Let’s Talk About: Literature & Lana

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This is a small snippet and very rushed version of a post I should have made a long time ago.

I will be the first to admit that I talk about the copious amounts of literary references Lana Del Rey incorporates into her songs much too frequently, but I simply cannot help myself. In actuality, I think this is one of the reasons I admire Lana’s music so much. On the surface, her songs can appear as though they lack meaningful lyrics, but in actuality her lyrics are very representative of her intelligence. In my personal opinion, I find Lana to be very well educated and an intellectual, although it might not always seem that way. A lot of people are not aware that she studied metaphysics, an extraordinarily intriguing (and my personal favorite) branch of Philosophy, at Fordham University in New York. Once you are keen to the fact that she includes works of literature in most of her songs, the references begin to become more obvious and clear. I’m certain there are references that I have missed, but will discover over time. The way she incorporates literature, in my opinion (maybe because I’m an English major), is sublime. Here are some examples I have stumbled upon (I hope I’m not forgetting any):

Album: Born To Die

Track: Off to the Races; “Light of my life, fire of my loins” – Opening line of the pre-chorus// Opening line of Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Track: Carmen; not necessarily literature, but relates to the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet

Track: Lolita; see the aforementioned novel by Vladimir Nabokov

Album: Paradise

Track: Body Electric; ode to “I Sing the Body Electric” by Walt Whitman

Album: Ultraviolence

Track: Ultraviolence; Lana dedicated the album title & title track to A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess; “Hit me and it felt like a kiss”- not literary, but a reference to the song by The Crystals

Track: Money, Power, Glory; “The sun also rises”- The Sun Also Rises- Ernest Hemingway

Track: Brooklyn Baby; References to beat poetry for days

That is all I can remember at the moment, wew that was exhausting. I know it may not seem as though the list is that impressive, but many artists would not even think to make one literary reference, so I celebrate Lana for her efforts. Also, moral of the story, 1.) Don’t criticize someone’s work before really taking the time to analyze it. 2.) Books are your friends. 3.) I’m a book loving nerd.

Let’s Talk About: Lyrics

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I have always found the value of music to be hidden in the lyrics. There is something magical about the perfect pairing of music and lyrics. If you take away the lyrics, music can still be powerful and meaningful. If you take away the instruments, however, music becomes poetry, and that is something I find fascinating. I remember the first time I drove home from college this past year I made a playlist long enough to last the three hour ride. Long car rides are something I really enjoy, because it allows me time to think without anyone else around. I remember quite vividly this car ride, because it was the furthest I had ever driven alone up to that point in my life and I spent it reflecting on my first year at school. Going away to college is one of the biggest changes young adults experience and it was a very big adjustment for me. My playlist was going and going and I was thinking and thinking and “The Love Club” by Lorde came on. At the time, she was one of my favorite singers (and still is) and I really enjoy analyzing the words she puts out there. I remember the line played – “I’m sitting pretty on the throne, there’s nothing more I want, except to be alone.” I remember just saying out loud to myself, shit.

I found that midway through last year, I began writing a lot. I think I wrote more songs last year than I have in my entire life. Writing music is my creative outlet and it is a way for me to express my feelings. Obviously, no one is listening to my music, but even if they were, the listeners probably would not understand what I was feeling when I wrote the song or what I was trying to express. When thinking of it that way, nobody knows what musicians mean when they write music, and I think that is incredibly beautiful. We can speculate, but will never really know for sure what someone means in specific lines or moments. I remember I kept starting “The Love Club” over and over during that ride home and listening particularly for that sentence. Since that song is on The Love Club EP, the EP that launched her career, it is funny that that particular line would be in one of her songs, since she wasn’t necessarily ‘on the throne’ yet. I think it’s interesting. I think these little loopholes and mysteries are what make music so wonderful.

Speaking back to Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey’s most recent release, I wrote about how I thought Lana wrote a very personal album about her previous experiences. However, since then, I have read many articles insisting none of the songs from Ultraviolence are personal, but rather they were Lana writing songs from perspectives of different characters. Like I said before, none of us will ever really know. It is so bizarre to me how music can affect certain people in very different ways for no reason whatsoever. “Chelsea Hotel No. 2” by Leonard Cohen is probably one of my top five favorite songs of all time, but why? I have no idea, to be honest. Nothing about the song is relatable to me, and it’s not even that magnificent of a song, to be blunt. Yet, something about it captivates me in an indescribable way. Similarly, in “Don’t Save Me” by HAIM, they sing “all my life I wasn’t trying to get on a highway, I was wondering which way to go” which from the moment I heard Days Are Gone, became my favorite lyric. Why? I have not a clue.

I have a leather bound journal and in it I write the lyrics that I find engaging from songs I hear. What I like the most about it is that when I flip through the pages and admire the lyrics I have written long ago, and more recently, they have no connection. No reason for being my favorites. No reason for being the ones that have jumped out to me in the past, yet they have for one reason or another. That I think, is the real beauty of lyrics. Maybe if I had woken up on the other side of the bed one morning, my journal of lyrics would be entirely different, but even if that is the case I will never know.

Some lyrics I have written down:

“You can play with fire, but you’ll get the bill.” – Bob Dylan

“What did you expect from these red lips, curses laughter and a tender kiss.” – MØ

“It’ll all work out.” – Blake Mills 

“This crown that I hold is tarnished and cold.”- Johnny Cash

“We were born before the wind.” – Van Morrison

“That’s not just friendship that’s romance too, and you like music we can dance to.”- Julian Casablancas. 

“She rules her life like a bird in flight.”- Fleetwood Mac