"Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in." This week, we're deep diving "hoax" from folklore (2020), written by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner. As a continuation of last week's Wuthering Heights episode, we go line by line through one of Taylor's most quietly devastating songs. We unpack the definition of "hoax" itself—humorous or malicious?—and find that the answer might be both. Along the way, we debate who's holding the twisted knife, trace religious undertones from the Lord's Prayer through "faithless love," connect Robert Burns and Of Mice and Men to Taylor's "best laid plan," and sit with the devastating wordplay of "my broken drum, you have beaten my heart." This is a song about betrayal by someone who knew exactly where it would hurt most—and the confusing, adult reality of choosing to stay anyway.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
• Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
• "To a Mouse," Robert Burns (1785)
• The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Lord's Prayer

Episode Highlights:

[00:25] Introduction to "hoax" and the definition of a hoax

[02:11] "My only one, my smoking gun, my eclipsed sun"

[08:48] "Stood on the cliffside screaming, give me a reason"

[13:36] "Don't want no other shade of blue but you"

[18:14] "My barren land, I am ash from your fire"

[22:32] "You knew the hero died, so what's the movie for?"

[29:23] "My kingdom come undone"

[34:24] Purpose: vulnerability weaponized, betrayal by someone who knew you best

[39:10] The Wuthering Heights of it all

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This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.