Taylor Swift’s ‘Carolina’ Lyrics Are Full of Chilling References to ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’
Taylor Swift has released “Carolina,” a new original song she penned for the upcoming film Where the Crawdads Sing. Produced by her Folklore collaborator Aaron Dessner of The National, the dark and eerie folk track echoes the mystery and drama of the highly anticipated book-to-screen adaptation.
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Based on the bestselling novel by Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing follows Kya, the “Marsh Girl” who’s survived alone in the marshes of North Carolina after being abandoned as a child. When a young man named Chase Andrews is found dead, she becomes a suspect for his presumed murder. Normal People and Fresh star Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kya, while Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine produces and Olivia Newman (First Match) directs.
Swift references the premise through her song, especially in the last verse: “Oh Carolina knows / Why for years they’ve said / That I was guilty as sin / And sleep in a liar’s bed.” It seems like she did her homework; when the singer-songwriter teased “Carolina” along with the movie trailer earlier this year, she shared that she was hooked on Crawdads immediately.
“Where The Crawdads Sing is a book I got absolutely lost in when I read it years ago,” Swift wrote on Instagram. “As soon as I heard there was a film in the works starring the incredible @daisyedgarjones and produced by the brilliant @reesewitherspoon, I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the musical side. I wrote the song ‘Carolina’ alone and asked my friend @aarondessner to produce it. I wanted to create something haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerizing story.”
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Edgar-Jones also loved the novel immediately. The actress previously told ELLE, “I read the book in a day and a half, and just fell so deeply in love with her and her world, and what the story was talking about, this idea of loneliness. She’s such a wonderfully complex character—there’s a load of stuff to delve really deep into.”
Swift was also recently linked to another book-to-screen adaptation, Amazon Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, based on Jenny Han’s YA novel of the same name. Swift shared a first glimpse at “This Love (Taylor’s Version)” in the trailer, then released the full track shortly after. Many of her songs are also included in the series, which is now streaming.
Read the full lyrics to “Carolina” below.
Oh Carolina creeks
Running through my veins
Lost I was born
Lonesome I came
Lonesome I’ll always stayCarolina knows
Why for years I roam
Free as these birds
Light as whispers
Carolina knowsAnd you didn’t see me here
No, they never did see me hereAnd she’s in my dreams
Into the mist, into the clouds
Don’t leave
I make a fist, I make it count
And there are places I will never ever go
And things that only Carolina will ever knowCarolina stains
On the dress she left
Indelible scars
Pivotal marks
Blue as the life she fledCarolina pines
Won’t you cover me?
Hide me like robes
Down the back road
Muddy these webs we weaveAnd you didn’t see me here
No, they never did see meAnd she’s in my dreams
Into the mist, into the clouds
Don’t leave
I make a fist, I make it count
And there are places I will never ever go
And things that only Carolina will ever knowAnd you didn’t see me here
They never did see me here
No you didn’t seem me here
They never saw meOh Carolina knows
Why for years they’ve said
That I was guilty as sin
And sleep in a liar’s bed
But the sleep comes fast
And I’ll meet no ghosts
It’s between me
The sand and the sea
Carolina knows
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