):
in a song about a power struggle.
Even our narrators are battling forthe mic, and in the end, the student
surpasses the master and takescontrol of both this narrative, this
story, and his own life and legacy.
In the context of the Master's heistand the reclaiming of her master
recordings, she does now protect thefamily, and the family is her life's work.
(22:40):
Her first six albums.
She protects her family now, hermusic, her brand, her career.
And it's a really brilliantuse of multiple points of view.
And in the final chorus, we get to hearmore from the protege character and what
was really going on behind the scenes.
So the final chorus is entirely in thepoint of view of the protege who's now
(23:02):
all grown up and has kicked the fatherfigure out of the metaphorical house.
And it begins, I was your father figure.
I was your father figure.
My, my, my how The tables have turned.
Looking back, he realizes, wait.
I was the one with all of the power.
'cause it was my hard work.
It was my blood, sweat, andtears and foolish decisions and
(23:27):
misguided visions that got us here
Because what is a father figureanyway, it's someone you look up
to, someone who takes care of youout of love and not out of control.
It's someone who's more mature,someone who shows you all the tricks
of the trade in life and the protegerealizes that he was his own father
(23:48):
figure all along and was reallythe leader of this whole situation.
So what was the father figure?
He was a manipulator.
The protege had it in him all along.
And while the father figure mayhave given him initial big break or
discovered him, it was always throughhis own blood, sweat, and tears.
That success arrives.
(24:10):
The power dynamic may have started inthe opposite direction, but now the
tables have turned and he goes on.
We drank that brown liquor.
They were both the adults and they bothpicked their metaphorical poison together.
For the father figure, the poison wasgreed, but for the protege, the poison,
in fact, was aligning himself with thissleaze ball to get where he wanted to be.
(24:36):
In the context of Scott BTA and BigMachine Distillery, we drank that Brown
liquor means we built this together.
It was never just yours, it was also mine.
Big machine would be nothing without me.
But this liquor could also symbolizesomething else entirely, and it's
totally open to interpretation.
Please let me know what you think theliquor means in the comments, because
(25:00):
it's really an intriguing metaphor thatcould have so many different meanings.
So the protege goes on.
You made a deal with this devil.
Turns out my dick's bigger.
The deal with the devil wasn'tsome abstract selling of
souls for money and power.
He made a deal with the protegewho turns out to be the devil.
(25:21):
The father figure may have tried to sellthe soul of the child, but now the protege
owns his own soul and he's not done yet.
He's coming back for more.
He's outgrown his teacher.
And now he has more clout and more power.
And in the context of themaster's dispute, my dick's bigger
means one of the few things.
(25:42):
One, Taylor has more moneyand more power than Borchetta
now, which of course she does.
And two, she's taken on this role thatis traditionally reserved for only men.
The boss, the, the mafiadon the money bags.
The father figure, thisis an emasculating dig.
When she says, my dick's bigger,she doesn't have a dick, but
(26:06):
it's still bigger than his.
It's a brilliant but lyricism.
So it goes on.
You wanna fight, you found it.
I got the place surrounded.
He's putting up his fistsand ready protect what's his?
There's no escape for the fatherfigure turned enemy because the protege
is now the one with all the power.
(26:26):
He's thought of every angle.
His most powerful ally has turnedinto his most powerful enemy.
He bit the hand that fed himand now he pays the price.
You'll be sleeping with the fishesbefore you know you're drowning, and
this line pulls in another mafia codedphrase if he tries to cross his former
(26:46):
student, and he'll be quickly and quietlytaken out and tossed in the East River.
It's so sopranos coded and I love it.
And the next line justkeeps getting better.
Whose portrait's on the mantle?
This is metaphorical house or Chateau orCastle or Kingdom, and it always has been.
(27:08):
He's saying, I built this.
My name is on the deed.
I built you.
If it weren't for me,you would be a nobody.
And I've always been the face of thisoperation, but I also wrote the checks.
I've always owned younot the other way around.
Then it gets a little scandalous.
Who covered up your scandals?
(27:29):
So he is saying that I have allthe power now, but he's also
implying that he's got enough dirtto bury his former father figure.
He's saying I hold all the cards and Doyou remember all that shit that you did?
Yeah, I remember.
I have the evidence.
So if you ever try to step up.
And take what's mine.
(27:49):
You are going down.
If he crosses this mafia, Don, the truthwill come out and his reputation will be
absolutely ruined as if it isn't already.
Mistake my kindness for weaknessand find your card canceled.
So our protege turned fatherfigure is tougher than he looks.
And while he may be kind,he's never been weak.
(28:13):
And this is something thatwomen are often mistaken for.
We, we are mistaken for weakjust because we're nice.
Find your card cancel implies that thefather figure is still on the payroll.
But what he's saying is that canchange in the flip of the switch.
I was your father figure.
He says again, youpulled the wrong trigger.
(28:36):
Instead of firing with him at theirmutual enemies, he fired at him, and
that shot could trigger a full out war.
This empire belongs to me, closes out.
The final chorus is hebuilt his own empire.
And while the father figure may havejumpstarted this whole business, he
should never forget whose name ison the deed to this entire property.
(28:59):
It's an incredibly valuable property.
So it's, this empire belongs to me.
And then one more time, leaveit with me, is repeated.
This time the it isreferring to this empire.
This empire belongs to Lee.
Leave it with me.
It's not I'll take care of it.
It's don't take it.
(29:19):
It's mine.
It was never yours.
And in the context of the Master's heist,this means I now own all my life's work.
You tried to take it and sellit, but look who owns it all.
Now.
You should have done the right thingand let me buy it in the first place.
But you didn't.
And now you pay the price.
(29:40):
I protect the family.
He repeats, leave it with me thistime, it's leave my family with me, or
you're no longer a part of the family.
This could be an actual family as inTaylor's family, but more than likely,
she's still talking about her life's work.
The family is her albums and her empire,and it's not his family to protect anymore
(30:04):
because it never was in the first place.
He was a father figure, not a father.
So this time leave it with me.
Essentially means get outtamy family, get outta my life.
You're done.
Then the final line is, you know,you remind me of a younger me.
I saw potential.
This is a brilliant chilling last line,and we can read it one of two ways.
(30:27):
One, when he looks back on his former allyor reminds him of when he was young, it's
like that line from Dear John, don't youthink I was too young to be messed with?
It reminds him of when he wasn't asworldly or powerful or street smart,
he was suckered into a bum deal.
But the second way is to read itas straight satire and sarcasm.
(30:49):
Like I saw potential like too bad.
You messed up in such an epic way andcrossed me because now look where you are.
Like you could have been so muchmore and you really fucked up.
You're a nobody nowjust like I used to be.
You had potential and now you have none.
But either way, no matter how weinterpret it, we have come full circle.
The student has become the master,and the master has become a nobody.
(31:14):
And in the real world where Taylorowns her life's work and is the most
recognizable name and face on the planet,who even is Scott Borchetta anyway.
This is my favorite track on thealbum for many reasons, but primarily
it's because of her storytelling.
Here.
She tells such a vivid story frombeginning to end, and by the time is
(31:35):
over, we can see that it was really anallegory about power and the patriarchy.
And though she's likely told this storybefore in my tears, ricochet and it's
time to go and long story short, andothers, she's never been able to tell
it from the other side of the conflict,from the other side of the mountain.
Though we don't know exactly whenshe wrote the song, it does kind of
(31:56):
feel like closure of this narrativethread that she's been spinning about
the master's dispute and now thatit's over and she owns her life's
work, she can look back at the entirerelationship and not just how it ended.
She seems to see that it wasdoomed from the start because
it was a tainted power dynamic.
(32:18):
But now that she's gained all of herpower back and her master's back.
She can see that it wasreally her all along.
He may have given her the big breakin the beginning, but it was her
work that got her where she is today.
In the rest of this album, she'sreally telling us the story about this
pedestal of fame and what it feelslike and how precarious it seems.
(32:39):
But in Father figure, she's reallytelling us what it took to get there.
Like in Elizabeth Taylor, she says,oftentimes it doesn't feel so glamorous
to be me, and we can see that her buildingthis career wasn't glamorous at all.
It was painful and fullof manipulators and false.
Father figures, and she had toovercome so many obstacles that
the patriarchy put in her way.
(33:01):
But now she looks at the viewfrom the top of her pedestal or
her tower or her throne, and shesees how the tables have turned.
A lot of the rest of this albumdeals with this shady side of show
business and how it's impossibleto trust anyone when everyone has
an ulterior motive for knowing you.
Everyone has something to gain byknowing you and you have nothing to gain.
(33:24):
By knowing other people, it's the battlebetween the showgirl and the girl.
And in father figure, we really get tosee the origin story of this conflict.
The father figure may have shownthe girl how to become the showgirl,
but once she did that putting on hershow, it was entirely by her own hand.
And she's realizing that shecreated herself and she entered
(33:47):
into this world where these twoselves will constantly be at war.
Just like she's at war with this formerfather figure, she's, it's also a war
within herself and against herself.
And in the end, the song is askingthe same question that almost every
other song on this album is askingif they're here for the show,
(34:08):
what does that mean for the girl?
Thank you so much for joining me.
That's a wrap for father figure.
Next episode, we are gonna tackletrack five of the Notorious
Track Five's eldest daughter.
If you found this insightful orentertaining or anything at all, please
like and subscribe, leave a comment.
I'm just starting this podcastand it really, really helps.
(34:30):
Once again, you can find allof my lyrical analysis on my
website linked in the show notes.
Thank you so much for being here,and I will see you in the next track.
That's it for this chapterof Swiftly Sung Stories.
If you enjoyed this deep dive,please don't forget to follow,
subscribe, or leave a review.
It helps other Swiftiesfind their way here.
I'm Jen and I had a marveloustime reading everything with you.
See you next time.
Hey everyone.
Welcome back to the SwiftlySung Stories podcast.
I'm Jen, your Swiftie English teacher,and today we are tackling track four in
my track by track analysis of the lifeof a showgirl, and we're diving straight
into the epic narrative of Father figure.
In my last few episodes, I analyzedTaylor's prologue poem and the first
three tracks of this album, so youmight wanna go and check those out.
(00:22):
It lays a lot of groundwork forunderstanding the themes and motifs in
this album that Taylor's really exploring.
And a quick PSA.
All of this content is availableon my website if you want the text
version with annotated lyrics.
And if you're watching this onYouTube, you can also find me wherever,
get your podcasts and vice versa.
Okay, let's roll straight intofather figure line by line.
(00:45):
Welcome to swiftly sung Stories wherewe unpack the Taylor Swift Universe
one era album and lyric at a time.
Think of it like English class,but it's all Taylor Swift
and none of the boring stuff.
I'm Jen, your Swifty English teacherand classes in session, so come
on in and meet me in the margins.
I lied.
I have a caveat First, if you watchany of my previous videos, you will
know that I don't talk about TaylorSwift's personal life unless it's
(01:08):
crucial to breaking down the meaningof her lyrics or unless she's quite
obviously pointing to something personal.
I'm not here to discoverwhat Taylor Swift did.
I'm trying to discover what theart does and what the art says.
This track father figure, unlikethe previous three songs on the
album, doesn't seem to discussany romantic relationships at all.
It seems to be strictly an allegoryabout her career in the music industry.
(01:32):
That's my read of it, and I thinkthat's kind of the general consensus.
So I think it's important that we setup a little bit of context in that
regard so we can understand the themesand the undertones of these lyrics.
Father figure is an interpolationof George Michael's.
Legendary song Father Figure, which issimilarly about a power struggle between
a father figure and his pseudo son.
(01:55):
In that song, George Michael writesabout the son as a romantic partner, but
Taylor has taken out all of the romanceand inserted a business relationship,
and there's one business relationshipshe has had in her career that maybe
probably inspired this track, andthat's what we need some context around.
I did a full deep dive on themaster's dispute in my timeline
of Taylor Swift's career videos.
(02:17):
So check that out ifyou want the full story.
But the long and the short of it is Taylorhas been on a quest for the past six years
or so, and it is the quest to reclaimand finally own her master recordings.
Of her first six albums, justthis past May, 2025, she announced
that she had finally done that.
(02:38):
But here's how this whole thing started.
Taylor Swift signed with bigmachine records owned and run
by Scott Borchetta in 2005.
This was a brand new label, and she wasone of his first and only artists, and
these two had a very father figure andmentor type of relationship according
to everything she revealed back then.
(02:59):
But keep in mind, she was 15 whenshe signed a 13 year contract.
That was essentially, as she calls itin these lyrics, a deal with the devil.
The contract gave her label and notherself ownership of her life's work,
and her life's work would go on tobecome incredibly, incredibly valuable.
(03:21):
Taylor left big machine after shereleased reputation in 2017, and we
don't know the full story around why.
It could have just been that hercontract was up and she found greener
grass elsewhere, but it could bebecause some of the themes that
she is discussing in this track.
After she left, Scott sold the labeland therefore the master recordings
of Taylor's first six albums,and he sold it to Scooter Braun.
(03:44):
Who was the bullish manager behindKanye at the time, and he was
generally seen as just a sleazy dudewho was incredibly disrespectful,
not only to Taylor, but to all women.
Taylor voiced her anger at her life's workbeing traded like stocks, but we never
really got to know how That really feltto be betrayed by a person who you not
(04:07):
only worked with, but with whom you hadthis kind of familial close relationship.
And though she's probably writtenabout this situation before in songs
like My Tears Ricochet and Mad Woman,and It's Time to Go Father Figure
really lays it out all really clearly.
Now, this is only my assumptionand Father figure could have been
(04:27):
inspired by something else entirely,or it could just be a general
allegory about how the industrypreys on young artists in general.
But to me, the anger inthis song feels personal.
It feels close to home, justlike the anger in Mad Woman
and in my tears ricochet.
And I'm gonna dissect it through this lensbecause it makes the most sense to me.
But if you have alternativeinterpretations, please, please
(04:49):
leave 'em in the comments.
There are no right or wrong answers.
My opinion is different than youropinion, and that is the whole point.
Art is subjective, and what the songmeans to you is really what matters.
We may never get to know exactly whatinspired Taylor to write it, but it's
really more about the feelings thatit inspires in you and inspires in me
because that's what art is supposed to do.
(05:10):
Okay, let's get into thefirst verse of Father Figure.
The first verse begins when I found you.
You were young, wayward lost in the cold.
So we are inside the point of viewof the father figure right now,
but Taylor is gonna switch up thepoint of view towards the end.
But right now we are inside thisolder, wiser character and he's
(05:31):
narrating, finding this lost waywardsoul that he thinks he can rescue.
If you think you've heard this storybefore, it is a well worn trope.
A powerful savior finds avulnerable person and needed help.
And in his view, thisperson needs guidance.
They're wayward, they're lost inthe cold, but as we will learn
shortly, he has ulterior motives andthis is all a game of exploitation.
(05:55):
Pulled up to you in the Jag.
It continues.
He's metaphorically sending his chariotto pick up this young person and
whisk them away to a life of glamor.
He turned your rags into gold, meaning hetook something shabby and made it shine.
But to turn rags into gold also reminds usof Rumpelstiltskin, which was a fairytale
(06:17):
popularized by the brothers grim.
And in that fairytale, a father brags thathis daughter can spin straw into gold.
The greedy king kidnaps this daughterand locks her in a tower, which
towers are gonna come up elsewhereon this album as well, until she
turns all of his straw into gold.
This is of course, an impossibletask until Rumpelstiltskin
(06:39):
appears out of nowhere.
Kind of like pulling up in the Jag.
This little elfin trickster says he canspin the straw into gold, but it'll cost
this girl, it'll cost her her necklace.
Her ring jewelry is also a big theme onthis album and, and her firstborn child.
She agrees because there's noother way out, and the gold is
(07:01):
spun and the king is satisfied andeveryone goes on about their lives.
But later in life, shegives birth to a child and
Rumpelstiltskin comes to collect.
Unless she can guess his name,he says he will take the baby.
She does end up guessingand Rumpelstiltskin kind of
disintegrates before her eyes.
(07:23):
We can see a lot of parallels betweenthe story of Father Figure, Taylor's
professional life, and Rumpelstiltskin.
They're all stories about power struggles.
But this fairytale also named theso-called Rumpelstiltskin principle, which
states that true power lies in a name.
If you can name something, youhold a position of power over it.
(07:45):
So we have to ask, howpowerful is the name?
Taylor Swift.
And how powerful is thename Scott Borchetta?.
Okay.
After the father figure, whisksaway the youngster, the winding
road leads to the chateau.
The metaphorical road to success willlead to riches symbolized by the chateau.
(08:06):
But important to note is that the fatherfigure is in the driver's seat here.
He's behind the steering wheelof the Jag, the golden chariot,
and he's fully in charge.
You remind me of a younger me.
She goes on.
I saw potential, but as is oftenthe case with controlling parents,
they're trying to live out theirfailed dreams through their offspring,
(08:28):
and this father is no different.
So there's lots of.
Of foreshadowing going on, we cansee that nothing is quite right and
this'll play out more in the chorus.
So the chorus begins.
I'll be your father figure.
I drink that brown liquor.
He's establishing this power dynamic here.
He's older as illustrated by hisvery adult choice of alcohol.
(08:51):
He's more worldly.
He'll guide his protege through the world,but as we will learn later, he doesn't
ever want his son to actually grow up.
If this song was intended as atale about Taylor's former manager,
Scott Beta, this could be a clue.
Scott Borchetta owns Big MachineDistillery, which is kind of kind of not
(09:11):
affiliated with big machine records, Iguess, which Brew Bourbon, A Brown liquor.
We can also look at this liquormetaphor as he picked his poison,
like pick your poison babe, andpoison either way, and it'll come back
around in the final chorus where thatinterpretation feels a bit more obvious.
I can make deals with thedevil because my dick's bigger.
(09:33):
He's boasting that his ego and hisclout are so oversized that he can
sell souls willy-nilly, never havingto see any real repercussions.
He's too big to failas illustrated by his.
Quote unquote manhood.
But in making deals with the devil, she'simplying that he's already sold his soul.
(09:53):
He is already soulless, and we can tellthat this character is pretty soulless.
He says, this love is pure profit.
This is finally sayingthe quiet part out loud.
Now we see his true intention,although we kind of knew what it was
before, but he's in it for the money.
He sees his protege as a cashcow, and calling it this love
(10:16):
really reveals this deception too.
He's disguising hisgreed as familial love.
Then he says, just step into my office.
This love is pure profit.
Just step into my office.
This is the big bad wolf dressing upas grandma, but by the time Little
Red Riding Hood sees who he reallyis, you know my what big teeth you
(10:40):
have, grandma, it'll be too late.
He's luring his child into a businessrelationship as illustrated by the office,
and we get the feeling that what happensbehind closed doors will not be good.
We don't get to find out exactlywhat, but it's, it's ominous.
I dry your tears with my sleeve.
He's pretending to be the caringfather to get what he really wants,
(11:02):
but it's really only a ploy toget the young boy to trust him.
This is an intimate gesture.
He's not getting a Kleenex,he's not getting a handkerchief.
He's gonna use his own sleeve,but it's all a play to get this
young boy to love and trust him.
So I'll dry your tears with my sleeve,and then he says, leave it with me.
(11:24):
In business speak, this is justmeans I'll take care of it.
You know, leave your problemshere and I'll make 'em go away.
But leave it with me is a loadedphrase, and it's gonna change meaning
a few times as the song goes on.
But here it's referring to tears.
Leave your sorrow with me and I willmake whatever is making you sad.
(11:45):
Go away.
But Taylor has referred tothe tears of this particular
relationship, or the relationship.
We assume that this song is about,um, before, and she referred to it in
it's time to go, 15 years, 15 milliontears begging till my knees bled.
I gave it my all, hegave me nothing at all.
(12:05):
Then wondered why I left.
She did leave her tears with him.
But he was this false prophet.
He wasn't a savior.
He caused the tears.
And in the very end of the chorus,he says, I protect the family.
As we've already found out,his idea of family isn't based
(12:26):
on love or caring for him.
The family is pure profit.
He's only protecting his own wealth,and he'll pretend to be happy family to
get what he wants out of his children.
What exactly the family means though willalso shift and change as the song goes on.
Just like we'll get differentmeanings of Leave it with me,
(12:47):
so we'll come back to that.
The second verse starts, I pay the checkbefore it kisses the mahogany grain.
We're still inside the mind ofthe father figure, and the literal
meaning is that he'll pick up thecheck and take care of it before the
server even comes and plops it down.
It's prearranged that he's gonna paythe bill, but the larger meaning is
(13:10):
that he's, he'll take care of problemsbefore his son is even aware of them.
And the mahogany grainimagery is a really clever.
Piece of imagery because it tells usthat we're in this fancy restaurant
without saying it outright, butwe're in this fancy restaurant
and he's gonna pay the check.
But whose money is paying forthat very expensive check?
(13:31):
Who earned that money?
So he goes on.
Said they wanna see you rise.
They don't want you to reign.
He's saying this directly to his protege.
The industry wants to see him entertain.
He's telling the protege, but theydon't want him to have any real power.
So we can see that he's tryingto keep this power, balance and
(13:52):
check by sort of cutting downany big ideas before they bloom.
The use of reign is really interesting.
Reign, as in a rule, like rulethe kingdom, and this ties into
so many similar metaphors inTaylor's universe where she's
often used fairytale and monarchymetaphors to represent her career.
(14:16):
In Long Live, we were the kingsand queens in, call it what you
want, my castle crumbled overnight.
There's the entirety of the Bejeweledmusic video, and so on and so on.
Her career is often her castle orher kingdom, but the father figure is
trying to prevent her from reigningover that metaphorical kingdom.
(14:37):
She's also used this particularmetaphor before to refer to
this business relationship.
Also in it's time to go, she says "Nowhe sits on his throne in his palace
of bones, praying to his greed. He'sgot my past frozen behind glass, but
I've got me." So we can imagine thesetwo metaphorical castles, one in which
(14:58):
Taylor reigns and the crowd is your king.
And then there's this juxtaposingcastle, this palace of bones, which
this villain character has built forhimself In one kingdom, the crowd
rules, and in the other greed rules.
He goes on in the second verse.
I showed you all the tricks ofthe trade, which basically means
(15:19):
I taught you everything I know.
And this echoes in linefrom Taylor's prologue poem.
We learn these tricks of the trade,but we get the sense he's not doing
it out of the kindness of his heart.
He wants payback.
He wants this young boy to besuccessful so that he can profit.
And in turn for all this mentoring,all I ask is for your loyalty.
(15:43):
My dear protege, and what thisreally means is I will give you
success beyond your wildest dreams.
And all I ask is, yousell your soul to me.
It's threatening.
It's not even really vaguely threatening.
It's don't cross me because I builtyou up and I can tear you down.
(16:05):
But it's also the languagehere is Infantalizing.
The way he talks to theboy is my dear protege.
It's not just dear protege,it's my dear protege.
The boy's identity is only inrelation to the father figures.
It's as if he doesn't even have hisown name or his name doesn't matter.
(16:26):
We move into the second chorus wherethe first five lines remain the same.
I'll be your father figure.
I drink that brown liquor, et cetera.
But our narrator then changesthe last line instead of, I
dry your tears with my sleeve.
Instead, it's, they'll knowyour name in the streets.
They'll know your name throughout theland he's saying, but we also know that
(16:48):
he doesn't want his protege to reign.
He promises fame, but he only promisesthat the boy will have notoriety.
He doesn't promise success or legacy oran adoring public or any kind of power.
The undertone is they will know my namebecause I'm the one who created you.
(17:08):
I'm the great and powerful Ozbehind the curtain, and you're
just the face of this operation.
I'm really the one who pulls the strings,so it's, they'll know your name in
the streets and then leave it with me.
Repeats this time, leave itwith me, is about his name.
Leave your name with me, whichmeans leave your reputation, your
(17:29):
career, your success, your money,your legacy with me, I own you,
is essentially what he's saying.
And in the context of the masterheist, this is pretty chilling.
The second chorus closes out with another.
I protect the family.
But after all of these threateningpromises, the family starts to
(17:49):
feel really mafia coded, and thefather figure is this head honcho.
And what happens in organized crimewhen the underlings don't play
by the rules, they're taken out.
This connotation will become a littlebit clearer later on when we hear
from the protege's point of view,and that protege is also going to
use this sort of mobster language.
(18:11):
But the whole of the second chorusis essentially saying, I own you, and
don't bite the hand that feeds you.
It's a threat.
I've, I've built you up.
I can tear you down.
But this power dynamic is about to changeand it changes right here in the bridge.
So as we enter the bridge, this iswhere we get to see the protege,
get a little bit of independence.
(18:32):
I saw a change in you.
The father figure says the protegehas gotten wise to his tricks.
It's not you're growing upor look how far you come.
It's, you've changed and I don't like it.
Or, um, you started talkingback and you need to shut up.
It's, it's threatening.
It's, go back to the waythings were, my dear boy.
(18:54):
They don't make loyalty like they used to.
There's that infantalizinglanguage again with my dear
boy speaking to him like baby.
But the key word there again, is my,which is reinforcing his ownership.
They don't make loyalty like theyused to, is a really indirect way of
saying you and your generation aren'tplaying by the rules of the old guard.
(19:19):
He's upset because he is losing control.
The boy isn't obeying anymore,but instead of their relationship
evolving with time, the father figurejust wants it back the way it was.
So it goes on.
Your thoughtless ambitionsparked the ignition.
On foolish decisions, whichled to misguided visions.
(19:39):
So thoughtless ambition meansthat the boy has these lofty
aspirations, but the father figurethinks it's just silly or stupid.
This stupidity is what led to what hethinks are foolish decisions made on
the basis of these misguided visions.
We got a lot of rhyming,tongue twisters here.
The connotation though is you werethinking on your own again, weren't you?
(20:04):
I told you that.
I'm only allowed to thinkthoughts about your career.
You can't be thinking again.
But what he can't see isthat these misguided visions
only look that way to him.
For the boy, the pathforward is perfectly clear.
There's just something in the way.
And what's in the wayis the father figure.
(20:24):
So the misguided visions arethat to fulfill your dreams,
you had to get rid of me.
The boy thinks that the onlyway forward to have the career
and the life that he wants.
Is to sever ties with thecontrolling and abrasive and
possibly abusive father figure.
(20:45):
And he's right and get rid of him.
He does because it's at thispoint that we no longer hear
from the father figure at all.
He disappears from thenarrative altogether.
You had to get rid of me.
And then our narratorswitches to the protege.
The father figure is totally gone.
The protege gets rid of the fatherfigure in this narrative and in his life.
(21:08):
So there's kind of a metamoment going on here.
And then the next line is my favorite.
I protect the family, andthis is a whispered line.
We've swapped narrators and points ofview, and this is really the most chilling
and potent line in the whole song.
Even though we've heard it before thistime, the meaning is totally different.
(21:30):
The boy is now fully grown,is now our narrator, and the
rest of the story is from.
His perspective.
He's in control now and heprotects the family, his life, his
legacy, his reputation, his work.
But what this also means whenhe says, I protect the family,
it's you are no longer my family.
(21:51):
You were my father figure,and now you are a nobody.
But what makes this line so powerful?
Is the use of multiple pointsof view or switching narrators
while she's telling the story.
And she's used this a few times beforein songs like The Last Great American
Dynasty and When Emma Falls in Love.
But for me, this is the mostpowerful time she's ever used it
(22:14):
in a song about a power struggle.
Even our narrators are battling forthe mic, and in the end, the student
surpasses the master and takescontrol of both this narrative, this
story, and his own life and legacy.
In the context of the Master's heistand the reclaiming of her master
recordings, she does now protect thefamily, and the family is her life's work.
(22:40):
Her first six albums.
She protects her family now, hermusic, her brand, her career.
And it's a really brilliantuse of multiple points of view.
And in the final chorus, we get to hearmore from the protege character and what
was really going on behind the scenes.
So the final chorus is entirely in thepoint of view of the protege who's now
(23:02):
all grown up and has kicked the fatherfigure out of the metaphorical house.
And it begins, I was your father figure.
I was your father figure.
My, my, my how The tables have turned.
Looking back, he realizes, wait.
I was the one with all of the power.
'cause it was my hard work.
It was my blood, sweat, andtears and foolish decisions and
(23:27):
misguided visions that got us here
Because what is a father figureanyway, it's someone you look up
to, someone who takes care of youout of love and not out of control.
It's someone who's more mature,someone who shows you all the tricks
of the trade in life and the protegerealizes that he was his own father
(23:48):
figure all along and was reallythe leader of this whole situation.
So what was the father figure?
He was a manipulator.
The protege had it in him all along.
And while the father figure mayhave given him initial big break or
discovered him, it was always throughhis own blood, sweat, and tears.
That success arrives.
(24:10):
The power dynamic may have started inthe opposite direction, but now the
tables have turned and he goes on.
We drank that brown liquor.
They were both the adults and they bothpicked their metaphorical poison together.
For the father figure, the poison wasgreed, but for the protege, the poison,
in fact, was aligning himself with thissleaze ball to get where he wanted to be.
(24:36):
In the context of Scott BTA and BigMachine Distillery, we drank that Brown
liquor means we built this together.
It was never just yours, it was also mine.
Big machine would be nothing without me.
But this liquor could also symbolizesomething else entirely, and it's
totally open to interpretation.
Please let me know what you think theliquor means in the comments, because
(25:00):
it's really an intriguing metaphor thatcould have so many different meanings.
So the protege goes on.
You made a deal with this devil.
Turns out my dick's bigger.
The deal with the devil wasn'tsome abstract selling of
souls for money and power.
He made a deal with the protegewho turns out to be the devil.
(25:21):
The father figure may have tried to sellthe soul of the child, but now the protege
owns his own soul and he's not done yet.
He's coming back for more.
He's outgrown his teacher.
And now he has more clout and more power.
And in the context of themaster's dispute, my dick's bigger
means one of the few things.
(25:42):
One, Taylor has more moneyand more power than Borchetta
now, which of course she does.
And two, she's taken on this role thatis traditionally reserved for only men.
The boss, the, the mafiadon the money bags.
The father figure, thisis an emasculating dig.
When she says, my dick's bigger,she doesn't have a dick, but
(26:06):
it's still bigger than his.
It's a brilliant but lyricism.
So it goes on.
You wanna fight, you found it.
I got the place surrounded.
He's putting up his fistsand ready protect what's his?
There's no escape for the fatherfigure turned enemy because the protege
is now the one with all the power.
(26:26):
He's thought of every angle.
His most powerful ally has turnedinto his most powerful enemy.
He bit the hand that fed himand now he pays the price.
You'll be sleeping with the fishesbefore you know you're drowning, and
this line pulls in another mafia codedphrase if he tries to cross his former
(26:46):
student, and he'll be quickly and quietlytaken out and tossed in the East River.
It's so sopranos coded and I love it.
And the next line justkeeps getting better.
Whose portrait's on the mantle?
This is metaphorical house or Chateau orCastle or Kingdom, and it always has been.
(27:08):
He's saying, I built this.
My name is on the deed.
I built you.
If it weren't for me,you would be a nobody.
And I've always been the face of thisoperation, but I also wrote the checks.
I've always owned younot the other way around.
Then it gets a little scandalous.
Who covered up your scandals?
(27:29):
So he is saying that I have allthe power now, but he's also
implying that he's got enough dirtto bury his former father figure.
He's saying I hold all the cards and Doyou remember all that shit that you did?
Yeah, I remember.
I have the evidence.
So if you ever try to step up.
And take what's mine.
(27:49):
You are going down.
If he crosses this mafia, Don, the truthwill come out and his reputation will be
absolutely ruined as if it isn't already.
Mistake my kindness for weaknessand find your card canceled.
So our protege turned fatherfigure is tougher than he looks.
And while he may be kind,he's never been weak.
(28:13):
And this is something thatwomen are often mistaken for.
We, we are mistaken for weakjust because we're nice.
Find your card cancel implies that thefather figure is still on the payroll.
But what he's saying is that canchange in the flip of the switch.
I was your father figure.
He says again, youpulled the wrong trigger.
(28:36):
Instead of firing with him at theirmutual enemies, he fired at him, and
that shot could trigger a full out war.
This empire belongs to me, closes out.
The final chorus is hebuilt his own empire.
And while the father figure may havejumpstarted this whole business, he
should never forget whose name ison the deed to this entire property.
(28:59):
It's an incredibly valuable property.
So it's, this empire belongs to me.
And then one more time, leaveit with me, is repeated.
This time the it isreferring to this empire.
This empire belongs to Lee.
Leave it with me.
It's not I'll take care of it.
It's don't take it.
(29:19):
It's mine.
It was never yours.
And in the context of the Master's heist,this means I now own all my life's work.
You tried to take it and sellit, but look who owns it all.
Now.
You should have done the right thingand let me buy it in the first place.
But you didn't.
And now you pay the price.
(29:40):
I protect the family.
He repeats, leave it with me thistime, it's leave my family with me, or
you're no longer a part of the family.
This could be an actual family as inTaylor's family, but more than likely,
she's still talking about her life's work.
The family is her albums and her empire,and it's not his family to protect anymore
(30:04):
because it never was in the first place.
He was a father figure, not a father.
So this time leave it with me.
Essentially means get outtamy family, get outta my life.
You're done.
Then the final line is, you know,you remind me of a younger me.
I saw potential.
This is a brilliant chilling last line,and we can read it one of two ways.
(30:27):
One, when he looks back on his former allyor reminds him of when he was young, it's
like that line from Dear John, don't youthink I was too young to be messed with?
It reminds him of when he wasn't asworldly or powerful or street smart,
he was suckered into a bum deal.
But the second way is to read itas straight satire and sarcasm.
(30:49):
Like I saw potential like too bad.
You messed up in such an epic way andcrossed me because now look where you are.
Like you could have been so muchmore and you really fucked up.
You're a nobody nowjust like I used to be.
You had potential and now you have none.
But either way, no matter how weinterpret it, we have come full circle.
The student has become the master,and the master has become a nobody.
(31:14):
And in the real world where Taylorowns her life's work and is the most
recognizable name and face on the planet,who even is Scott Borchetta anyway.
This is my favorite track on thealbum for many reasons, but primarily
it's because of her storytelling.
Here.
She tells such a vivid story frombeginning to end, and by the time is
(31:35):
over, we can see that it was really anallegory about power and the patriarchy.
And though she's likely told this storybefore in my tears, ricochet and it's
time to go and long story short, andothers, she's never been able to tell
it from the other side of the conflict,from the other side of the mountain.
Though we don't know exactly whenshe wrote the song, it does kind of
(31:56):
feel like closure of this narrativethread that she's been spinning about
the master's dispute and now thatit's over and she owns her life's
work, she can look back at the entirerelationship and not just how it ended.
She seems to see that it wasdoomed from the start because
it was a tainted power dynamic.
(32:18):
But now that she's gained all of herpower back and her master's back.
She can see that it wasreally her all along.
He may have given her the big breakin the beginning, but it was her
work that got her where she is today.
In the rest of this album, she'sreally telling us the story about this
pedestal of fame and what it feelslike and how precarious it seems.
(32:39):
But in Father figure, she's reallytelling us what it took to get there.
Like in Elizabeth Taylor, she says,oftentimes it doesn't feel so glamorous
to be me, and we can see that her buildingthis career wasn't glamorous at all.
It was painful and fullof manipulators and false.
Father figures, and she had toovercome so many obstacles that
the patriarchy put in her way.
(33:01):
But now she looks at the viewfrom the top of her pedestal or
her tower or her throne, and shesees how the tables have turned.
A lot of the rest of this albumdeals with this shady side of show
business and how it's impossibleto trust anyone when everyone has
an ulterior motive for knowing you.
Everyone has something to gain byknowing you and you have nothing to gain.
(33:24):
By knowing other people, it's the battlebetween the showgirl and the girl.
And in father figure, we really get tosee the origin story of this conflict.
The father figure may have shownthe girl how to become the showgirl,
but once she did that putting on hershow, it was entirely by her own hand.
And she's realizing that shecreated herself and she entered
(33:47):
into this world where these twoselves will constantly be at war.
Just like she's at war with this formerfather figure, she's, it's also a war
within herself and against herself.
And in the end, the song is askingthe same question that almost every
other song on this album is askingif they're here for the show,
(34:08):
what does that mean for the girl?
Thank you so much for joining me.
That's a wrap for father figure.
Next episode, we are gonna tackletrack five of the Notorious
Track Five's eldest daughter.
If you found this insightful orentertaining or anything at all, please
like and subscribe, leave a comment.
I'm just starting this podcastand it really, really helps.
(34:30):
Once again, you can find allof my lyrical analysis on my
website linked in the show notes.
Thank you so much for being here,and I will see you in the next track.
That's it for this chapterof Swiftly Sung Stories.
If you enjoyed this deep dive,please don't forget to follow,
subscribe, or leave a review.
It helps other Swiftiesfind their way here.
I'm Jen and I had a marveloustime reading everything with you.
See you next time.
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