"How Did It End?" is the twenty-first track from The Anthology edition of Taylor Swift's eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, released on April 19, 2024.
Background[]
"How Did It End?" is a track exclusive to the Anthology edition of The Tortured Poets Department. Along with the other Anthology edition tracks, the song was surprise-released at 2:00 AM EST on April 19.
Lyrics[]
[Intro]
(Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh)
[Verse 1]
We hereby conduct this post-mortem
He was a hot house flower to my outdoorsmen
Our maladies were such we could not cure them
And so a touch that was my birth right became foreign
[Chorus]
Come one come all
It's happ'nin' again
The empathetic hunger descends
We'll tell no-one
'Cept all of our friends
We must know
How did it end?
(Uh-oh, uh-oh-oh-oh)
[Verse 2]
We were blind to unforeseen circumstances
We learn the right steps to different dances (Oh, oh-oh)
And fell victim to interlopers glances
Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?
Soon they'll go home to their husbands
Smug 'cause they know they can trust him
Then feverishly calling their cousins (Oh, oh)
[Chorus]
Guess who we ran into at the shops?
Walking in circles like she was lost
Didn't you hear?
They called it all off
One gasp and then
How did it end?
[Bridge]
Say it once again with feeling how the death rattle
Breathing, silenced as the soul was leaving
The deflation of our dreaming
Leaving me bereft and reeling
My beloved ghost and me
Sitting in a tree
D-Y-I-N-G
[Pre-Chorus]
It's happening again
How did it end?
I can't pretend like I understand
How did it end?
[Chorus]
Come one come all
It's happening again
The empathetic hunger descends
We'll tell no-one
Except all of our friends
But I still don't know
How did it end?
Lyric video[]
Audio[]
Live performances[]
"How Did It End?" was performed live for the first time as a surprise song on The Eras Tour on May 19, 2024, in Stockholm, Sweden. It was performed again on November 23, 2024, in Toronto, Canada, mashed-up with "You're Losing Me".
| THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT | ||
|---|---|---|
| "Fortnight" • "The Tortured Poets Department" • "My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys" • "Down Bad" • "So Long, London" • "But Daddy I Love Him" • "Fresh Out The Slammer" • "Florida!!!" • "Guilty as Sin?" • "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" • "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" • "loml" • "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart" • "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived" • "The Alchemy" • "Clara Bow" | ||
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