The One That Got Away
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Verse 1
Summer after high school, when we first metWe'd make out in your Mustang to RadioheadAnd on my eighteenth birthday, we got matching tattoosUsed to steal your parents' liquor and climb to the roofTalked about our future like we had a clueNever planned that one day, I'd be losing youChorus
In another lifeI would be your girlWe'd keep all our promisesBe us against the worldIn another lifeI would make you staySo I don't have to say you wereThe one that got awayThe one that got awayVerse 2
I was June, and you were my Johnny CashNever one without the other, we made a pactSometimes when I miss you, I put those records on, woahSomeone said you had your tattoo removedSaw you downtown, singing the bluesIt's time to face the music, I'm no longer your museChorus
But in another lifeI would be your girlWe'd keep all our promisesBe us against the worldIn another lifeI would make you staySo I don't have to say you wereThe one that got awayThe one that got awayPost-Chorus
The oneThe oneThe oneThe one that got awayBridge
All this money can't buy me a time machine, noCan't replace you with a million rings, noI should've told you what you meant to me, woah'Cause now I pay the priceChorus
In another lifeI would be your girlWe'd keep all our promisesBe us against the worldIn another lifeI would make you staySo I don't have to say you wereThe one that got awayThe one that got away (The one that got away)Post-Chorus
The one (The one)The one (The one)The one (The one)In another lifeI would make you staySo I don't have to say you wereThe one that got awayThe one that got awayWhat the song means
A nostalgic reflection on a lost teenage love. The narrator remembers passionate moments with their first love and imagines an alternate life where they stayed together. Now as adults, they've drifted apart, and the narrator regrets not expressing how much this person meant to them. The song captures the pain of losing "the one."
Learn a word
make out — kiss romantically
Physical affection between young lovers
Song info
- Release date
- 2010-08-24
- Album
- Teenage Dream
- Written by
- Katy Perry, Dr. Luke, Max Martin
- Produced by
- Max Martin, Dr. Luke
- Interpolates
- Katy Perry – In Another Life