If you polled 100 Swifties on their favorite Taylor Swift, “All Too Well” would be in the top five—if not number one. So now that Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” lyrics are here, of course, we did a deep dive into what the new song reveals about Swift and her relationship with the track’s rumored inspiration, Jake Gyllenhaal.
Swift first released “All Too Well” in 2012 as the fifth track from her fourth studio album, Red. The song—which was co-written with songwriter Liz Rose, who also co-wrote Swift songs like “White Horse” and “Teardrops on My Guitars”—was well-reviewed by fans and critics at the time for Swift’s raw and emotional lyrics.
In June 2021, Swift announced that she would be releasing a re-recorded version of Red after her former record label, Big Machine Records, sold the ownership of her first six albums—including Red—to Scooter Braun and his company, Ithaca Holdings. Swift also revealed at the time that she would be releasing a new, 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” which was originally five minutes and 29 seconds long.
Image: Courtesy of Republic Records.
Who is “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” about?
In an interview with Good Morning America in 2012, Swift explained that “All Too Well” was the most difficult song to write on Red because it took her a while “to filter through everything she wanted to say.” She also revealed that the song was originally 10 minutes long (hence why she decided to release a 10-minute version nine years later.) “It started out being a 10-minute song, which you can’t put on an album,” she said.
Swift told Rolling Stone in 2020 that the song wasn’t planned and came from a day where she was “feeling terrible” about her “personal life.” “It was a day when I was just, like, a broken human, walking into rehearsal just feeling terrible about what was going on in my personal life,” she said. “I just ended up playing four chords over and over again, and the band started kicking in. People just started playing along with me… I think they could tell I was really going through it.”
She continued, “I just started singing and riffing and ad-libbing this song that basically was ‘All Too Well.’ It literally just was that song, but it had probably seven extra verses and it included the f-word…My sound guy was like, ‘Hey, I burned a CD of that thing you were doing in case you want it.’ I ended up taking it home and listening to it,” she went on. “And I was like, I actually really like this, but it definitely is like 10 minutes long and I need to pare it down, so I’m going to call [cowriter and long time collaborator] Liz Rose.”
As for who “All Too Well” is about, it’s well-known among fans that most of Swift’s songs on Red are about her ex-boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhaal, whom she dated from October 2010 to January 2011. The most damning clue the song is about Gyllenhaal is the lyric where Swift sings, “Walked through the door with you. It was cold, but something ’bout it felt like home somehow and I left my scarf there at your sister’s house. And you still got it in your drawer even now.”
According to reports at the time, Swift spent Thanksgiving 2010 with Gyllenhaal’s family, including his sister, Maggie Gyllenhaal. In an interview on Watch What Happens Live in 2017, Maggie responded to claims she’s the “sister” in “All Too Well.” “I never understood why everybody asked me about this scarf. What is this?” she said. “I am in the dark about the scarf. It’s totally possible. I don’t know. I have been asked this before.”
Read Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” lyrics, via LyricsKpop.net, below.
Taylor Swift “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” Lyrics
I walked through the door with you
The air was cold
But something about it felt like home somehow
And I left my scarf there at your sister’s house
And you’ve still got it in your drawer, even now
Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze
We’re singing in the car, getting lost upstate
Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place
And I can picture it after all these days
And I know it’s long gone and
That magic’s not here no more
And I might be okay but I’m not fine at all
‘Cause there we are again on that little town street
You almost ran the red ’cause you were lookin’ over at me
Wind in my hair, I was there
I remember it all too well
Photo album on the counter, your cheeks were turning red
You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-sized bed
And your mother’s telling stories ’bout you on the tee-ball team
You told me ’bout your past thinking your future was me
And you were tossing me the car keys
Fuck the patriarchy
Keychain on the ground
We were always skipping town
And I was thinking on the drive down
Anytime now he’s going to say it’s love
You never called it what it was
Till we were gone and dead and buried
Check the pulse and come back swearing
It’s the same
After three months in the grave
And then you wondered where it went to
As I reached for you
But all I felt was shame
And you held my lifeless frame
And I know it’s long gone and
There was nothing else I could do
And I forget about you long enough
To forget why I needed to
‘Cause there we are again in the middle of the night
We’re dancing ’round the kitchen in the refrigerator light
Down the stairs, I was there
I remember it all too well
And there we are again
When nobody had to know
You kept me like a secret
But I kept you like an oath
Sacred prayer and we’d swear
To remember it all too well
And maybe we got lost in translation
Maybe I asked for too much
But maybe this thing was a masterpiece
‘Til you tore it all up
Running scared, I was there
I remember it all too well
And you call me up again just to break me like a promise
So casually cruel in the name of being honest
I’m a crumpled up piece of paper lying here
‘Cause I remember it all, all, all
They say “All’s well that ends well”
But I’m in a new hell everytime
You double cross my mind
You said if we had been closer in age
Maybe it would’ve been fine
That made me want to die
The idea you had of me, who was she?
An ever-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects
Now I’m weeping in a party bathroom
Some actress asking me what happened
You, that’s what happened, you…
You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes
Sipping coffee like you’re on a late night show
But when he watched me watch the front door all night willing you to come
And he said it’s supposed to be fun turning 21
Time won’t fly, it’s like I’m paralyzed by it
I’d like to be my old self again
But I’m still trying to find it
After plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own
Now you mail back my things and I walk home alone
But you keep your old scarf from that very first week
‘Cause it reminds you of innocence
And it smells like me
You can’t get rid of it
‘Cause you remember it all too well
Cause there we are again when I loved you so
Back before you lost the one real thing you’ve ever known
It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well
And I was never good at telling jokes but the punchline goes
“I’ll get older but your lovers stay my age”
From when you’re Brooklyn broke, my skin and bones
I’m a soldier who’s returning half her weight
And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue?
Just between us, did the love affair maim you too?
Cause in this city’s baring cold, I still remember the first fall of snow
And how it glistened as it fell, I remember it all too well
Just between us, did the love affair maim you all too well?
Just between us, do you remember it all too well?
Just between us, I remember it all too well
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