I didn't know what I would find
When I went lookin' for a reason I know
I didn't read between the lines
And, baby, I've got nowhere to go
I tried to take the road less traveled by
But nothin' seems to work the first few times
Am I right?

So how can I ever try to be better?
Nobody ever lets me in
And I can still see you, this ain't the best view
On the outside, lookin' in
I've been a lot of lonely places
I've never been on the outside

You saw me there, but never knew
That I would give it all up to be
A part of this, a part of you
And now it's all too late, so you see
You could have helped if you had wanted to
But no one notices until it's too late to do anything

How could I ever try to be better?
Nobody ever lets me in
And I can still see you, this ain't the best view
On the outside, lookin' in
I've been a lot of lonely places
I've never been on the outside

Oh, yeah

How can I ever try to be better?
Nobody ever lets me in
And I can still see you, this ain't the best view
On the outside, lookin' in
I've been a lot of lonely places
I've never been on the outside

Oh, oh
Oh, oh,
Oh, oh
Oh, oh
Oh, oh


Lyrics submitted by queenvictoria_14

The Outside Lyrics as written by Taylor Alison Swift

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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The Outside song meanings
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22 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    She wrote this song when she was like 12, I think, which only makes her that much more amazing. When she was 13, though, she actually did get ditched by this group of popular girls, so eventually she was in the "in" crowd, but she wrote this song before that. 4 years after they ditched her, Taylor played a hometown show after her first album was out and she was a huge star, and they all showed up wearing her t-shirts and asking her to sign their copies of her CD. I bet they wished they hadn't ditched her now, haha.

    anniewashere123on March 13, 2009   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    Taylor Swift wrote this song about loneliness at the age of 12 soon after she'd received her first guitar.

    Taylor Swift in Entertainment Weekly: ''I wrote that about the scariest feeling I've ever felt: going to school, walking down the hall, looking at all those faces, and not knowing who you're gonna talk to that day. People always ask, How did you have the courage to walk up to record labels when you were 12 or 13? It's because I could never feel the kind of rejection in the music industry that I felt in middle school.''

    Swift expanded on the loneliness she felt at the age of 12, which prompted her to write this song: "This is one of the first songs I ever wrote, and it talks about the very reason I ever started to write songs. It was when I was twelve years old, and a complete outcast at school. I was a lot different than all the other kids, and I never really knew why. I was taller, and sang country music at karaoke bars and festivals on weekends while other girls went to sleepovers. Some days I woke up not knowing if anyone was going to talk to me that day. I think every person comes to a point in their life when you have a long string of bad days. You can choose to let it drag you down, or you can find ways to rise above it. I came to the conclusion that even though people hadn't always been there for me, music had. It's strange to think how different my life would be right now if I had been one of the cool kids."

    musicrocks13on November 12, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    the hidden song Taylor wrote for this song was: You're Not Alone. I wonder if she reads my diary or something

    60squeenon November 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is really good!!!!!!!

    alabama19on November 08, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    when she was younger she didnt really talk to people and wasnt included in the "in" crowd so she wrote this song. it was one of her firsts.

    cboy8899on February 14, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    You can tell this was an earlier work, because some of the phrasing is really awkward, but all in all it's a good song-- and cboy's right about the meaning

    catcrazy247on May 06, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    "you are not alone"

    tetsco!on May 30, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    This song is obviously about being an outcast in a world of the-more-popular-the-better. I can sooo relate to this song!

    Stolen_By_Musicon January 05, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i love this song. but i dont really agree with all of these descriptions...

    i think its morly about how she was in the "in" crowd, but then something went wrong (maybe she got into a fight with her good friends), and so now she feels like she's on the outside for once.

    "I've never been on the outside." this proves that she once was apart of it all.

    "I can still see you, this ain't the best view, on the outside, looking in," same with this...

    When i listen to this song, i can relate to it so much. some parts such as the "you saw me there, but never knew that i would give it all up to be a part of this, a part of you." and "i can still see you, this aint the best veiw." remind me of this one boy i really liked and how i gave up things to be his girlfriend, and how he jsut let me down in the end.

    and other parts such as " tried to take the road less travelled by, but nothing seems to work the first few times" jsut remind me of life itself. along with fights with friends

    more_to_mee37on April 20, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    i can totally relate to this song sometimes. its just like, you would do anything to be friends with these people but they don't care at all.

    ohmyjonas889on May 10, 2008   Link

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