Invisible Strings - 49. "Of All the Girls Who Might Have Made It Big" by Paul Muldoon

"Of All the Girls Who Might Have Made It Big" by Paul Muldoon

This poem, like several others, discusses fame - how to find it, how to keep it, who might strike it big. The problem I keep running into is that there isn't a vast array of Taylor songs on the subject.

The title of the poem certainly sounds similar to the song titled "All of the Girls You Loved Before." But I don't see many (read: any) similarities between the content of either of them.

So, then we get into those "fame" songs - "The Lucky One" (already chosen earlier in this project), "Midnight Rain" (also already accounted for), "I Can Do It with a Broken Heart," and "Clara Bow" are the ones that come to mind.

The poem focuses on the dedication to the craft that's needed to become famous - a few different lines from the poem:

a ten year game of tig / in which she would forever be "it"

the one least likely to call it quits

gig after three-hour gig

continues to exercise those gazing up from the pit

And those lines all lead me to "I Can Do it with a Broken Heart," since in the song, she talks about all the heartbreak she has experienced but she still does her job every night, making the crowd think that she's "having the time of her life."