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Cold As You

Taylor Swift (2006)

“Cold As You” is track five on Taylor’s debut studio album, Taylor Swift (2006). Co-written by her and Liz Rose, the song details Taylor’s experience with an emotionally unavailable guy. She compares him to a cold, rainy day.

Background and Lyrical Theme

Taylor wrote “Cold As You” with her frequent collaborator Liz Rose. Nathan Chapman produced it with Taylor’s aid. In the song, she bluntly acknowledges the fact that her boyfriend is unable to reciprocate her love and therefore not worthy of her effort. Her attempts to create a loving relationship are constantly met with indifference from his end. Taylor explained the meaning of the song in publicity materials:

«I wrote this song with Liz, and I think the lyrics to this song are some of the best we’ve ever written. It’s about that moment where you realize someone isn’t at all who you thought they were, and that you’ve been trying to make excuses for someone who doesn’t deserve them. And that some people are just never going to love you. We were halfway through writing this when I started singing, ‘And now that I’m sitting here thinking it through, I’ve never been anywhere cold as you’.»

Taylor Swift

The secret message for the song is “Time to let go”. Despite not being released as a single, “Cold As You” remains one of the most prominent and fan favorite songs on the entire album.

Live Performances

Taylor has only performed “Cold As You” live twice. On March 19, 2013, she sang the song at Scottrade Center, St. Louis, during her “The RED Tour,” almost seven years after its release. She introduced the song, saying:

«I was on my website message board and I was looking at what songs you might wanna hear. And I guess that a lot of you are really going through it right now. It's okay, that happens to the best of us. I saw that a lot of you requested this song that was on my first album that came out when I was sixteen. I actually never played this in concert before, I don't think.»

Taylor Swift

The second time Taylor sang “Cold As You” was on April 23, 2023, in Houston on her “The Eras Tour” (2023-2024). The song was the second acoustic surprise song of the night, performed on piano. Before playing it, Taylor said: “I’ve been really trying to go back through different times in my life and my music. So, there’s a song on the first album…and like no shade to the other songs on that album, but I do think ‘Cold As You’ is the best song on my first album.” In Indianapolis on November 1, 2024, she paired it with “exile” (2020) on piano.

The Original Track Five

Notably, “Cold As You” is responsible for beginning Taylor’s tradition of putting an “emotional, vulnerable” song in the track five spot on all her albums. She told Rolling Stone that it is her favorite song on her debut album: “The hook is, ‘I’ve never been anywhere cold as you.’ I love a line in a song where afterward you’re just like, ‘Burn.’”

Lyrics

[Verse 1]
You have a way of coming easily to me
And when you take, you take the very best of me
So I start a fight ’cause I need to feel something
And you do what you want ’cause I’m not what you wanted

[Chorus]
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
Just walk away, ain’t no use defending words that you will never say
And now that I’m sitting here thinking it through
I’ve never been anywhere cold as you

[Verse 2]
You put up walls and paint them all a shade of grey
And I stood there loving you and wished them all away
And you come away with a great little story
Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you

[Chorus]
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day
So just walk away, ain’t no use defending words that you will never say
And now that I’m sitting here thinking it through
I’ve never been anywhere cold as you

[Bridge]
You never did give a damn thing honey but I cried, cried for you
And I know you wouldn’t have told nobody if I died, died for you
Died for you

[Final Chorus]
Oh what a shame, what a rainy ending given to a perfect day (Oh)
Every smile you fake is so condescending
Counting all the scars you made
And now that I’m sitting here thinking it through
I’ve never been anywhere cold as you