Taylor Swift Reveals '1989' Song 'All You Had To Do Was Stay' Is About A Dream Of Her Ex-Boyfriend

Taylor Swift has often had to look no further than her own love life to find motivation for her music. She's taken shots at ex-boyfriends before on songs like "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," and "I Knew You Were Trouble." However, on her latest album ,"1989," it was the dream version of an ex-boyfriend that supplied her with some ideas.

In an interview with fellow artist Ryan Adams for GQ, Swift said she got the motivation for a part of "All You Had To Do Was Stay" from a dream she had involving an ex-boyfriend. She said the high-pitched 'stay' that's heard on the song was first heard in her head while she was asleep.

"I had a dream that my ex showed up at my door, knocked on the door, and I opened it up and I was about ready to launch into the perfect thing to say and instead all that would come out of my mouth was that high pitched chorus of people saying 'stay,'" Swift dished. "I woke up and I was like 'oh that was mortifying' but that's kind of a cool vocal part."

She added that her version of the song was like "I don't miss you and now you're back," while Adams, who recorded his own version of "1989" made the song more heartbreaking. Swift didn't specify which ex showed up at her door in her dream but there's plenty of possibilities. Swift has previously dated Joe Jonas, actor Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor Kennedy and Harry Styles. She's recently been linked to DJ and producer Calvin Harris.

Adams recorded his own version of "1989" this past August, putting his own spin on each track. Adams' "1989" was released digitally on Sept. 21 and debuted at No. 7 on the U.S. Billboard 200. Adams told Rolling Stone he got the idea to cover her album last Christmas when he was listening to Swift's "1989" right after his separation from Mandy Moore. From there his interest in remaking the album continued to grow until he went into the studio to record.

"It's not a reimagining or a reconstruction at all," Adams said. "It's a parallel universe. That's how I think of it. We're creating an alternate universe, like in Marvel Comics."

Hear Adams' version of Swift's "Style" below:

Swift was thrilled when she found out Adams was covering her album and she's supported him all along. She even gave him praise for what he did with "1989" during their interview with GQ. "You know when actors say a line, they say a sentence, but they say it with different emphasis on different words and they completely change it? That's what you did with my album," Swift said.