Song
Back to December
Speak Now · 2010 · Track 3
Sole author
Written byTaylor Swift
Produced byNathan Chapman, Taylor Swift
Also known as: BTD
Also released asBack to December (TV)
Details
- Stated inspiration
- From the Speak Now (Taylor's Version) prologue: "Some expected a kiss of breakup song but instead got a hand-on-heart apology, 'Back to December.'"
Hidden message
Tay
Encoded in the album’s liner notes.
Door / Threshold
Incidental
Domestic Spaces
“So if the chain is on your door I understand”
The chained door as the sign of a welcome withdrawn. The speaker grants the addressee the right to keep it fastened, reading the latch as the fair measure of the trust she spent.
Lore & Lyrics
Cars
Incidental
Cars & Travel
“I watched you laughin' from the passenger side”
Watching him from the passenger side as the angle of regret; she is the passenger now, looking across at what she let go.
Community comment
Smile
Incidental
Identity & Self
“I miss your tanned skin, your sweet smiles”
Among the remembered details of the lost love, the sweet smiles return as what regret keeps.
Lore & Lyrics
Flowers
Incidental
Nature & Landscape
“You gave me roses and I left them there to die”
Full analytical context awaits the Back to December episode extraction.
Lore & Lyrics