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A Perfectly Good Heart

Bonus Track | Taylor Swift (2006)

“A Perfectly Good Heart” is the closing track of the deluxe edition of Taylor’s debut album, Taylor Swift (2006). It is about getting your heart broken and your trust getting betrayed for the first time.
Table of Contents

Background and Lyrical Theme

“A Perfectly Good Heart” appears as the fourteenth track on Taylor’s eponymous debut album, and is only available on the deluxe edition. She wrote and recorded the song with Troy Verges and Brett James when she was just fourteen years old. In the song, she describes her very first heartbreak, yet also hints that there are more to come in her future. In an interview, Taylor said:

«It's a song that I recorded when I was fourteen. I thought it would be really important to put this on the album because, you know, it's just really innocent. It's about getting your heart broken for the first time and not understanding why somebody would wanna do that. It's before the mind games come in to play, before your second or third relationship, where you don't know anything but trusting people. And this song is about getting that trust betrayed.»

Live Performances

In total, Taylor has performed “A Perfectly Good Heart” almost 40 times. She regularly sang it in 2008, during promotion of her debut album when she was a tour opening act for many country music superstars. It usually served as the ninth song of her set.

She didn’t perform the song again for 16 years until she played it acoustically on guitar in Zurich on July 10, 2024, during one of her shows on “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). She played it as part of a mashup with “closure” (2020).

Lyrics

[Chorus]
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart
Why would you wanna take our love and tear it all apart now
Why would you wanna make the very first scar
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart

[Verse 1]
Maybe I should’ve seen the sign, should’ve read the writing on the wall
And realized by the distance in your eyes that I would be the one to fall
No matter what you say, I still can’t believe
That you would walk away
It don’t make sense to me but

[Chorus]
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart
Why would you wanna take our love and tear it all apart now
Why would you wanna make the very first scar
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart

[Bridge]
It’s not unbroken anymore
How do I get it back the way it was before

[Chorus Variation]
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart
Why would you wanna take our love and tear it all apart now
Why would you wanna make the very first scar
Why would you wanna break, would you wanna break a

[Final Chorus]
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart
Why would you wanna take our love and tear it all apart now
Why would you wanna make the very first scar
Why would you wanna break a perfectly good heart

General Information
ArtistTaylor Swift
AlbumTaylor Swift
ReleasedOctober 24, 2006
Written2003
StudiosAbtrax Recording (Nashville)
The Engine Room (Nashville)
GenreCountry Pop
Length3:40
LabelBig Machine Records
SongwritersTaylor Swift
Brett James
Troy Verges
ProducersNathan Chapman
Robert Ellis Orrall
Scott Borchetta (exec.)
TAYLOR SWIFT CHRONOLOGY
InvisibleA Perfectly Good HeartI Heart ?
Live Performance
Official Audio