"If I wanted to know who you were hanging with / While I was gone, I would have asked you" are the lyrics that open up the song (via Genius). Swift makes it clear from the jump that this situation is a temporary one where the singer isn't keeping tabs on her hometown lover.
Swift lays it out in the chorus, singing: "So we could call it even / You could call me "babe" for the weekend / 'Tis the damn season, write this down / I'm stayin' at my parents' house / And the road not taken looks real good now / And it always leads to you in my hometown." She knows what she shares with this person can only be fleeting, but it works when it works. She even subtly shouts out her own hometown. "I parkеd my car right between the Methodist / And thе school that used to be ours," she writes. Pennsylvania Swifties who live near Swift's hometown have confirmed that this is an actual location in tweets.
"The holidays linger like bad perfume / You can run, but only so far," she continues, reminding listeners that your hometown will always be your hometown. That person will always be there, for better or for worse. "Tis the Damn Season" may end up responsible for a number of ill-fated hookups this holiday season, but Swifties are still loving this track.
