Dancing with our Hands Tied- Invisible & Nothing can Stop it [Part G]

Logistical Info:

Remember we’re looking at words in the lyrics of Question… to try to decipher who and what and when.

We’ve almost gone through the entire song, pulling lyrics containing the same words to get a sort of consensus or feeling about Taylor’s intention.

Now that we’re toward the end of Question… lyrics, we need to address the central part of the song: Kiss in a crowded room. And the kiss really brings to mind Dancing with our Hands Tied and maybe Kissgate.

We will analyze Dancing with our Hands Tied to see if it parallels Question….

Except this particular line within Dancing with our Hands Tied got a bit long because I really don’t know for sure and there was no solid direction to take the analysis. I will go into it in detail in this post so the guesses don’t overwhelm the analysis of the song as a whole.

And I’ll spell out my conclusions from this post in the full analysis of Dancing with our Hands Tied. But that post was getting very long and I was afraid nobody would read it. So to make things even more confusing each line in DWOHT is going to be its OWN post. But then I’ll do a main DWOHT post with just links to each different post. It’s a whole big thing.

Then we’ll get back to the end of Question…

Was that explanation as confusing as trying to guess who Taylor’s songs are about?

Picture of your face in an invisible locket

Taylor is telling this girlfriend that her career, ergo her beard, is her first priority. Taylor publicly wears necklaces to show off her heterosexual [bearding] relationships, so this lover will have to settle for an invisible locket.

Taylor keeps her female lovers near her heart, but doesn’t belie that to outsiders. She only feels safe when the sapphic love is a secret.  “Out of time” in Question… could mean the glass closeting was finished due to this kissing in a crowded room.  They would no longer be seen as “friends” in the media and to the public.  She fears everything will be taken away from her if she is discovered to be queer. As Taylor continues to dance around it and beard, the lover gets tired of being invisible.  The relationship gets colder and more distant every time Taylor doesn’t make this crucial person her centerfold.  The girlfriend is demoralized because of all the lies and ruses, and is dispirited when Taylor never says her name from the podium.  Closeting corrodes this secret, sapphic love.  “Out of time” could additionally mean that Taylor faced a pressing decision to come out to her fans and live openly Sapphic with her lover OR continue to closet and beard, but lose the lover.

You said there was nothing in the world that could stop it

What is “it” that cannot be stopped?  Is the “it” something negative approaching? The “YOU said” could imply that Taylor feels the opposite about what her girlfriend is telling her.  Or it could be that Taylor is incredulous 

Many of Taylor’s songs talk about a third person encroaching on Taylor’s love and happiness. The lover could be saying that there is no other option for her than to marry that man.  Between the lure and commitment to the guy and the life he can provide, and the problems and complications constantly caused by bearding and closeting, this lover is a flight risk. The lover is promised to another.  It might be contractual.  She might want a “normal” life instead of a queer one.  It might be a choice of more wealth than Taylor can offer. Taylor had agreed to a friends with benefits situationship, but felt deeper and changed her mind. But her lover is reluctant to get more serious. And Taylor doesn’t agree that her girlfriend has no choice but to marry a man, and wants them to remain together. 

Nonetheless Taylor sneaks in the garden gate and tries to entice her girlfriend to pick her by describing her fantasy of drinking on a private beach together (Question… [Part 11]). Taylor’s perfect outcome would be to go someplace like the lakes, where people are more clever. She wants to steal away with her lover and live a committed long term relationship–in privacy. But if the lover doesn’t choose HIM, will he burn the house down? In Ivy, Taylor says the future of this love affair–her fate is tied to what the guy will do.  This man has a lot of power and money… It’s just one more barrier to their Sapphic love. 

A second option for something that can’t be stopped is Taylor’s lover telling her that having their relationship go public is inevitable.  Taylor was working up to coming out.  She wanted to do it for her lover.  She wrote speeches…  But they ended up in the fire. 

She couldn’t give an adequate reason why she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.  She covered up the relationship and doubled-down on bearding instead. Sapphic love slipped beyond her reaches as a result.  Now Taylor grieves for the living.  The tarnished (stigmatized) touch was the only thing that made Taylor feel and come in from the cold, numbing snow.  Though Taylor was unthawed by this love, and her whole being was impacted, her inaction caused the lover to leave (Question… [Part 8]).