The Touching Meaning Behind Taylor Swift's 'Ronan'

After months of waiting, Red (Taylor's Version) is here. The album features 30 songs, including all of the original songs from Red, which was first released in 2012, alongside several tracks from "The Vault"—songs that did not feature on the album's original release.

Whilst everybody obsessed over the release of Swifts' 10-minute version of "All Too Well" and the 15-minute short film starring Dylan O'Brien and Sadie Sink, another song on the album titled "Ronan" has pulled on the heart-strings of many Swifties out there.

Newsweek has everything you need to know about "Ronan" and the touching meaning behind the emotional track.

The Touching Meaning Behind Taylor Swift's "Ronan"

Taylor Swift fans should not be too surprised if they think they have heard the song "Ronan" before.

"Ronan" was previously a charity single, released on September 8, 2012, as part of Stand Up to Cancer, with all proceeds going to cancer charities in the U.S. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Digital Song Sales chart.

"Ronan" is based on an incredibly moving true story and the experiences of Maya Thompson, whose young son Ronan died from neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer, in 2011.

The lyrics are inspired by a blog kept by Thompson, with Swift crediting Thompson as a co-writer on the track.

Some of the song's most notable lyrics include: "I remember the drive home / When the blind hope turned to crying and screaming 'Why?' / Flowers pile up in the worst way, no one knows what to say / About a beautiful boy who died."

Ronan was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in 2010, with Thompson starting her blog Rockstar Ronan in August 2010, where she chronicled her son's illness.

Sadly, Ronan died in May 2011, just three days before his fourth birthday. Thompson continued to update the blog as part of her grieving process and continues to do so today. In her posts, Thompson writes letters to her young son and raises awareness for childhood cancer charities.

On her blog in August 2012, Thompson recalled the moment Swift shared she had written a song about Ronan.

Penning a letter to her late son on her blog, Thompson shared: "The tears started pouring down my cheeks as soon as I heard her say those words. But her words didn't stop there. Not only did she write a song for you, but she wanted to know if it would be alright to perform it on the nationally televised Stand Up 2 Cancer show which is on every major network and is seen in over 100 countries."

She continued: "I don't even remember what I said to Taylor as had buried my head into your blanket that I take with me everywhere and all I could pretty much do was cry and tell her thank you. How do you even find the words to thank somebody for something like this?"

Shortly after receiving the phone call from Swift, the Grammy-winning singer invited Thompson to her concert in Glendale, Arizona and performed the song live, the second time Swift has performed the song live in her entire career. Now, "Ronan" features on Red (Taylor's Version).

Thompson shared a snippet of the email she received from Swift asking for permission to include "Ronan" on Red on her blog.

The email read: "I've recently completed the re-recording of my 4th album, Red. It's really exceeded my expectations in so many ways, and one of those ways is that I thought it would be appropriate to add 'Ronan' to this album. Red was an album of heartbreak and healing, of rage and rawness, of tragedy and trauma, and of the loss of an imagined future alongside someone. I wrote 'Ronan' while I was making Red and discovered your story as you so honestly and devastatingly told it. My genuine hope is that you'll agree with me that this song should be included on this album. As my co-writer and the rightful owner of this story in its entirety, your opinion and approval of this idea really matters to me, and I'll honor your wishes here."

In the same blog post where Thompson shared Swift's email, Thompson gave her thanks to Swift, writing "My words of thank you will never be enough."

The story of "Ronan" doesn't stop there. On November 11, just one day before the highly-anticipated album Red (Taylor's Version) was released, Thompson confirmed via Twitter there would be a music video for the song.

Thompson penned to her 23,000 followers: "This is how I'll be all day. I just listened AND watched 'Ronan, Taylor's version.' I couldn't tell you about the music video until now. It is beyond perfection and I can't wait for you all to see it. @taylorswift13 You are one of the greatest loves of my life. TY for loving him."

Thompson then followed up the post with a link to the lyric video of the song, writing: "Forever ours, thanks to @taylorswift13. I am sobbing. It is so painstakingly perfect."

Red (Taylor's Version) is out now.