Birch

Track 4 on How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?

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“Birch” is the fourth track from Big Red Machine’s second studio album, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, and is one of two Taylor Swift features on the album, the… Read More

Aug. 27, 20211 viewer82.3K views

Birch Lyrics

[Verse 1: Justin Vernon]
The way I woke up was old
Was all fucking choke
And it ain't easier after a week
We're on a long byway standing

[Chorus: Justin Vernon & Taylor Swift]
Well, if you cannot tell I'll tell you right away
If I'll stay a spell, or if I cannot stay
I am less at ease, not the best at these
See the forest trees, call what's these what's these

[Post-Chorus: Justin Vernon]
What's these (What's these)

[Verse 2: Justin Vernon & Taylor Swift, Justin Vernon]
Hey Madeline, thanks
For to case out the fog, for Jennifer
Seems she needed you badly

[Chorus: Justin Vernon & Taylor Swift]
So, I beg on knees
Can we share IDs?
Will you always need?
We havе common needs
We can sure deplеte
We can be replete
Address table needs
It is swift your speed

[Verse 3: Justin Vernon, Justin Vernon & Taylor Swift]
The way I wake up now is a brand new way
And, no, it ain't that way like it was before

[Chorus: Justin Vernon & Taylor Swift, Justin Vernon]
So, I cannot leave
Yes, I must here stay
'Cause I know what's good
And I'll die that way
No, I cannot seem
To get a moment's peace
If there's a man like me
His birch ain't my tree

[Outro: Justin Vernon, Justin Vernon & Taylor Swift]
The way I wake up now
Is a brand new way
It ain't what it was before

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About

“Birch” is the fourth track from Big Red Machine’s second studio album, How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?, and is one of two Taylor Swift features on the album, the other being pre-release single “Renegade”.

This isn’t the first time the artists have collaborated, with Aaron Dessner responsible for producing Swift’s eighth and ninth studio albums folklore and evermore. Swift has also previously shared duets with Justin Vernon on her tracks “exile” and “evermore”, while Vernon also contributed backing vocals and played instruments for many other tracks on evermore.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Big Red Machine say about "Birch"?

Aaron Dessner:

It’s actually a beat that The National’s drummer, Bryan Devendorf, made in his basement. He will make these kind of loopy, trippy beats in his basement on a drum machine, and then send them to me as a Voice Memo. I wrote music to it and developed it and played all the parts to it and made it. It was during a time where I wasn’t doing that well, actually—maybe in fall 2019. I sent it to Justin, and good friends sometimes know when you’re going through something and maybe he felt that. He wrote the words and melody to it and as we recorded and developed it, we played it for Taylor at some point, towards the end of folklore. She really loved the song, and heard harmonies, and then kind of helped to lift further into some heavenly place.

—via Apple Music

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