Taylor Swift’s “Babylon” Lyrics Will Leave You With Chills—Here’s What the Haunting Song Is About

Swifties have busily spent the past 24 hours reading into the meaning of Taylor Swift’s four new songs from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, and while we deciphered the meaning of “Pink Clouding,” figured out what “Patient Zero” is a reference to, and even zoomed in on / enhanced some blurry gravestones in a music video snippet, “Babylon” has remained a total mystery. Until now!The song is a narrative journey about a person who left their small town in Virginia and is seemingly going through a lot of regrets at a casino and on the train. The lyrics are Taylor at her best, with moments like, “You're using nostalgia as a weapon to hurt yourself / But darling, you end up hurting everybody else” and my personal favorite, “No elbows on the table, and the neighbors lawn always looked betterYour hand-me-down sweater should've been from the mall.”Pretty sure fans will be debating this one for days to come, so stay tuned, and in the meantime, check out the full lyrics, via Genius.[Verse 1]The casino doesn't like when you run the tablesAnd though the box is wrapped up nice, it's just a cage to youThose electric fences buzz, the stallions leave the stableAnd that smalltown's even smaller now in your rearviewYou ran with all the wild thingsA liberated libertine who then longed for home'cause it's where you're fromIn Virginia with a church dress onNo elbows on the table, and the neighbors lawn always looked betterYour hand-me-down sweater should've been from the mall[Chorus]And you hate this song, but you wake up on the train with your headphones goneThen that melody is all you wantYou never knew that it was Babylon 'til it was gone[Verse 2]Give the people what they want, then you keep it movin'Make your plans and friends of strangers, makeup on your tieTwenty watches in the safe 'cause your time is moneyLove is ice upon the ladder that you need to climbShe captured your attention, so free of all pretensionIt stopped you cold because she loved you soPretty as a picture that you didn't postLooking at you like you're made of solid goldNever official, you mention that you're single to the girls at the bar[Chorus]You hate this song, but you wake up on the train with your headphones goneThen that melody is all you wantYou never knew that it was Babylon 'til it was gone[Verse 3]You're using nostalgia as a weapon to hurt yourselfBut darling, you end up hurting everybody elseThe self-harm of never being where you areIt's bedtime, but you're sitting in your carYou're missing all the best partsAnd they're all at homeShe's hanging Christmas lights with your sonSneak into the bathroom to call her momAnd say, "It's not working, it's just not worth it if we're not what he wants"[Chorus]But you love this song, you wake up on the train with your headphones goneThen that melody is all you wantYou never knew that it was Babylon now it's almost gone[Refrain]In Virginia with a church dress onNo elbows on the table, and the neighbors lawn always looked betterYour hand-me-down sweater should've been from the mall[Chorus]But you love this song, you wake up on the train with your headphones goneThen that melody is all you wantYou never knew that it was Babylon 'til it was gone