Never Grow Up
Speak Now (2010) | Speak Now (Taylor's Version) [2023]
Table of Contents
Background and Lyrical Theme
«‘Never Grow Up’ is a song about the fact that I don’t quite know how I feel about growing up. It’s tricky. Growing up happens without you knowing it. Growing up is such a crazy concept because a lot of times when you were younger you wish you were older. I look out into a crowd every night and I see a lot of girls that are my age and going through exactly the same things as I’m going through. Every once in a while I look down and I see a little girl who is seven or eight, and I wish I could tell her all of this. There she is, becoming who she is going to be and forming her thoughts and dreams and opinions. I wrote this song for those little girls.»
Taylor Swift
Live Performances
«I wrote it when I was like 18 or 19, but my friend just had a baby and she made me godmother of it. I was holding this little baby the other night, and I was just thinking differently. When you’re holding onto something that’s so innocent, and so perfect, and has no idea what’s coming for it with the world. The world is going to throw so many things at you as you grow up.»
Taylor Swift
Taylor's Version
«I was encountering the milestones and checkpoints of normal teenage growth. I had cataclysmic crushes and brushes with heartache. I moved out of my parents' house and set my bags down in a new apartment. I hung photos on my own walls and decorated the space where I would sob and cackle and shatter and dream. Sometimes I felt like a grown up, but a lot of the time I just wanted to time travel back to my childhood bed, where my mom would read stories to me until I fell asleep. [...] I still sometimes wish I was a little kid again in a tiny bed, before I ever grew up.»
Taylor Swift
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Your little hand’s wrapped around my finger
And it’s so quiet in the world tonight
Your little eyelids flutter cause you’re dreaming
So I tuck you in, turn on your favorite night light
[Pre-Chorus 1]
To you, everything’s funny
You got nothing to regret
I’d give all I have, honey
If you could stay like that
[Chorus]
Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up
Don’t you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up
Don’t you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
I won’t let nobody hurt you
Won’t let no one break your heart
And no one will desert you
Just try to never grow up
Never grow up
[Verse 2]
You’re in the car on the way to the movies
And you’re mortified your mom’s dropping you off
At 14, there’s just so much you can’t do
And you can’t wait to move out someday and call your own shots
[Pre-Chorus 2]
But don’t make her drop you off around the block
Remember that she’s getting older too
And don’t lose the way that you dance around in your PJ’s getting ready for school
[Chorus]
Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up
Don’t you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up
Don’t you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
No one’s ever burned you
Nothing’s ever left you scarred
And even though you want to
Please try to never grow up
[Bridge]
Take pictures in your mind of your childhood room
Memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home
Remember the footsteps, remember the words said
And all your little brother’s favorite songs
I just realized everything I have is someday gonna be gone
[Verse 3]
So here I am in my new apartment
In a big city, they just dropped me off
It’s so much colder than I thought it would be
So I tuck myself in and turn my night light on
Wish I’d never grown up
I wish I’d never grown up
[Chorus Variation]
Oh, I don’t wanna grow up
Wish I’d never grown up
I could still be little
Oh, I don’t wanna grow up
Wish I’d never grown up
It could still be simple
[Final Chorus]
Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up
Don’t you ever grow up
Just stay this little
Oh darling, don’t you ever grow up
Don’t you ever grow up
It could stay this simple
[Outro]
I won’t let nobody hurt you (Never grow up)
Won’t let no one break your heart
And even though you want to
Please try to never grow up, oh (Never grow up)
Don’t you ever grow up, oh
Never grow up
Just never grow up
Artist | Taylor Swift | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Albums | Speak Now Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) | |||
Released | October 25, 2010 | |||
Re-Released | July 7, 2023 | |||
Written | July 2010 | |||
Genre | Singer-Songwriter | |||
Length | 4:52 | |||
Labels | Big Machine Records Republic Records | |||
Songwriter | Taylor Swift | |||
Producers | Nathan Chapman (original) Christopher Rowe Taylor Swift | |||
SPEAK NOW CHRONOLOGY | ||||
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