Taylor Tailors Love: "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" Meaning

Raise your hand if you’ve ever loved someone, but just needed to fix a few minor (massive) issues. 👋🏻

This is the central theme of Taylor Swift’s I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can). Our protagonist has fallen for a bad boy, and everyone around her thinks this is a bad plan. But she assures the doubters that this guy just needs the magic touch, and she has it.

Who is Taylor talking about in this track, and what does she want to fix about him?

Here’s my full English teacher analysis of I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) meaning, line by line and metaphor by metaphor.

Cover image for a post by Swiftly Sung Stories analyzing Taylor Swift's "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)". A vintage typewriter with a sheet of paper displays the words "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" followed by "lyrical analysis."

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) by Taylor Swift

Title: I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
Written by: Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff
Track: 11, The Tortured Poets Department
Pen: Quill
Lyrics from Genius

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) Explained: Narrative Summary

Setting: In the wild, wild West of love, in a relationship with a flawed ‘cowboy’.
Characters: Narrator (Taylor), subject (“him”, love interest), “they” (naysayers, the public)
Mood: Confident but wary, then forlorn and dejected.
Conflict: She’s in love with a flawed and complicated person.
Inciting Incident: “The smoke cloud billows out his mouth”: he enters her life in a cloud of ominous smoke.
Quest: “Fix him” to make him presentable and tame.
Symbols & Metaphors: “I can fix him,” “The smoke cloud billows out his mouth / Like a freight train through a small town,” “the jokes […] were revolting and far too loud,” “shake their heads,” “he’s my man,” “good lord doesn’t need to lift a finger,” “dopamine races through his brain,” “six lane Texas highway,” “hand is so calloused from his pistol,” “traces hearts on my face,” “a perfect case for my certain skill set,” “he had a halo […] he just hadn’t met me yet,” “good boy,” “come close,” “I’ll show you heaven if you be an angel,” “I can handle a dangerous man,” “maybe I can’t.”
Lesson: You can’t change who a person is.

What is I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) About?

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) sees Taylor diving into a project relationship. Her love interest is intriguing but flawed, and she needs to try to “fix him” to make him a presentable partner.

She paints her lover as a cowboy-type character who is impulsive and boorish, and portrays herself as a miracle-worker who can tame a wild man.

Who is I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) About?

Most fans assume the love interest in this track was inspired by Matty Healy, whom Taylor briefly dated in 2023.

Healy is known as a raucous, wild, and unpredictable rock star, and the public was surprised and dismayed when Swift dated him.

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) Lyrics Meaning: Line by Line

Annotated lyrics to Taylor Swift's "I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)" with red pen explaining hidden meanings, pointing out literary devices, and translating complex phrases.
The first verse and chorus read: "The smoke cloud billows out his mouth

Like a freight train through a small town

The jokes that he told across the bar

Were revolting and far too loud

They shake their heads sayin', "God, help her"

When I tell 'em he's my man

But your good Lord doesn't need to lift a finger

I can fix him, no, really, I can

And only I can"

“The smoke cloud billows out his mouth,” she begins in the first verse, “Like a freight train through a small town.” He enters her life like a rushing train, clouding the air and her mind with his smoke.

This sets up the primary motif of the wild, wild west in this track. Sonically and lyrically, she’s in desolate middle America, full of cowboys and gunslingers.

Most fans will point to Matty Healy’s smoking habit as the inspiration for this lyric, but Swift compares the subject’s smoking to a freight train. What does a freight train do? Blows through town, barely slowing, setting off alarm bells at every intersection.

It also ties into “six weeks of breathin’ clean air, I still miss the smoke” from The Black Dog. The “smoke” is bad for her, but it’s also intriguing.

“The jokes that he told across the bar,” she says of her lover, “Were revolting and far too loud.” He’s like a bull in a china shop, too drunk and making a scene. That might be embarrassing to some, but to her, it’s just another thing she can fix.

They’re also a perfect fit, because Taylor is “the loudest woman this town has ever seen,” as we learned in the last great american dynasty.

“They shake their heads sayin’, ‘God, help her’,” she says of the other patrons at the saloon (or the public), “When I tell ’em he’s my man.” People pity her when they find out she’s connected to this wild cowboy. He’s not exactly an easy person to be with.

“But your good Lord doesn’t need to lift a finger,” she assures them, “I can fix him, no, really, I can.” Like in But Daddy I Love Him, they don’t need to “pray for” her. God doesn’t even need to be part of the narrative: she’s an expert who can tame this wild gunslinger.

“And only I can,” she muses. If he’s a padlock, only she has the key. She can make him settle down, and she’s the only one strong enough to cage the beast within.

Verse 2: “Softly Traces Hearts On My Face”

“The dopamine races through his brain,” she says of her wild boy, “On a six-lane Texas highway.” His brain is like a vast highway, where thoughts and drugs speed through, zipping from one lane to the next.

Texas is also a reference in Florida!!!, as are the drug references here.

“His hand so calloused from his pistol,” she says, “Softly traces hearts on my face.” His rough hands reflect his rough nature (and possibly allude to guitar calluses), but with her, he’s soft and gentle.

Taylor conjures her iconic Lover imagery here, of a pink glitter heart on her face. Is this calling back to that earlier album and song intentionally?

🪶🤍 Are you a tortured poet? Find out with my TTPD Lyrics Quiz! 🤍🪶

“And I could see it from a mile away,” she says, spotting her lover coming from a distance, “A perfect case for my certain skill set.” She’s like a detective who can solve any crime. Here, her “skillset” is taming a basketcase.

“He had a halo of the highest gradе,” she muses, “He just hadn’t met me yеt.” He could be angelic if given the right partner.

She’s the one who can polish his halo and set it back atop his head, taming the devil on his shoulder and quieting the demons within. This fits in with many of the larger themes of TTPD: religious imagery, sin and sinners, heaven and hell.

Bridge: “I Can Handle Me a Dangerous Man”

The bridge switches from third person to second person, addressing her wild cowboy directly.

“Good boy, that’s right,” she coaxes him, “come close.” Like training a dog, she takes it slow and gentle, infantilizing this wild boy and tempting him with treats.

“I’ll show you Heaven if you’ll be an angel, all night,” she assures him. If he can tame the devils within for one night, he’ll be rewarded with more pleasure than he can imagine.

“Trust me, I can handle me a dangerous man,” she assures the onlookers, “No, really, I can.” Those who are questioning her motives and capabilities are watching this play out, and they’re aghast.

Taylor assures them that she knows what she’s doing, and she knows how dangerous this is. ‘I got this,’ she assures the naysayers.

But as we learned in cowboy like me, which shares many lyrical and thematic parallels to this track, “dancin’ is a dangerous game.”

Final Chorus: “Woah, Maybe I Can’t”

The final chorus changes from present tense to past tense. Where before it was “they shake their heads,” here it’s “they shook their heads.”

We’re now past this incident, and she’s looking back on what went down.

“But your good Lord didn’t need to lift a finger,” she says, also in the past tense. God didn’t have anything to do with this, and even he couldn’t have prevented this failed relationship.

“I can fix him, no, really, I can,” she fibs to herself one last time. But then she surrenders.

“Woah, maybe I can’t,” she finally realizes. The task was too big and too overwhelming. She couldn’t tame this wild beast; the devils conquered the angels.

“Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” she asks herself, then finally admits the truth: she is. She’s afraid of living in reality, and the whole song has been about denial.

But in the final line, she comes clean and pops back into reality. She couldn’t fix him, and no one could. You can’t change a person, no matter what “certain skill set” you have in your arsenal.

Cowboys will be cowboys, and unless you want to live on the range, blowing through towns like a freight train and never stopping, you’ve got to let them go.

🪶🤍 Are you a tortured poet? Find out with my TTPD Lyrics Quiz! 🤍🪶

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can) Meaning: Final Thoughts

Taylor added this TTPD song to her denial playlist, and you can see why. The majority of the lyrics are about denial: she lies to herself that she can fix this broken boy to make him into the perfect partner.

But like Florida!!!, it’s a temporary distraction from reality. Her boy will only break his favorite toys, leaving her stranded in a one-horse town.

Where does this leave her? We’ll find out in the next track, loml.

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