Taylor Swift’s new song “marjorie” is a touching tribute to her grandmother

One of the most touching tracks on Taylor Swift’s new album evermore is a song about her grandmother, Marjorie Finlay.

Taylor Swift’s latest album, evermore, dropped unexpectedly last Friday much to the delight of her fans. As everyone has scrambled to put together the stories behind the songs and the connections between folklore and evermore, one song stands out.

All Taylor Swift fans know that the number “13” holds special significance as the singer’s favorite number. So it’s unsurprising that the thirteenth tracks on each album are linked.

On folklore, “epiphany” was partially inspired by Swift’s paternal grandfather, Dean, “landing at Guadalcanal in 1942.” Track 13 on evermore, written by Swift and Aaron Dessner, looks to her mother’s side of the family.

On her album notes, Swift states that one song is about “my grandmother, Marjorie, who still visits me sometimes…if only in my dreams.”

The song will surely bring many who have lost a loved one to tears, especially anyone who lost a grandparent at a young age and regrets all the questions they missed out on asking them. (I had to pause the album on my first listen after this song to pull myself back together.)

In the song, Swift sings, “You’re alive, so alive in my head” and shares how connected to her she still feels.

If the song isn’t enough to make you teary-eyed, then the lyric video posted to Swift’s YouTube page might. It’s full of photos and home video footage of Marjorie Finlay as both a young woman and as a grandmother with a very young Swift.

Particularly touching are the moments of Finlay with a baby Swift at the piano as Swift inherited her love of music from her grandmother who was an opera singer. She passed away in 2003 when Swift was thirteen years old and just at the beginning of her career.

Swift was announced as Apple Music’s Songwriter of the Year and discussed “marjorie” in her interview with Zane Lowe. She described it as being about when you lose someone at a young age and realize later that you never asked them everything you wish you could know about them.

Swift admitted, “I was kind of a wreck at times writing it.” She went on to note, “It was really hard to actually sing it in the vocal booth.”

\She said that her mother often tells her that her mannerisms remind her of her grandmother Marjorie.

Most notably, she shares that Finlay’s vocals can be heard on the song itself. She explains:

"My mom found a bunch of her old records, a bunch of old vinyls of her singing opera, and I sent them to Aaron and he added them to the song. It says, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were singing to me now.” And then you hear her, you hear Marjorie actually sing."

It’s moving to think about how excited Finlay would be to see her granddaughter’s success in the music industry. Swift has shared so much of her life with fans over the years of her career, but this is certainly one of the most personal and poignant songs she’s penned.

Do you cry while listening to “marjorie” too? What song on evermore is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter.