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The Very First Night

From The Vault | RED (Taylor's Version) [2021]

“The Very First Night (Taylor’s Version) [From The Vault]” is a song written by Taylor for her album RED (Taylor’s Version), released on November 12, 2021. The album is the re-recording of her fourth studio album, RED (2012). The song looks back fondly on the early stages of a past relationship, with Taylor wishing she could go back in time and experience the excitement of falling in love all over again.
Although “The Very First Night” was left off the original RED tracklist, its release as a From The Vault track on RED (Taylor’s Version) introduced fans to one of the album era’s brighter and more upbeat songs.
RED (Taylor's Version) [Republic Records, 2021]

Background and Release

Following Speak Now (2010), Taylor deliberately broadened her approach for RED, working with a wider range of producers and songwriters outside her established Nashville circle. “The Very First Night” was one of those collaborations, written with Amund Bjørklund and Espen Lind, the Norwegian songwriting and production duo known as Espionage. The song appears to have been written during the later stages of the RED sessions, likely around February 2012, although no definitive recording or writing date has been publicly confirmed. The timing is based on the broader chronology of the sessions and the duo’s work around that period.

“The Very First Night” was among the songs Taylor ultimately left off the original RED tracklist, despite remaining fond of the song. When it was finally released nearly a decade later in 2021, she explained:

«'The Very First Night' is a song that I made with a production group called Espionage, and they're so cool, so talented. This is actually the first time anybody gets to hear the work we did together because this didn't end up on the album, even though I loved it so much and told myself that someday it would come out.»

Taylor Swift
The song was produced by Espionage and recorded during the original RED era, with the production team working in Oslo while Taylor’s vocals were recorded separately in Belfast for the 2021 release. The collaboration gave the song a distinctly upbeat pop sound that contrasted with much of the more subdued material Taylor was writing at the time, helping explain why it ultimately felt somewhat different from the final RED tracklist.

Taylor officially revealed “The Very First Night” as one of the nine “From the Vault” songs accompanying RED (Taylor’s Version) when she announced the album’s tracklist on August 6, 2021. It was released on November 12, 2021, as the twenty-ninth track on the re-recorded album, giving a song that had been written and recorded almost a decade earlier its first official release.
General Information
ArtistTaylor Swift
Albums RED
RED (Taylor's Version)
Written 2012
Released November 12, 2021
Studios Kitty Committee (Belfast)
Propeller (Oslo)
Norsk Innspillingsbyrå (Oslo)
Genre Pop
Length 3:20
Label Republic Records
Songwriters Taylor Swift
Amund Bjørklund
Espen Lind
Producers Espionage
Tim Blacksmith
Danny D
Official Audio

Song Artwork

RED (Taylor's Version) [Republic Records, 2021]
RED (Taylor's Version): From The Vault Chapter
Taylor Swift for RED (Taylor's Version) [Beth Garrabrant, 2021]
Taylor Swift for RED (Taylor's Version) (Beth Garrabrant, 2021)

Lyrical Theme

The lyrical heart of “The Very First Night” is nostalgia for the beginning of a relationship that has since fallen apart. Taylor looks back on the period before either person understood where the relationship was headed, remembering the spontaneity, intimacy and excitement of falling in love almost by accident. She contrasts those private memories with her present life, where she appears outwardly fine and continues going out with friends, yet finds that everything, even taking different roads, seems to lead her thoughts back to the same person. In an interview with Amazon Music in 2021, she described the song as follows:

«It's a song about a common theme on the RED album, which is reminiscing. Reminiscing about something that's over now, and reminiscing about the good times, and how powerful memories can be.»

Taylor Swift
The song’s central wish is therefore not simply to get the relationship back, but to return to the moment before its ending was imaginable. Taylor remembers specific, intimate snapshots—a hotel night, a car ride, dancing in a kitchen and whispered words that nobody else knew—and contrasts them with the knowledge that they ultimately “broke each other’s hearts.” The title captures that tension: she wants to experience the relationship with the same rush and innocence she felt on its first night, even though she now knows how it ended.

This also gives the song an interesting relationship with other RED tracks, particularly “All Too Well,” whose kitchen imagery and detailed recollection of a failed relationship it echoes; where “All Too Well” is consumed by the pain of remembering, “The Very First Night” briefly tries to reclaim the happiness contained within those same memories.

Production

“The Very First Night” is an uptempo pop track built around drums, acoustic and electric guitar, keyboards and a bright, propulsive rhythm, with Espionage giving the song a distinctly polished early-2010s pop sound. The energetic production deliberately contrasts with the wistful subject matter, creating a sense of youthful rush and movement that mirrors Taylor’s longing to return to the beginning of the relationship.
Surprise song section: Version 1 (Jessica Jones custom)
Taylor Swift performs on The Eras Tour (TAS Rights Management, 2023)

Live Performances

“The Very First Night” remained unperformed for almost two years after its eventual release on RED (Taylor’s Version). Taylor finally debuted the song on November 9, 2023, in Buenos Aires, opening the acoustic surprise-song portion of the first show of “The Eras Tour“’s South American leg; she performed it on guitar, making it one of the many vault tracks that received their first-ever live performances only after being released as part of the re-recordings. The choice was particularly fitting because Taylor introduced it by acknowledging the significance of the occasion:

«I'm having the time of my little life up here, this is just unreal, unreal. On 'The Eras Tour', a tradition that we started is that I try to play two different songs in the acoustic sections that I've never played live before. So, I'm gonna keep that tradition going tonight, I've got two songs I've never even attempted to play. And I thought since this is the very first night of the South American tour...»

Taylor Swift
She paired it with another song receiving its live debut that night, “Labyrinth” (2022), meaning that the Buenos Aires audience heard two songs for the first time ever during the acoustic set.

Music & More

The Very First Night

3 Videos
Taylor Swift for RED (Taylor's Version) [Beth Garrabrant, 2021]
Taylor Swift for RED (Taylor's Version) (Beth Garrabrant, 2021)

Critical Reception & Commercial Performance

Critics generally responded positively to “The Very First Night,” particularly to its bright, energetic pop production. Spin grouped it with “Message In A Bottle” as one of RED (Taylor’s Version)’s “bygone-era sugar bops,” while The Line of Best Fit called both songs “A-grade Swift” and noted their affinity with the sound of 1989 (2014). Rolling Stone later described it as an easy RED vault track to overlook, but praised its “dance-pop” energy and considered it a natural companion to “Come Back…Be Here” and “Message In A Bottle.”

“The Very First Night” debuted at No. 61 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 2021, alongside 25 other Taylor songs following the release of RED (Taylor’s Version). It also reached No. 55 in Canada and No. 68 in Australia. On Spotify, it reached No. 62 globally during its first week.

Overall, “The Very First Night” has developed a reputation as a fun deep cut rather than one of RED’s most lyrically ambitious songs. Its upbeat production, nostalgic storytelling and clear connection to the pop sound Taylor would explore more fully on 1989 have helped it endure.

Lyrics

[Chorus]
I wish I could fly
I’d pick you up and we’d go back in time
I’d write this in the sky
I miss you like it was the very first night

[Verse 1]
And so it goes
Every weekend this same party
I never go alone and I don’t seem broken hearted
My friends all say they know everything I’m going through
I drive down different roads
But they all lead back to you

[Pre-Chorus 1]
‘Cause they don’t know about the night in the hotel
They weren’t riding in the car when we both fell
Didn’t read the note on the Polaroid picture
They don’t know how much I miss you

[Chorus]
I wish I could fly
I’d pick you up and we’d go back in time
I’d write this in the sky
I miss you like it was the very first night

[Verse 2]
And so it was
We never saw it coming
Not trying to fall in love
But we did like children running
Back then we didn’t know we were built to fall apart
We broke the status quo, then we broke each other’s hearts

[Pre-Chorus 2]
But don’t forget about the night out in LA
Danced in the kitchen, chased me down through the hallway
No one knows about the words that we whispered
No one knows how much I miss you

[Chorus]
I wish I could fly
I’d pick you up and we’d go back in time
I’d write this in the sky
I miss you like it was the very first night

[Refrain]
Take me away, take me away
Take me away
To you, to you
Take me away, take me away
Take me away
To you, to you

[Verse 3]
I remember the night at the hotel
I was riding in the car when we both fell
I’m the one on the phone as you whisper,
“Do you know how much I miss you?”

[Bridge]
I wish that we could go back in time
And I’d say to you,
“I miss like you it was the first night”

[Chorus]
I wish I could fly
I’d pick you up and we’d go back in time
I’d write this in the sky
I miss you like it was the very first night

[Refrain]
Take me away, take me away
Take me away
To you, to you
Take me away, take me away
Take me away
To you, to you

Run

Read more

All Too Well
(10 Minute Version)

Read more
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