That’s Merrick Garland's favorite Taylor Swift song. Apparently he's a huge fan. Anyone with daughters, like Garland, can relate. From the WSJ:
At a congressional hearing on Wednesday, senators grilled Attorney General Merrick Garland on the Justice Department’s investigation into Ticketmaster, which botched ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s coming tour and is dominant in the concert industry.
Holding court
“Channeling Taylor Swift, I know that ‘All Too Well,’” Mr. Garland said, name-dropping the title of one of her songs. “I’m pretty familiar with Taylor Swift.”
Everyone in the Capital has been talking about Taylor Swift and Ticketmaster, from senators in congressional hearings to White House officials in public reports and fans holding protest signs on the streets.
Mr. Garland has been talking about her for years. In his home, in his car, and in his wood-paneled office suite on Pennsylvania Avenue, where he has prominently displayed nearly all of her CDs in a curio cabinet. He’s a die-hard Swiftie, as her fans are known, and he drops lyrics into legal arguments and discussions all the time.
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Mr. Garland learned of Ms. Swift from his two daughters, who insisted on blasting the singer’s self-titled debut and 2008 follow-up album “Fearless” while Mr. Garland, then a federal appeals court judge, drove the girls to school when they were young.
“We invented carpool karaoke before it was a thing,” Mr. Garland said in his office, where the Swift CDs, given to him by his daughters, occupy a special place shared only by Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography “Born to Run” and a collection of Beatles albums. Now, whenever Ms. Swift releases a new album, the Garland family gathers on the phone to swap notes.
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And Congress and pop culture have intersected in interesting ways before. Frank Zappa, John Denver and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister testified at a 1985 Senate hearing on explicit rock lyrics. People packed the hearing room to get a look. “I’ve been a fan for a long time, Mr. Denver,” then-Sen. Al Gore told the singer.
Dee Snider, right, of the metal band Twisted Sister appears at a packed Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in 1985.PHOTO: MARK WEISS/GETTY IMAGES
Things got chillier when Mr. Snider, who had long hair and wore a sleeveless T-shirt, asked if Mr. Gore planned to praise his music too. Mr. Gore conceded he enjoyed Mr. Zappa and Mr. Denver. “I am not, however, a fan of Twisted Sister.”
In legislative fights, House Republicans have deployed pulp-culture GIFs of celebrities, such as singer Britney Spears, the cartoon character Ariel of “The Little Mermaid” and Will Ferrell’s “More cowbell!” skit from “Saturday Night Live.”
Well before becoming a parent, Mr. Garland was at the vanguard of popular music. He recalled seeing the little-known Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band open for Bonnie Raitt at the Harvard Square Theater in Cambridge in 1974, when he was in college there. “Nobody I knew had ever heard of Springsteen before,” he said. “And it was great.”
Obama White House aide Brian Deese let it slip in a videotaped interview years ago that Mr. Garland was “reasonably into Taylor Swift.” That prompted Mr. Garland’s clerks to present him with a (mock) tweet from TayTay that said: “I’m reasonably a big fan of yours too!”
Mr. Garland learned of Ms. Swift from his two daughters, who insisted on blasting the singer’s self-titled debut and 2008 follow-up album “Fearless” while Mr. Garland, then a federal appeals court judge, drove the girls to school when they were young.
“We invented carpool karaoke before it was a thing,” Mr. Garland said in his office, where the Swift CDs, given to him by his daughters, occupy a special place shared only by Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography “Born to Run” and a collection of Beatles albums. Now, whenever Ms. Swift releases a new album, the Garland family gathers on the phone to swap notes.
***
And Congress and pop culture have intersected in interesting ways before. Frank Zappa, John Denver and Dee Snider of Twisted Sister testified at a 1985 Senate hearing on explicit rock lyrics. People packed the hearing room to get a look. “I’ve been a fan for a long time, Mr. Denver,” then-Sen. Al Gore told the singer.
Dee Snider, right, of the metal band Twisted Sister appears at a packed Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in 1985.PHOTO: MARK WEISS/GETTY IMAGESThings got chillier when Mr. Snider, who had long hair and wore a sleeveless T-shirt, asked if Mr. Gore planned to praise his music too. Mr. Gore conceded he enjoyed Mr. Zappa and Mr. Denver. “I am not, however, a fan of Twisted Sister.”
In legislative fights, House Republicans have deployed pulp-culture GIFs of celebrities, such as singer Britney Spears, the cartoon character Ariel of “The Little Mermaid” and Will Ferrell’s “More cowbell!” skit from “Saturday Night Live.”
Well before becoming a parent, Mr. Garland was at the vanguard of popular music. He recalled seeing the little-known Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band open for Bonnie Raitt at the Harvard Square Theater in Cambridge in 1974, when he was in college there. “Nobody I knew had ever heard of Springsteen before,” he said. “And it was great.”
Obama White House aide Brian Deese let it slip in a videotaped interview years ago that Mr. Garland was “reasonably into Taylor Swift.” That prompted Mr. Garland’s clerks to present him with a (mock) tweet from TayTay that said: “I’m reasonably a big fan of yours too!”
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