"The Outside" Song Meaning

Today's Taylor Swift song is "The Outside" from her debut album "Taylor Swift."

What is this song about?

A young Taylor Swift

It is about herself in middle school.  She grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Wyomissing, Pennslyvania and started noticing she was different. Taylor says,  "All the girls at school were going to sleepovers and breaking into their parents’ liquor cabinets at the weekend, and all I wanted to do was go to festivals and sing karaoke music. All of a sudden there were all these little cliques. There’s cool girls and they have straight hair and you don’t – things start dividing you up and I was really fascinated by that. I would go to school and not have anyone to talk to, but what I could look forward to was going home and writing something about it."

"For me, I was facing a lot of things at school where I found myself on the outside looking in. I was not included. I would go to school some days, a lot of days, and not know who I was going to talk to. And that's a really terrifying thing for somebody who's 12."

She didn't fit in, she was different and she writes about it in "The Outside".   She "tried to take the road less traveled by" but "nobody ever lets me in."

I think every girl can feel like this when they go through middle school.  I did.  There was that one year where nothing seemed to go right, I was on the outside of all the circles.  I would go to school and not have anyone to hang out with, and the people I did eat lunch with didn't really like me.  Luckily for me that all changed and the next year and every subsequent year was better after that. Now I'm a grown adult and can hardly remember the loneliness of that year.  Taylor I can really relate to this song!

Click here for the lyrics to the song, "The Outside".

The Outside Lyrics

The Outside Lyrics  (Taylor Swift Album)

Written by Taylor Swift 

I didn't know what I would find

When I went looking for a reason, I know

I didn't read between the lines

And, baby, I've got nowhere to go

I tried to take the road less traveled by

But nothing seems to work the first few times

Am I right?

[Chorus:]

So how can I ever try to be better?

Nobody ever lets me in

I can still see you, this ain't the best view

On the outside looking in

I've been a lot of lonely places

I've never been on the outside

You saw me there, but never knew

I would give it all up to be

A part of this, a part of you

And now it's all too late so you see

You could've helped if you had wanted to

But no one notices until it's too

Late to do anything

[Repeat Chorus]

So how can I ever try to be better?

Nobody ever lets me in

I can still see you, this ain't the best view

On the outside looking in

I've been a lot of lonely places

I've never been on the outside