The LuLac Edition #5, 062, February 6th, 2024

 

MAYBE I’M AMAZED

Our “Maybe I’m Amazed logo

TAYLOR SWIFT EDITION

OKAY, OKAY, I’M ON THE "SWIFTIE"  BANDWAGON  

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..that the GOP/MAGA establishment is so sick and tired of hearing about Taylor Swift invading their football turf that I  think it might be a tad hypocritical. If Taylor were a Trump fan, they’d be welcoming her with open arms. 

The second irony is I thought that most of this crowd gave up on the NFL after Colin Kaepernick took a knee.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that in addition to being the 2023 Time Person of the Year, Swift has appeared on lists such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists, and Forbes' World's 100 Most Powerful Women. Her accolades include 12 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards, 40 Billboard Music Awards, and 23 MTV Video Music Awards.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED….her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, is a former stockbroker for Merrill Lynch and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), is a former homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive who I think are VERY COOL. Why? Because they named her after Sweet Baby James Taylor.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..Swift spent her early years on a Christmas tree farm that her father had purchased from one of his clients. That had to be inspiration for one of the newest Christmas classic, “Christmas Tree Farm”.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED ….that her  family moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where Swift attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.  Wyomissing is also the hometown of baseball player Randy Gumpert who gave up a home run to Babe Ruth as well as throwing the first home run pitch to Mickey Mantle.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..Swift's discography is a "critically hailed songbook", as per Time's Sam Lansky. She has won 12 Grammy Awards (including three for Album of the Year—tying for the most by an artist), an Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards (the most won by an artist), 39 Billboard Music Awards (the most won by an artist—tying with Drake), 118 Guinness World Records, 23 MTV Video Music Awards (including four Video of the Year wins—the most by an act), Country Music Association Awards (including the Pinnacle Award),eight Academy of Country Music Awards, and two Brit Awards. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the National Music Publishers' Association and was the youngest person on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time in 2015. At the 64th BMI Awards in 2016, Swift was the first woman to be honored with an award named after its recipient.

Whew! So I guess when Taylor met Mrs. Kelce, I hope she didn’t ask her, “So Taylor, tell us a little bit about yourself!”

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……that her fans are known as “Swifties”. I’ve come across a few young ladies who are inspired by her success as well as the way she handles herself in public. One of the people who interned at my job actually had a song lyric tattooed on her arm.  

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that in the US, Swift has sold over 37.3 million albums as of 2019, when Billboard placed her eighth on its Greatest of All Time Artists Chart. Eleven of her songs have topped the Billboard Hot 100.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……but not Swift identifies as a pro-choice feminist,       and is one of the founding signatories of the Time's Up movement against sexual harassment.  She criticized the US Supreme Court's decision to end federal abortion rights in 2022.   Swift also advocates for LGBT rights, and has called for the passing of the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. She performed during WorldPride NYC 2019 at the Stonewall Inn, a gay rights monument, and has donated to the LGBT organizations Tennessee Equality Project and GLAAD.

A supporter of the March for Our Lives movement and gun control reform in the US, Swift is a vocal critic of white supremacy, racism, and police brutality. Following the George Floyd protests, she donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Black Lives Matter movement, called for the removal of Confederate monuments in Tennessee, and advocated for Juneteenth to become a national holiday. In 2020, Swift urged her fans to check their voter registration ahead of elections, which resulted in 65,000 people registering to vote within one day of her post, and endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the US presidential election. She has openly criticized former president Donald Trump.

I don’t know why the MAGA people are complaining about; jeez they have Scott Baio right?

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..but not really that Paul McCartney was an influence on her.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that up until 2019 Swift for me was on the periphery. But that changed when I heard this song and put it on my playlist.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that if Travis Kelce does marry her, or she him, people will, say, “Hey man, you not only married UP, you married in light years to Mars!”