I was taken by the view
New episode, deep dive "Paris" out now!
“Like we were in Paris.” Like so many of Taylor’s songs, “Paris” is full of powerful images and strong feelings, yet it still feels a bit more understated compared to some of her other love songs. In this week’s episode, we go through the images and metaphors to unpack what is under the surface. Why Paris? Why trees? Why levitate above the messes? (sidenote: with “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me” out in the world now, I have follow-up questions about the two different uses of the word “levitate” in her songs…). Check out our conversation as we dive into these questions and more to understand this song!
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Ok, so Paris isn’t my favorite city in the world. I make no secret of that, but I do genuinely love this song. To me, “Let the only flashing lights be the tower at midnight / In my mind” is such a lovely idea. The narrator has created a beautiful, escapist version of Paris in her mind, where she wants to go with her lover to protect and treasure their relationship. I think that’s an incredibly beautiful and romantic notion.
While I may not be a huge fan of Paris the city though, I do freaking love France. I’ve always loved linguistics, and the relationship between France and England played a pretty key role in how we got to our modern version of English. I also think it’s really interesting that France and the US went through revolutions around the same time, but came out with pretty different cultures and values around freedom (or liberté, if you wish). This love is so strong that when I was lucky enough to go to France with some friends last year to see the Tour de France, I seized the opportunity to force my friends to sit through a short lecture on the history of France. And now you, dear reader, get to experience a few snippets of that learning experience that they all totally loved and didn’t complain about at all!
A Brief History of France
By “brief” I obviously mean that we are just hitting on a few points, not that the timeline was brief. Feel free to just search for any of these items on the internet, because they are all interesting. However, the key takeaway I see in this timeline is the fact that what we know as modern France is really an amalgamation of different countries, rulers, political systems, etc. over thousands of years. From ancient Rome to the heroes of the French Resistance, this country has seen and is the result of, a lot of history. Paris destroyed a lot of the physical representations of their history (such as older buildings) in the early 19th century, but the impact of their layered history is still definitely seen in their culture.
People of Note
PLEASE go look up all of these women. Were there problematic elements of their lives? Yeah, of course. History is full of problematic things. But it’s still incredibly cool to see strong, powerful women in France from a pretty early on in their history. If you are going to dig into any one of these though, I highly recommend diving into the world of Simone de Beauvoir. In fact, I specifically would recommend starting with The Second Sex. It’s not light reading by any means, but still worth it!
“No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility.”
Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex
Famous Artists
First of all, I want to note that there are plenty of incredible female artists who also excelled in the art styles represented above. However, if you are going to visit France and want to go look at some art, these are the names you should probably start with. What I love about the Impressionists onward in the visual arts is the way they played with a static image to try to capture emotion, movement, experience, etc. The sharp angles, the soft lines, and the way they played with color was all an attempt to capture elements of the human experience that don’t align exactly with reality. Unsurprisingly, I think if you enjoy Taylor’s music, you’ll probably appreciate what these artists were doing as well.
If you want more on art though, please go back to our Surrealism episode to learn from an actual expert (shout out to @arthistoryabby)!
Paris & Taylor
To be clear, I have no intention of yucking anyone’s yum. If you love Paris, I support you wholeheartedly. My personal interests lie in linguistics and medieval history, and Paris just isn’t the best city out there for those things. I still think that the song “Paris” is all about the creation of an idealistic fantasy in the mind of the narrator. And if that’s true, then I think “Paris” can be whatever you want it to be. We are all free to create fantasy worlds in our minds, and in this case, Taylor simply chose Paris.
My parting words for you will be a piece of advice for both visiting Paris and being in a relationship. While the most famous landmarks are cool to see, don’t forget to explore those alleyways and back streets. They are often the most fun part of the experience. Also make sure you have the right converter for anything you need to plug in. That last one is just for visiting Paris the city, but seriously it’s important.