Background
Webber had seen that Victoria, a character in the musical, needed a song. He played the music he had composed for Taylor and she came up with the lyrics during the meeting.
| “ | I played this to you and I said it was a new song. You said ‘I’ll do the lyric[s]’, and you did it then and there, more or less. | ” |
| —Andrew Lloyd Webber | ||
Taylor said that she wanted to emulate the lyrics of T.S. Elliot, the original lyricist for the musical.
| “ | T.S. Elliot is such a specific type of writer, and uses such specific language and imagery. So reading through, like, his work and everything I just really wanted to reflect that within... and you know you can’t write a modern lyric for Cats... so if you can’t get T.S. Elliot, like, get T.S. | ” |
| —Taylor Swift | ||
Cats - "Beautiful Ghosts" featurette
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Follow me home if you dare to
I wouldn't know where to lead you
Should I take chances when no one took chances on me?
So I watch for the dark, wait for my life to start
With no beauty in my memory
[Chorus]
All that I wanted was to be wanted
Too young to wander London streets, alone and haunted
Born into nothing
At least you have something, something to cling to
Visions of dazzling rooms I'll never get let into
And the memories were lost long ago
But at least you have beautiful ghosts
[Verse 2]
Perilous night, their voices calling
A flicker of light before the dawning
Out here, the wild ones are taming the fear within me
Scared to call them my friends and be broken again
Is this hope just a mystical dream?
[Chorus]
All that I wanted was to be wanted
Too young to wander London streets, alone and haunted
Born into nothing
At least you have something, something to cling to
Visions of dazzling rooms I'll never get let into
And the memories were lost long ago
But at least you have beautiful ghosts
[Bridge]
And so maybe my home isn't what I had known
What I thought it would be
But I feel so alive with these phantoms of night
And I know that this life isn't safe, but it's wild and it's free
[Chorus]
All that I wanted was to be wanted
I'll never wander London streets, alone and haunted
Born into nothing
With them, I have something, something to cling to
I never knew I'd love this world they've let me into
And the memories were lost long ago
So I'll dance with these beautiful ghosts
And the memories were lost long ago
So I'll dance with these beautiful ghosts
