‘August’ by Taylor Swift: Meaning and Lyrics of ‘Folklore’ Song Explained

It’s the season of salt air, rust on your door, and living for the hope of it all. It’s officially August, and Taylor Swift fans are celebrating the start of the new month by playing “August” on repeat. Released as part of Swift’s 2020 surprise album Folklore, the song is once again making waves on social media, with Swifites celebrating August before it slips “away into a moment in time.”

What does “August” by Taylor Swift mean?

Perfectly listed as the eighth track – August is the eighth month of the year – on Swift’s 16-track eighth studio album (17 tracks if including the deluxe album bonus song “the lakes”), “August” is not only a song about summer love, but an extremely complicated romance. The song is part of a trio of songs that share a connected story – “Cardigan,” “Betty,” and “August” – about a teenage love triangle. “Cardigan” is told from the point of view of the girl named Betty, whereas “Betty” is told from the point of view of James. “August,” meanwhile, is told from the perspective of the third person involved in the love triangle, who finds herself mourning a summer fling and what could have been.

The song begins with the protagonist singing of “salt air” and “the rust on your door” and idolizing the summer romance and how she “never needed anything more.” However, the romance was doomed to fail, and as the song transitions into the chorus, the protagonist sings of a romance doomed to end, one she wishes could be more permanent: “But I can see us lost in the memory / August slipped away into a moment in time / ‘Cause it was never mine / And I can see us twisted in bedsheets / August sipped away like a bottle of wine / ‘Cause you were never mine.”

As the song continues, Swift sings of the affair with lines like “will you call when you’re back at school? / I remember thinking I had you” and “So much for summer love and saying ‘us’ / ‘Cause you weren’t mine to lose / You weren’t mine to lose, no.” The song also reveals how significant the romance was to the protagonist, with “Cancel plans just in case you’d call / And say, ‘Meet me behind the mall.’

‘Folklore’ Teenage Love Triangle

A fan-favorite among Swift’s albums, Folklore marked a break from Swift’s typical trend of remaining quiet about the subjects of her songs. After dropping the album, Swift told fans, “one thing I did purposely on this album was put the Easter eggs in the lyrics, more than just the videos. I created character arcs & recurring themes that map out who is singing about who.” Swift added, “For example, there’s a collection of 3 songs I refer to as The Teenage Love Triangle. These 3 songs explore a love triangle from all 3 people’s perspectives at different times in their lives.” Those three songs turned out to be “Cardigan,” “Betty,” and “August,” with the singer later opening up about the connected story in her Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions documentary.

“What happened in my head was, ‘Cardigan’ is Betty’s perspective from 20 to 30 years later, looking back on this love that was this tumultuous thing. In my head, I think Betty and James ended up together. So, in my head, she ends up with him, but he really put her through it,” she revealed. “‘August’ was about the girl that James had this summer with. She seems like she’s a bad girl, but really she’s not. She’s a sensitive person who really fell for him, she was trying to seem cool and seem like she didn’t care…but she really did, and she thought they had something really real. And then he goes back to Betty. So, the idea that there’s some bad, villain girl in any type of situation who takes your man is actually a total myth because that’s not usually the case at all. Everybody has feelings, everybody wants to be seen and loved and all Augustine wanted was love.”

Taylor Swfit – ‘August’ Lyrics

Salt air, and the rust on your door
I never needed anything more
Whispers of “Are you sure?”
“Never have I ever before”

But I can see us lost in the memory
August slipped away into a moment in time
‘Cause it was never mine
And I can see us twisted in bedsheets
August sipped away like a bottle of wine
‘Cause you were never mine

Your back beneath the sun
Wishin’ I could write my name on it
Will you call when you’re back at school?
I remember thinkin’ I had you

But I can see us lost in the memory
August slipped away into a moment in time
‘Cause it was never mine
And I can see us twisted in bedsheets
August sipped away like a bottle of wine
‘Cause you were never mine

Back when we were still changin’ for the better
Wanting was enough
For me, it was enough
To live for the hope of it all
Cancel plans just in case you’d call
And say, “Meet me behind the mall”
So much for summer love and saying “us”
‘Cause you weren’t mine to lose
You weren’t mine to lose, no

But I can see us lost in the memory
August slipped away into a moment in time
‘Cause it was never mine
And I can see us twisted in bedsheets
August sipped away like a bottle of wine
‘Cause you were never mine
‘Cause you were never mine, never mine

But do you remember?
Remember when I pulled up and said, “Get in the car”
And then canceled my plans just in case you’d call?
Back when I was livin’ for the hope of it all, for the hope of it all
“Meet me behind the mall”

Remember when I pulled up and said, “Get in the car”
And then canceled my plans just in case you’d call?
Back when I was livin’ for the hope of it all (for the hope of it all)

For the hope of it all
For the hope of it all
(For the hope of it all)
(For the hope of it all)