Composition
"Love Story" is a country pop song with a length of three minutes and 54 seconds. It is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is written in the key of D major and Swift's vocals span one octave, from A3 to B4. Swift croons "Love Story" softly and sweetly, with a slight twang that defines the song to be country music. It follows the chord progression D (add)9–Asus5–Bm–G69. The song is of a swirling and dreamy tenor, and is based upon a pop hook. The melody is simple, containing a rushy pace which continually grows and concludes with a key change to E major.
The lyrics of "Love Story" are written in first person, in which Swift refers to herself as the Romeo and Juliet character Juliet Capulet and her love interest as Romeo Montague. Fraser McAlpine of the BBC described the song as a narrative, in which Swift is the narrator. The song's plot revolves a youthful romance foiled by parental disapproval. In the end, love prevails and the coupled find their happily ever after. The first verse introduces the characters at a ball, where they meet. In the second verse, the story transitions to the couple sneaking about after dark and references Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850). The song's refrains have Swift waiting for her love interest to appear: "Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone/ I'll be waiting/ All there's left to do is run." The song's final refrain has Swift narrating from Romeo's perspective and proposing marriage to Swift.
Read more about this topic: Love Story (Taylor Swift Song)
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