"Hey Stephen" Song Meaning

Today's Taylor Swift song is "Hey Stephen" from her Fearless album.

Who is this song about?

Well it's not that hard to guess the first name of the guy, it's STEPHEN (which by the way is the first name of my charming husband, except he spells it with a v.)  His full name is Stephen Barker Liles and he plays in a country music band called, Love and Theft.

Taylor tells Philadelphia magazine November 2008, "This is a guy I had a crush on. I wrote about all these reasons he should be with me instead of other girls."  In the song she says, "Hey Stephen I could give you fifty reasons why I should be the one you choose/All those other girls, well they're beautiful but would they write a song for you".  But she is too shy to tell him how she feels, "Hey Stephen, I know looks can be deceiving but I know I saw a light in you/As we walked we were talking and I didn't say half the things I wanted to."  But she can tell him in the song, " 'cause I can't help it if you look like an angel/Can't help I if I wanna kiss you in the rain so/Come feel this magic I've been feeling since I met you/Can't help it if there's no one else/I'm waiting alone now so come on and come out and pull me near."

Click here for lyrics to the song: "Hey Stephen"

Taylor tells New York Times during "Screen Test:Taylor Swift" December 9, 2009, "When I write songs I don't hesitate to put names in the songs because that's how I deal with life. I had an awesome experience with this last record, with this song called 'Hey Stephen'.  This was a guy who opened up a couple shows for me on tour.  It was just you know, talked to him a couple times, we'd hang out at catering or whatever.  It was never anything, like he would ever know that I liked him.  I don't ever confess that sort in real life, but I really do like to confess it in this fantasy music life that I get to live.  So I wrote this song called 'Hey Stephen' and I sent Stephen a text message and I was like 'Hey, track 5'."

Stephen Barker Liles on left, Taylor Swift on right

What was his reaction to the song?

Stephen tells Planet Verge, “Taylor called me up and was like, ‘Hey I wrote a song about you,’  and I got a little nervous because I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, But after hearing the song, it was definitely one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.” 

That is not the end of the story, it seems Stephen had some reciprocal feelings for Taylor.  "You know what’s funny about that whole thing is that I actually wrote a song for Taylor at the same time that she wrote ‘Hey Stephen’ for me. So when Taylor called me [back in 2008] and told me about the song she wrote for me I actually was like ‘ That’s really funny because I wrote a song about you too,' It was a weird moment because I wasn't expecting her to say she wrote a song for me and I think it was a mutual thing on her end too, but she asked me what the words were so I only told her a little bit. I was like, ‘This world is goin’ crazy, but baby what do you say we try to make it anyway?’ And that was that.”

At first he wasn't going to release the song he wrote. He told Planet Verge, "No, but I probably should make one. It’s really one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written. Taylor is such an awesome girl, and I’ve had a lot of family and friends tell me that they think I should put it out for people to hear, so I’ll have to get on that soon.” He finally released it, "Try to Make it Anyway" in 2011, he said, "Planet Verge has been good to us, this whole experience with the song was just fun too. I did the recording in the studio I have in my house and filmed the video in my backyard–in my barn actually, which my buddy Aaron Thomas helped me out with all of that. I really just love songwriting and this song has become one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.”

Click here to hear his song, "Try to Make it Anyway".

Nothing ever happened between the two, but what a cute story.  They both made songs for each other.