How Taylor Swift Song ‘Starlight’ Was Inspired by Ethel Kennedy & Her Husband
Fans are eagerly wondering how the Taylor Swift song Starlight was inspired by Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy’s relationship. Following Ethel Kennedy’s recent passing on October 10, 2024, from a stroke, fans have become more curious about the connection between Swift’s song and the iconic couple. Swift is known for drawing inspiration from real-life relationships and moments, so it’s no surprise that the Kennedys’ love story found its way into her music.
Here is how Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy inspired Taylor Swift’s Starlight.
How Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy inspired Taylor Swift’s song?
Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy inspired Taylor Swift, who gets a lot of inspiration for her songs from 1960s material. She decided to write the song Starlight, after she looked at a 50s-60s photo of the two of them dancing together at an event.
Swift confirmed this in a 2012 The Wall Street Journal interview. “And I came across this picture of these two kids dancing at a dance. It immediately made me think of like how much fun they must have had that night. It was back in the late ‘40s,” she said. “I ended up reading underneath that it was Ethel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.”
The Tortured Poets Department singer then mentioned writing the lyrics after interpreting that picture, clarifying she did not know the details or circumstances of their first meeting. Around this time, Swift had been dating Robert and Ethel’s grandson Conor Kennedy.
Swift’s Starlight is told from Ethel’s point of view, evidenced by the following lyrics:
“I met Bobby on the boardwalk summer of ’45
Picked me up, late one night out the window
We were seventeen and crazy running wild, wild”
There are significant differences between the lyrics and how Ethel and Robert Kennedy’s meeting and marriage happened. The couple met in Winter 1945 and not Summer as the lyrics suggest.
Taylor Swift eventually met Ethel Kennedy herself, thanks to her youngest daughter Rory, who once attended one of Swift’s concerts, and performed Starlight for her, with Swift remarking that Ethel loved it. “It was such a fun moment when she was just in love with the song and so happy about it and um, it’s just this adorable picture that to me,” Swift said. (via New York Post)
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