Taylor Swift’s Draft of ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys’ Included a Cut Lyric

Taylor Swift delighted her fans by releasing a pre-release version of one of her songs. The 34-year-old 14-time Grammy winner took to Instagram Stories to announce that she would be sharing “First Draft Phone Memo” versions of select tracks from her latest album, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, for a limited time. This gives fans a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse at the songs before they were finalized for the album. 

One of the standout tracks, ‘My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys’, has garnered significant attention. The lyrics in the phone memo version are notably more sentimental compared to the final album version. In the completed song Swift sings, “Just say when I’d play again / He was my best friend down at the sandlot” in the outro.

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Swift recently discussed the emotional depth of the song with iHeartRadio, explaining that it deals with the theme of “Being Nobody’s Favorite Toy Until They Break You and Then Don’t Want to Play with You Again.” Written or co-written by Swift for ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, the song uses the metaphor of a child’s toy to depict how people in relationships can initially value someone but then discard them once they are no longer useful. This metaphor captures the feeling of being treasured only to be broken and forgotten.

Swift also revealed that a particularly poignant line from an earlier version of the song was removed. This earlier, slower-tempo version, featuring only piano, had a raw emotional quality that was lost in the final cut. 

The song’s main theme centres on the pain of being initially cherished but then abruptly disregarded, highlighting the profound sense of loss and betrayal that comes with such a drastic change in perception.

In addition, Swift explores the theme of denial in the song ‘Cassandra’. She reflects on how people initially reject ideas or feelings but anticipates a shift in perspective over time. The song delves into the challenge of trying to repair a relationship that seems broken yet might still have a chance for reconciliation. Three other preliminary “First Draft Phone Memo” versions—’Cassandra’, ‘The Black Dog’, and ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?’—are also available for download on Swift’s website.

–Farheen Ali