All Too Well is widely considered Taylor Swift’s greatest song.
It is a true masterpiece and showcases her incredible songwriting ability.
It is also the quintessential breakup song and a big reason Swift has become famous for these types of songs.
Apparently the original version was around 20 minutes long.
It was whittled down to around five minutes for the album, but clearly, Taylor had more to say.
Now that she is re-releasing her albums (I won’t even get into what a baller move that is), we got a new version of Red that includes both a rerelease of the original 5-minute All Too Well, plus a new 10-minute one.
What’s new in the 10-minute version? Keep reading for the full lyrics and a look at the meaning behind this song.
All Too Well Lyrics And Meaning
Taylor Swift released the 10-minute version of All Too Well as part of the re-released album Red (Taylor’s Version).
It was highly anticipated by her fans, because it included lyrics that were cut from the original album version that promised to tell us the hidden story of her breakup with actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
And it was a huge success. It topped the original version of the song and even broke the Guiness World Record for the longest song to hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
In addition to the song, Taylor released an exclusive short film, also titled All Too Well. Written and directed by Swift herself, the 14-minute short film stars well-known actors Sadie Sink (Stranger Things and Fear Street) and Dylan O’Brien (Maze Runner and Teen Wolf).
It tells the story of a break between two people, just like the song on which it is based.
As the singer herself explained in a November 2020 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Red was her “only real breakup album.”
Now, the reissue of the album and the release of All Too Well has brought the relationship that inspired the album back to the forefront: the one between Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal in 2010.
All Too Well Lyrics
Verse 1
I walked through the door with you, the air was cold
But somethin’ ’bout 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
Verse 2
Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze
We’re singin’ in the car, getting lost upstate
Autumn leaves fallin’ down like pieces into place
And I can picture it after all these days
Pre-Chorus
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
Oh, oh, oh
Chorus
‘Causе there we arе 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
Verse 3
Photo album on the counter, your cheeks were turnin’ red
You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-sized bed
And your mother’s tellin’ stories ’bout you on the tee-ball team
You taught me ’bout your past, thinkin’ your future was me
And you were tossing me the car keys, “Fuck the patriarchy”
Keychain on the ground, we were always skippin’ town
And I was thinkin’ on the drive down, “Any time now
He’s gonna say it’s love,” you never called it what it was
‘Til we were dead and gone and buried
Check the pulse and come back swearin’ 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
Pre-Chorus
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
Chorus
‘Cause there we are again in the middle of the night
We’re dancin’ ’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, yeah
Bridge
Well, 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
Runnin’ 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 bein’ honest
I’m a crumpled-up piece of paper lyin’ here
‘Cause I remember it all, all, all
Verse 4
They say all’s well that ends well, but I’m in a new hell
Every time you double-cross my mind
You said if we had been closer in age, maybe it would’ve been fine
And that made me want to die
The idea you had of me, who was she?
A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel whose shine reflects on you
Not weepin’ in a party bathroom
Some actress askin’ me what happened, you
That’s what happened, you
You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes
Sippin’ coffee like you’re on a late-night show
But then he watched me watch the front door all night, willin’ you to come
And he said, “It’s supposed to be fun turning twenty-one”
Verse 5
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 tryin’ 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 my 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, yeah
Chorus
‘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
Wind in my hair, you were there
You remember it all
Down the stairs, you were there
You remember it all
It was rare, I was there
I remember it all too well
Verse 6
And I was never good at tellin’ jokes, but the punch line goes
“I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age”
From when your 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 barren cold
I still remember the first fall of snow
And how it glistened as it fell
I remember it all too well
Outro
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 (Just between us) all too well
Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there (I was there)
Down the stairs, I was there, I was there
Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there
It was rare, you remember it all too well
Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there (Oh)
Down the stairs, I was there, I was there (I was there)
Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there
It was rare, you remember it (All too well)
Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there
Down the stairs, I was there, I was there
Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there
It was rare, you remember it
Wind in my hair, I was there, I was there
Down the stairs, I was there, I was there
Sacred prayer, I was there, I was there
It was rare, you remember it
All Too Well Meaning
All Too Well is the quintessential breakup song and it solidifies Taylor Swift as one of the greatest songwriters of today. In this ballad, the singer vented about the suffering she experienced after her breakup with actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
Apparently, the actor broke off the relationship, because he did not feel comfortable with the media attention they began to receive. The age difference was also a problem.
Swift has hinted on occasion that Gyllenhaal himself tried to hide it for a long time: “You said that if we had been closer in age, maybe it would’ve been fine. And that made me want to die.”
Short Film
In the video, the singer wanted to show, through the story of her two protagonists, everything that we do not know about her breakup with the actor from Brokeback Mountain.
Although it has not been confirmed by either of them, the truth is that All Too Well perfectly portrays what Jake Gyllenhaal and Taylor Swift’s relationship was like during the last months of 2010.
In the short film, the singer shows us everything we didn’t know about that love, recalling the story from the beginning of the relationship to the breakup.
In addition, she even included herself in the film. She did this to represent the maturity she has gained throughout the years, from the time of the relationship when she was 21, until the release of the new version of Red.
Taylor broke the short film up into six chapters that correspond to the six verses from the 10-minute version of the song.
Together, the chapters explain all the hidden secrets behind her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal. A big one is that the age difference caused the actor to be absent on Taylor Swift’s birthday.
Chapter 1
The first chapter, called The first Crack In The Glass, tells the beginning of the relationship between Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal.
In it, Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien unleash their love on a fall landscape, much like Taylor and Jake did back then. They show their love for each other with great displays of affection.
Shortly after that, we see how, for the first time, the age difference between the two becomes a real obstacle to the development of their relationship.
At that time, the singer was 21 years old, while the actor was 30, the same age difference as that between Sink (19) and O’Brien (30) during the recording of the short.
At this point, the two have their first argument, after Dylan lets go of Sadie’s hand during dinner with his friends. Many fans also point out the similarities of this scene with the movie A Marriage Story, of which Taylor claimed to be a big fan.
Chapter 2
In the second chapter, Are You Real?, Taylor shows us how, despite that first fight, the relationship continues and both are more in love than ever. Here we see how Sadie and Dylan dance in front of the refrigerator, following the lyrics of Taylor’s song verbatim.
At this point, we also hear one of the most remembered phrases of the song: “You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath”.
Taylor makes us understand that, although they loved each other, Gyllenhaal always tried to hide the fact that they were together, because of the age difference.
Chapter 3
This third part, titled The Breaking Point, talks about the moment when the relationship begins to break up, just as its name indicates. Here we see that it was Jake who put an end to the relationship and that this affected Taylor a lot. She spent months devastated because of this breakup.
Sadie, the protagonist of the short, appears on numerous occasions crying and twisted in pain at the end of her love. It’s also at this point that Taylor develops the story behind Gyllenhaal’s absence from her birthday party, which she reminds us of with his nostalgic lyrics: “Turning 21 is supposed to be fun.”
Chapter 4
In the fourth chapter, The Reeling, Taylor realizes that things will never be the same and that she must let go of that love forever. She must give up that love, because she is hurting herself and holding herself back.
Chapter 5
In the fifth chapter, The Remembering, the protagonist, Dylan O’Brien, appears remembering all the moments they lived together. From the small discussions to the great demonstrations of love, it all goes through his head one by one.
Despite everything, he has not let go of the memory of that love and the forgotten scarf that he still keeps is the symbol of everything that represented their relationship in its day:
“But you keep my old scarf from that very first week / ‘cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells of me. / You can’t get rid of it / ‘cause you remember it all too well.”
There has long been speculation that the scarf represents Swift’s virginity. She was asked about it again recently at a screening of the short film and the way she stumbled her way through the answer all but confirmed this rumor to be true.
Chapter 6
At this point in the short, 13 years have passed since the love story between Sadie and Dylan. An adult now (at this point Taylor Swift herself takes over in the video), the protagonist continues to carry the memories of that relationship. They will accompany her for life.
However, she no longer feels that love in the same way and she has captured all the feelings that that first love aroused in her in a book entitled All Too Well.
For his part, he observes her from a distance as she presents her work. He walks away from her while it is snowing outside the place where she presents her book, the same as what happens at the beginning of the song.
Like the protagonist of the short with her book, Taylor Swift also shows us her feelings in the reissue of Red (Taylor’s Version). Now more than ever, she lets us get inside her head and learn exactly how the relationship and breakup with Jake Gyllenhaal proceeded.
All Too Well Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts
All Too Well was a masterpiece when we only had the 5-minute version. The new 10-minute re-release makes the song even better. The additional All Too Well lyrics meaning adds to the story and fills in a lot of details about the breakup between Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal.
This song cemented Swift as an incredible artist and songwriter. Her decision to stick it to the people who robbed her of her masters makes her an absolute legend.
I am thrilled to see how incredible the fan response has been and how much effort Taylor is putting into rewarding her fans for their loyalty, with things like the All Too Well short film.
We have a similar analysis of another, even more famous, song that also deals with a broken relationship that may or may not have resulted in a child. Check out our article discussing the lyrics and meaning of Billie Jean by Michael Jackson.
Then there is the meaning of the lyrics to Little Talks. That song also talks about a relationship, but one in which one of the parties has died.
We also have the lyrics and meaning of Southern Cross. That song talks about a journey taken on a sailboat, in order to heal from a difficult breakup.
Finally, if you like Taylor Swift, you’ll be happy to know we included one of her hits in our list of songs about best friends here and our list of songs about fake friends here. She sings about them both. And I’m sure it comes as no surprise that she also has a place on our list of songs about the other woman here.
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