Menguak Luka Lama: All You Had To Do Was Stay dan Cerita di Balik Rilis Ulang Taylor Swift

Here you are now, calling me up, but I don't know what to say
I've been picking up the pieces of the mess you made
People like you always want back the love they pushed aside
But people like me are gone forever when you say goodbye

Stay
Hey, all you had to do was stay
Had me in the palm of your hand
Then why'd you have to go and lock me out when I let you in?
Stay
Hey, now you say you want it back
Now that it's just too late
Well, could've been easy
All you had to do was stay

All you had to do was stay
All you had to do was stay
All you had to do was stay, stay, stay, stay, stay

Lalu ada bagian bridge yang terdengar seperti monolog dalam hati, penuh penyesalan dan kenyataan pahit.

Let me remind you
This was what you wanted
You ended it
You were all I wanted
But not like this
Not like this
Not like this

Oh, all you had to do was...

Lagu kemudian mengulang chorus yang powerful, seolah menegaskan pesannya untuk terakhir kalinya. Pengulangan di akhir lagu terasa seperti gema yang pelan-pelan menghilang, meninggalkan kesan mendalam.

Stay
Hey, all you had to do was stay
Had me in the palm of your hand
Then why'd you have to go and lock me out when I let you in?
Stay
Hey, now you say you want it back
Now that it's just too late
Well, could've been easy
All you had to do was stay

Hey, all you had to do was stay
Had me in the palm of your hand
Then why'd you have to go and lock me out when I let you in?
Stay
Hey, now you say you want it back
Now that it's just too late
Well, could've been easy
(All you had to do was stay)
All you had to do was stay

All you had to do was stay
All you had to do was stay
All you had to do was stay
All you had to do was stay