I put the parts we already talked about together in a different way. The repetition conveys the anxiety Taylor feels.
I had a bad feeling
Taylor is chronically anxious about a lot of things. Primarily, in her words: Her house is haunted. Translation: The physical embodiment of her sensibilities is gay (Question…[Part 6]. Taylor feels torn between her “aberrant” sexuality and being seen as the ideal woman, or at least politically correct. It’s a struggle for Taylor to be authentic to who she is, but also appeal to a wide swath of people to maintain her fame (Question… [Part 12]). She’s gay, rattled, and drunk, yet she projects hyper-femininity and confidence to be palatable to the masses. Throughout Taylor’s life her sexuality caused her to hide, panic, and scheme.
I had a bad feeling
The middle of the night is a time for Taylor to ruminate and contemplate why she is in cages. She has to retract central parts of her branding if she wants to be open about her sexuality. If she sticks to the tenants of the Taylor Swift brand, Taylor, the individual, must closet and beard (Question… [Part 6]). She has strife about this difficult choice, because Taylor worries that her sexuality will accelerate her losing everyone and everything.
But we were dancing
Taylor and her lover have stopped (“we were”) dancing. The word “Dance” is being unbothered and happy-go-lucky in her queerness–a state Taylor enters only with this specific person per Holy Ground (Question… [Part 17]).
Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied
Taylor construes “dance” to mean having no inhibitions. She talks about how children are willing to dance without shame. The word is used to show the elation, relief, and liberation of being herself, as in the song, Long Live (Question… [Part 17]). Slightly adjacent to being in an uninhibited, unflappable mode relating to her queerness (NOT her default state of anxiety and fear) Taylor uses “dance” to express allegiance and belonging. When she dances in Welcome to New York it shows that Taylor found people that accept her and “Dance” is used to show affiliation with these urban queers. Same with Beautiful Ghosts. She “dances” or unites with these other gay people because that’s who she is, and they integrate her into their chosen family (Question… [Part 17]). The preponderance of “dancing” in Taylor’s catalog is relaxation and ease with her innate sexuality.
Yeah, we were dancing
Yeah, we were dancing
Taylor also uses dance to show intimacy between two people. I think that’s a pertinent meaning in this song, because Taylor is telling her ex-girlfriend what she would do if they could resume dancing.
Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied
Dancing with our hands tied, however, is not completely free. With that phrase, Taylor is not only describing the physical representation of her and her lover’s arms and hands tangled and intertwined. She is telling us despite the dancing, there were always handcuffs, chains, restraints, hemming-in of their relationship. And with her own relationship to her (queer) self.
Yeah, we were dancing
Taylor knows she left her lover hanging, and it’s her fault both of them are depressed. Even though this is the central person in Taylor’s life she never acknowledges them publicly.
And I had a bad feeling
But she already loses her important romances. This is part of the reason why, even at the early stages of a relationship, Taylor is terrified to lose the love. She senses it’s fickle and fears it could go away at any time (Question… [Part 11]). Taylor has suffered loss and loneliness with at least Emily, Dianna, and Karlie. Emily was out of the band suddenly and Taylor felt sorry. A fake article about Swiftgron went viral and Dianna erased her blog and tattoo then Taylor was only seen with her one more time. Karlie’s timeline is complicated, but the last four albums tell us they couldn’t get on the same page about how to proceed with their relationship.
But we were dancing
Taylor uses “universe” to show how far away she seems to her lover. Fear causes Taylor’s priorities to be misaligned. Her girlfriend feels neglected, lonely, awkward, forgotten, and depressed when Taylor does her celebrity thing (and the closeting that goes with it). Taylor’s closeting relegated her soulmate to the background. Since that is her gay-panic default behavior, the women aren’t surprised, but it ruins the relationships nonetheless.
So, baby, can we dance
Taylor can’t let go of her soulmate–she’s a hostage to her feelings. But Taylor is torn: Her back is against the wall in regards to maintaining her public image–she must beard to be seen as straight and make money.
I had a bad feeling
At times, both Taylor and Karlie were nervous about being sapphic. In Call It What You Want Taylor tells Karlie (I hear her name in the song and can’t hear anything else) they don’t have to name what they are. It speaks to Karlie being nervous about calling herself part of the LGBT community. Taylor urges her to just go with it and don’t worry about labels–she just wants this love. Yet, in Cruel Summer Taylor still paid a man to be her beard. Taylor’s lifelong defense mechanism is closeting so when she sees a shiny toy, this bad boy with a price, she bought it.
But we were dancing
Taylor never makes her secret sapphic love her centerfold, thus her lover is a flight risk. Even with the threat of losing her beloved, it always comes back to Taylor’s career (Question… [Part 9]).
Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied
Taylor loves, but in secret. Taylor uses dancing in Cowboy Like Me to misrepresent her sexuality to the rich folks. She dances with this other queer person to look outwardly romantic and mollify homophobic reactions (Question… [Part 17]). This is Taylor’s personal life: She feels she has to dance and spin on her tiptoes, al-la Mirrorball, showing her audience, the media, and the general public everything they want to see. The closet stifles Taylor, but also makes her feel safe, per Clean and Lavender Haze.
Yeah, we were dancing
Yeah, we were dancing
The shades of gray surrounding Taylor speak to a situation so complex it has to be deciphered with nuance (Question… [Part 13]). Taylor had confusion, indecision, and doubt, letting her terror drive her actions. Taylor fears for her image and how being LGBT might jeopardize business, so she pushes her lover away, despite wanting to hold onto her.
Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied
The specific event of Kissgate hurt Kaylor because Taylor defaulted to brand damage control instead of just coming out with it. All the anxiety kills the partnership. The half moon eyes in Question… are the combination of anxieties constantly tugging Taylor and any sapphic lover apart.
Yeah, we were dancing
This is past tense (“were”). And she loses these relationships to internalized homophobia and the closet time and time again (Question… [Part 10]).
(Ooh, we had our hands tied)
Not sticking up for your (sapphic) love out of fear of social rejection is a common theme in so many of Taylor’s songs because it’s the primary problem in Taylor’s real life (Question… [Part 14]). Her actions and inactions cause her partner to be relegated to the back of the closet. And all the hiding and secrets and lies is hurting their love. Which is why in Betty, Taylor wants to rectify the situation by publicly kissing Betty/this woman she loves (Question… [Part 17]).
And I had a bad feeling
The night of Kissgate, Taylor went on a Kaylor-liking spree online, signaling some pre-gaming had occurred even before the 1975 concert. Taylor drinks to calm her anxiety, and anything too gay makes her especially anxious. She correlates the overwhelming feelings of Sapphic love with drunkeness. Being drunk is cathartic and freeing, allowing inhibitions to be lowered. But it can also make your head spin, cause you to go rogue, and can make you throw up on the street (Question… [Part 11]). The night Taylor is talking about in Question… she was “on something” is both liquor and the high of gay love (Question… [Part 11]).
But we were dancing
Yeah, we were dancing
Yeah, we were dancing
During the break-ups Taylor is emotionally raw. She oscillates between sadness, reminiscing, empathy, and anger.
Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied
Taylor’s early romances ended nearly the same as her current romance has ended. She has always felt regretful about her situation and wishes the lover would show up below her window. But there are just too many secrets, lies, miscommunications, and accusations complicating things. For example, Betty, a highly autobiographical allegory for Taylor’s real life, shows a common conflict of closeting and bearding. James (aka Taylor) was nowhere to be found, because she hates the crowds (creates a spectacle wherever she goes). But she saw Betty dance with HIM, which James/Taylor misconstrued as legitimate. It’s just like reality where bearding is sometimes pulled off too well, creating jealousy and mistrust. In both Betty and in Taylor’s real dating life, a chain of negative reactions follows the act of bearding and the relationship between the female lovers suffers. So after being pushed away by Taylor’s closeting, instead of throwing pebbles at Taylor’s window, the girlfriend actually leaves (Question… [Part 14]). Then, there is just sadness about what will never be.
Yeah, we were dancing
Drinking and getting drunk mark Taylor’s journey of grief after the split (Question… [Part 11]). She regretfully remembers how she contributed to their split, and woefully wishes she could go back to their happy moments.
And I had a bad feeling
Taylor can’t stand the heat, is constantly afraid of impending fire, and the invisible smoke hangs over her. The smoke (hint of a fire) is unrealized events that Taylor fears. The heat of the fire is every time Taylor is overtly gay and too many people notice. The (anticipated) fire is getting burned by coming out or worse, being outed. The water rushing in is damage control by Taylor’s PR team. The rain is Taylor’s own overcorrections when things look too queer. It’s rain, a naturally occurring event (vs. firefighting, a planned, aggressive action) because Taylor yields to her team’s straight-washing, and feels regretful about her own. Taylor suffers because she loves the gal, but also knows how “out(ed)” celebrities lose their fame and die all alone.
But we were dancing
Without her lover, Taylor is in the gray of sadness, loneliness, and isolation (Question… [Part 13]).
Hands tied, hands tied
In the case of Kissgate and Kaylor, I think Taylor wanted to go to The Lakes and be a private couple, just the two of them. But I suspect Karlie felt obligated to be with Jo$h, and still wanted to be with Taylor, as attested by Ivy. Taylor couldn’t go along with that because of distress about losing control, apprehension about the unknown, and antipathy of those political associations (Question… [Part 10]). Taylor’s break-up with her lover kills her. And Karlie is dead to Taylor now that she has a child and a (diabolical) husband. Karlie politely lived with being hidden and put on the back burner, until she didn’t (Question… [Part 10]). She eventually left the deprivation of the closet which erased her. Karlie “married” the guy or commissioned her new heteronormative life (Question… [Part 9]). Now both Taylor and Karlie are dead inside, cold lifeless hands reaching out (“do you wish you could still touch her?”) grieving for the living.
This turns into Question…
If I could dance with you again
I’d kiss you as the lights went out
Swaying as the room burned down
I’d hold you as the water rushes in
If I could dance with you again
BUT
Dancing with our hands tied, hands tied
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