Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, <\/a>professor at the University of Cardiff, tells TODAY.com. \u201cIt is the ultimate City of Sin; Babylon is the Mother of Harlots; it is home to the Whore of Babylon, whose reign will usher in Armageddon and bring about the Apocalypse.\u201d<\/p>\nBut he says the city was actually one of the most sophisticated in the ancient world. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first ever metropolis, with an enormous multi-cultural population. It was the centre of arts, literature, culture, and industry. It was New York, Paris, Bangkok, Los Angeles and London rolled into one. There was no city on earth to rival it. Babylon was the Mother of All Cities,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
But Podany doesn\u2019t think the Babylon in this song is associated with sinfulness or ruin. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe seems to be using it as a stand-in for that place that you didn\u2019t realize was the best until you left it or lost it. So she\u2019s choosing, I think, to not view Babylon as representing its kings (some of whom were, yes, imperialistic and brutal), or its supposed wickedness; she\u2019s looking past all the layers of misunderstanding that have accumulated on the word Babylon,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In a twist Podany called interesting (and perhaps not intentional), she\u2019s associating Babylon with nostalgia, \u201cin the way ancient Babylonians would have indeed felt about the place 3,000 or 4,000 years ago, perhaps when they were traveling far away.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cBabylon would have been remembered as a beloved home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read the Lyrics to Taylor Swift\u2019s \u2018Babylon\u2019<\/p>\n
The casino doesn\u2019t like when you run the tables<\/p>\n
And though the box is wrapped up nice, it\u2019s just a cage to you<\/p>\n
Those electric fences buzz<\/p>\n
The stallion flees the stable<\/p>\n
And that small town\u2019s even smaller now in your rear view<\/p>\n
You ran with all the wild things<\/p>\n
A liberated libertine who then longed for home<\/p>\n
\u2018Cause it\u2019s where you\u2019re from<\/p>\n
Aunt Virginia with a church dress on<\/p>\n
No elbows on the table<\/p>\n
And the neighbor\u2019s lawn always looked better<\/p>\n
Your hand-me-down sweater should\u2019ve been from the mall<\/p>\n
And you hate this song<\/p>\n
But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone<\/p>\n
Then that melody is all you want<\/p>\n
You never knew that it was Babylon<\/p>\n
\u2018Til it was gone<\/p>\n
Give the people what they want, then you keep it movin\u2019<\/p>\n
Make your plans and friends, a stranger\u2019s makeup on your tie<\/p>\n
Twenty watches in the safe \u2018cause your time is money<\/p>\n
Love is ice upon the ladder that you need to climb<\/p>\n
She captured your attention, so free of all pretension<\/p>\n
It stopped you cold<\/p>\n
Because she loved you so<\/p>\n
Pretty as a picture that you didn\u2019t post<\/p>\n
Lookin\u2019 at you like you\u2019re made of solid gold<\/p>\n
Never official<\/p>\n
You mention you\u2019re single to the girls at the bar<\/p>\n
You hate this song<\/p>\n
But you wake up on the train with your headphones gone<\/p>\n
And then that melody is all you want<\/p>\n
You never knew that it was Babylon<\/p>\n
\u2018Til it was gone<\/p>\n
You\u2019re using nostalgia as a weapon to hurt yourself<\/p>\n
But darling, you end up hurting everybody else<\/p>\n
The self-harm of never being where you are<\/p>\n
It\u2019s bedtime, but you\u2019re sitting in your car<\/p>\n
You\u2019re missin\u2019 all the best parts<\/p>\n
And they\u2019re all at home<\/p>\n
She\u2019s hangin\u2019 Christmas lights with your son<\/p>\n
Sneak into the bathroom to call her mom<\/p>\n
And say, \u201cIt\u2019s not workin\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just not worth it if we\u2019re not what he wants\u201d<\/p>\n
But you love this song<\/p>\n
You wake up on the train with your headphones gone<\/p>\n
Then that melody is all you want<\/p>\n
You never knew that it was Babylon<\/p>\n
And now, it\u2019s almost gone<\/p>\n
Aunt Virginia with a church dress on<\/p>\n
No elbows on the table (It\u2019s almost gone)<\/p>\n
And the neighbor\u2019s lawn always looked better<\/p>\n
Your hand-me-down sweater should\u2019ve been from the mall<\/p>\n
But you love this song<\/p>\n
You wake up on the train and you\u2019re all alone<\/p>\n
Then that memory is all you want<\/p>\n
You never knew that it was Babylon<\/p>\n
\u2018Til it was gone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift\u2019s new song \u201cBabylon\u201d brings a big historical symbol to describe the arc of one relationship that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-627756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}