Taylor Swift: Red Songbook

by Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, Red, is her first no.1 album in the UK, featuring the hit singles We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Begin Again and I Knew You Were Trouble. In this matching songbook, all the songs from Red have been expertly arranged to stay true to Taylor Swift's original recordings and are presented with music for Piano with Vocal line and Guitar chord boxes. The ideal companion for the album, whether you prefer to play or sing! Red has been well-received by both fans and critics, with Billboard saying 'Red puts Swift the artist front and center with big, beefy hooks that transcend her country roots for a genre-spanning record that reaches heights unseen since Shania Twain's Up'. All 16 songs from the album are included and arranged for piano, vocal and guitar with full lyrics and guitar chords

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2013

About the author

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Swift spent her early years on her family's Christmas tree farm. Her grandmother had been a professional opera singer, and Swift soon followed in her footsteps. By the age of 10, Swift was singing at a variety of local events, including fairs and contests. She sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11, and began writing her own songs and learning guitar at 12 years old.

To pursue her music career, Swift often visited Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. There she co-wrote songs, and tried to land a recording contract. Noting her dedication, Swift and her family moved to nearby Hendersonville, Tennessee, in an attempt to further Swift's career.

A stellar performance at The Bluebird Café in Nashville helped Swift get a contract with Scott Borchetta's Big Machine Records. She released her first single, "Tim McGraw," in 2006, and the song became a Top 10 hit on the country charts. It also appeared on her self-titled debut album in October of that same year, selling more than 2.5 million copies. More popular singles soon followed, including "Our Song," a No. 1 country music hit. "Teardrops on My Guitar," "Picture to Burn," and "Should've Said No" were also successful tracks.

In addition to commercial success, Swift received a lot of critical praise for her debut effort. She won the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association (CMA) and the Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 2007. Swift next released Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in 2007. Her renditions of "Silent Night" and "Santa Baby" were modest hits on the country charts.

In 2008, Swift was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category, and won the Academy of Country Music's "Female Vocalist of the Year" Award, the American Music Awards "Favorite Female Country Artist" award, and the American Music Association's "Horizon" award. Around this same time, Swift released her next album, Fearless (2008), which hit the top of both the country and pop charts and stayed there for 11 weeks. By the end of the year, Swift had become the highest-selling country artist of 2008.

In 2009, Swift netted several awards for her work on Fearless, including "Video of the Year" and "Female Video of the Year" for "Love Story" at the CMT Music Awards. On September 13, 2009, Swift also won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Female Video," making her the first country music star to win an MTV Video Music Award. The win stirred controversy when rapper Kanye West leaped to the stage during Swift's speech, took the microphone, and declared that R&B singer Beyoncé should have won Swift's award. The stunned Swift was unable to make her acceptance speech, and West was removed from the show. When Beyoncé accepted her award for "Best Video of the Year" later in the show, she called Swift to the stage to finish her speech. West later apologized to Swift privately,
and made a public apology on The Jay Leno Show.

If possible, the attention has made Swift an even hotter commodity. Her concert tickets now sell out in less than two minutes, and she is currently ranked as the 69th most powerful celebrity by Forbes magazine, with more than $18 million in earnings this year alone. She recently made her second appearance on comedy show Saturday Night Live, this time as both the host and musical guest. She has also been tapped for four CMA nominations in 2009—"Female Vocalist", "Music Video of the Year", "Best Album" and "Entertainer of the Year"— as well as six American Music Award nominations.

Reviews

[Becky Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am doing my review on the song by Taylor Swift called "I Knew You Were Trouble." This is definitely one of my favorite songs by her. Taylor starts off by just speaking some of her lyrics. She talks about how when a relationship that you had ends, it all comes back in flashes. She says that the second she saw him, she kind of knew this would happen. Then she goes on to say that looking back, she realizes that it wasn't really anything he said or did that she liked about him. It was the feeling he gave her. And that the scary part is, she may never feel that way again. Finally in Taylor's narration before the actual song starts, she says, "But I just thought, how can the devil be pulling you toward someone who looks so much like an angel when he smiles at you? Maybe he knew that when he saw me. I guess I just lost my balance. I think that the worst part of it all wasn't losing him. It was losing me." It's kind of crazy how accurate Taylor is about everything she says before she even starts singing. I think every girl can relate to this because what girl doesn't like a bad boy? I think we all are somewhat attracted to a guy like him. That burning fire in him, doing what he wants to do without caring what other people thinking, and not showing fear are qualities that deep down most girls like. I know I do. So the fact that Taylor knew before she even talked to him that this wouldn't end well is crazy to think that she still did it all. Even considering the heartbreak that comes with it. Then the song starts, and Taylor realizes that the joke was on her. He knew all along that he was just going to use her and move on with his life. I believe that is how it is in out culture sometimes. Another observation I made during this song is when she says, "And the saddest fear comes creeping in that you never loved me or her, or anyone, or anything." I think that would be a very scary conclusion to make about somebody. That they have been going through their whole life taking advantage of girls to get what they want. Once the song is over, Taylor narrates one more line saying, "I don't know if you know who you are until you lose who you are." That statement is probably very true. You don't know who you are until you are trying to find yourself again.

Throughout this song Taylor's character does change. She goes from being so infatuated with this bad boy to realizing that he never wanted her anyway. After she figures that out, she looks back and says he was long gone the second she met him. I think this is a huge learning song. It is about making mistakes and learning not to do them again. And that is exactly what Taylor did throughout the song. However, I don't think she regrets the relationship because of the way she felt with him.

"I Knew You Were Trouble" is an appropriate song that can be listened to by all ages. There isn't any bad language, so that is a plus. I believe the intended audience is for teenage/young adult girls, so they don't make the same mistake she did- or to know that all a lot of girls do it, and you are not alone. Overall, this is a great song that can do a lot of teaching.

[Paige Holaday]

This book is good and the concert

[Madison]

I love Taylor Swift! She is such an interesting person. She is a great rolemodel. And this is a great book to find out some good facts about Taylor Swifts songs.