All over the album, they’re two poets who only want love if it’s torture. In the excellent title song, she rages, “You’re not Dylan Thomas / I’m not Patti Smith / This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel.” It’s the small-town teen romance of “White Horse” (“I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairy tale”) updated for the big city. (And as Taylor knows, that’s where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death at his favorite Greenwich Village bar, which happened to be called the White Horse.) Patti Smith loved it.
This book was literally announced the day before The Tortured Poets Department was released. So it makes sense there's not much in it about ttpd, and I wasn't expecting it. Nevetheless, it is clear that the book was updated and that things were added very close to publication. ttpd songs are referenced throughout, and Sheffield's love for this album shines through
