The Venn diagram of people who closely analyze Taylor Swift lyrics and people who love The Great Gatsby feels like a circle. So it’s fitting that the song “happiness,” off of Swift’s latest album, evermore, contains several references to the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic. The song, co-written by Swift and The National’s Aaron Dessner, is one of the more heartbreaking on the record, despite its title. And just like Gatsby and Daisy’s ill-fated romance, “happiness” ruminates on the end of a rocky relationship.
“There’ll be happiness after you/But there was happiness because of you/Both of these things can be true/There is happiness,” Swift sings in reference to a breakup that happens after “seven years in Heaven.” While it’s not totally clear who or what inspired this solemn song, there are allusions to The Great Gatsby woven throughout it. “I hope she’ll be your beautiful fool/Who takes my spot next to you,” one lyric reads, referencing Daisy’s hope for her daughter that “she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.”
Then there’s the line, “All I want from me now is the green light of forgiveness,” which a reference to the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock in The Great Gatsby. The light represents Gatsby’s yearning for Daisy, a signal that’s always just out of reach. If one wants to read further into the lyrics (What else are we doing at home, anyways?), the line “In our history, across our great divide” could also connect to the novel’s setting of West and East Egg. And the lyric, “Tell me, when did your winning smile/Begin to look like a smirk?” may also be a reference to Gatsby’s “rare smile,” as described at length by the book’s narrator, Nick.
This isn’t Swift’s first time incorporating Gatsby into a song. In 2017’s “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things,” she sings, “Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year.” Do you hear that? It’s the sound of high school sophomores everywhere writing AP English essays on Gatsby references in Taylor Swift tracks. You can read the full lyrics to “happiness,” below via Genius and watch the lyric video.
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Verse 1
Honey, when I’m above the trees
I see this for what it is
But now I’m right down in it, all the years I’ve given
Is just shit we’re dividin’ up
Showed you all of my hiding spots
I was dancing when the music stopped
And in the disbelief, I can’t face reinvention
I haven’t met the new me yetChorus
There’ll be happiness after you
But there was happiness because of you
Both of these things can be true
There is happinessPost-Chorus
Past the blood and bruise
Past the curses and cries
Beyond the terror in the nightfall
Haunted by the look in my eyes
That would’ve loved you for a lifetime
Leave it all behind
And there is happinessVerse 2
Tell me, when did your winning smile
Begin to look like a smirk?
When did all our lessons start to look like weapons
Pointed at my deepest hurt?
I hope she’ll be your beautiful fool
Who takes my spot next to you
No, I didn’t mean that
Sorry, I can’t see facts through all of my fury
You haven’t met the new me yetChorus
There’ll be happiness after me
But there was happiness because of me
Both of these things, I believe
There is happinessPost-Chorus
In our history, across our great divide
There is a glorious sunrise
Dappled with the flickers of light
From the dress I wore at midnight, leave it all behind
And there is happinessBridge
I can’t make it go away by making you a villain
I guess it’s the price I paid for seven years in Heaven
And I pulled your body into mine
Every goddamn night, now I get fake niceties
No one teaches you what to do
When a good man hurts you
And you know you hurt him, tooVerse 3
Honey, when I’m above the trees
I see it for what it is
But now my eyes leak acid rain on the pillow where you used to lay your head
After giving you the best I had
Tell me what to give after that
All you want from me now is the green light of forgiveness
You haven’t met the new me yet
And I think she’ll give you thatChorus
There’ll be happiness after you
But there was happiness because of you, too
Both of these things can be true
There is happiness
Post-Chorus
In our history, across our great divide
There is a glorious sunrise
Dappled with the flickers of light
From the dress I wore at midnight, leave it all behind
Oh, leave it all behind
Leave it all behind
And there is happiness
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