‘So Long, London’ lyrics meaning: Taylor Swift's song, decoded

In 2019, Taylor Swift released the upbeat pop song “London Boy.” Five years later, she’s saying “so long” to the city with her new song “So Long London.”

Both “London Boy” and “So Long London” are the fifth songs of their respective albums: “Lover” and “The Tortured Poets Department.”

“London Boy” was widely received as an ode to her then-boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. She and the English actor split in the spring of 2023 after six years together.

Revisit our live coverage of the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”

In “So Long London,” she appears to be saying goodbye to the city, and the relationship that put her there. Or, as the Brits might say, “Ta ta for now.”

Like much of “The Tortured Poets Department,” “So Long London” is a melancholy song of heartbreak.

She captures a picture of a relationship in its final moments, with one person drifting away and another exerting themselves to keep the pair together. Or, as she puts it, “carrying the rift.”

The relationship is no longer like the joyful jaunt she describes in “London Boy,” through neighborhoods like SoHo. Instead, it’s a tough climb up a hill. Trying to “(pull) him in tighter each time he was drifting away” is taking a toll. The narrator describes the effect all that effort has on her body. She has a “split spine” and “weary bones.”

Soon, the person who is trying stops and allows the distance to grow: “I stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped trying to drill the safe.” The safe could be a metaphor for a closed-off person.

Ultimately, she gives up on the relationship, using medical language to essentially declare it dead. “I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use / The spirit was gone, we would never come to,” she sings.

Her words here echo “You’re Losing Me“ from her previous album, “Midnights.” Fans interpreted that song to be about her breakup with Alwyn: “I can’t find a pulse / My heart won’t start anymore for you.”

The song also gives the perspective of onlookers and the other person in the relationship. Her friends say “It isn’t right to be scared,” in a relationship.

The man blames her, saying she “abandoned the ship.” She has another take: “I was going down with it / My white knuckle dying grip holding tight to your quiet resentment.”

In the end, comes the relationship post-mortem when she reflects on what happened, what went wrong — and how she feels now.

She looked for “clues” to support his claims that he loved her. Instead, she only felt uncertain about the commitment: “Every breath feels like rarest air / When you’re not sure if he wants to be there.”

After dealing with this person’s blues, she’s feeling like herself again: “You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days / And I’m just getting color back into my face.” (In "You'e Losing Me," she sings, "My face was gray.")

The song concludes with Swift going home with a feeling of resignation. She’s not “the one,” but the other person will “find someone.”

People drift apart; that doesn’t mean the other person isn’t worthy of love. The only thing she’s “pissed off” about? “You let me give you all that youth for free.” It’s worth noting Swift and Alwyn were together from when she was 27 to 33.

This clearly isn’t the bop that “London Boy” is, but they do share some lyrical overlap.

In “London Boy,” she mashes up her country music roots with England, calling herself a “Tennessee Stella McCartney on the heath.”

She mentions heaths again here but in the context of endings. “I left all I knew / You left me at the house by the heath,” she sings. Heaths are a rare lowland habitat found in the U.K. and elsewhere in northwest Europe.

Read the lyrics to ‘So Long London’

I saw in my mind ferry lights through the mist

I kept calm and carried the weight of the rift

Pulled him in tighter each time he was drifting away

My spine split from carrying us up the hill

Wet through my clothes, weary bones caught the chill

I stopped trying to make him laugh, stopped trying to drill the safe

Thinking how much sad did you think I had, did you think I had in me?

Oh the tragedy.

So long London.

You’ll find someone.

I didn’t opt in to be your odd man out

I founded the club she’s heard great things about

I left all I knew you left me at the house by the Heath

I stopped CPR, after all it’s no use

The spirit was gone, we would never come to

And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free

For so long, London

Stitches undone

Two graves, one gun

I’ll find someone

And you say I abandoned the ship, but I was going down with it

My white knuckle dying grip holding tight to your quiet resentment

And my friends said it isn’t right to be scared

Every day old love affair,

Every breath feels like rarest air

When you’re not sure if he wants to be there

So how much sad did you think I had, did you think I had in me?

How much tragedy?

Just how low did you think I’d go ‘fore I’d self implode?

‘Fore I’d have to go be free?

You swore that you loved, me but where were the clues?

I died on the altar waiting for the proof

You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest days

And I’m just getting color back into my face

I’m just mad as hell cause I loved this place for

So long, London

Had a good run

A moment of warm sun

But I’m not the one

So long, London

Stitches undone

Two graves, one gun

You’ll find someone