Lana Del Rey
Yellow- Literary devices
Pink-Post modern lyrics
Cruel World
[Verse 1]
Shared my body and my mind with you
That's all over now
Did what I had to do
Cause you're so far past me now
Shared my body and my life with you
That's way over now
There's not more a mind can do
You're so famous now
[Pre-Chorus 1]
Got your bible, got your gun
And you like to party and have fun
And I like my candy and your women
I'm finally happy now that you're gone
[Chorus 1]
Put my little red party dress on
Everybody knows that I'm the best, I'm crazy
Get a little bit of Bourbon in ya
Get a little bit suburban and go crazy
Because you're young, you're wild, you're free
You're dancing circles around me
You're fucking crazy
You're crazy for me
[Verse 2]
I shared my body and my mind with you
That's all over now
I did what I had to do
I found another, anyhow
Shared my body and my mind with you
That's all over now
I did what I had to do
I could see you leaving now
[Pre-Chorus 2]
I got your bible and your gun
And you love to party and have fun
And I love your women and all of your heroin
And I'm so happy now that you're gone
[Chorus 2]
Put my little red party dress on
Everybody knows that I'm a mess, I'm crazy, yeah
Get a little bit of Bourbon in ya
Go a little bit suburban and go crazy, yeah
Because you're young, you're wild, you're free
You're dancing circles around me
You're fucking crazy
You're crazy for me
[Pre-Chorus 3]
Got your bible and your gun
You like your women and you like fun
I like my candy and your heroin
And I'm so happy, so happy now you're gone
[Chorus 2]
Put my little red party dress on
Everybody knows that I'm a mess, I'm crazy, yeah
Get a little bit of Bourbon in 'ya
Go a little bit suburban and go crazy, yeah
Because you're young, you're wild, you're free
You're dancing circles around me
You're fucking crazy
You're crazy for me
[Outro]
You're crazy for me
"Cruel World" is six minutes and 39 seconds long (6:39). It was written and composed by Del Rey and Blake Stranathan, and produced by Dan Auerbach. The song features "apocalyptic" lyrics, and opens with Del Rey singing "I shared my body and my mind with you / But that's all over now / Did what I had to do / Cause its so far past me now."[4] "Cruel World," is of what feels like a sad, reverb-drenched daydream. The song sets the stage for the rest of the album, which simmers with a haunted, yearning feeling but never boils over. Even the most pop-friendly moments here are steeped in patient, jazz-inflected moodiness. Del Rey had an idea for the song without using or mentioning the phase. When Del Rey was asked about the opening track, she explained: "I went down to the beach and I was thinking about everything, personally, The verse is thoughtful and laid back, but then the chorus falls into this world of chaotic and heavy sub-bass." "The juxtaposition of those two worlds, the peaceful beginning and the chaotic chorus, it summed up my personal circumstances of everything going easily and then everything being f---ed up." "It felt like me." [5] Del Rey told Clash magazine that the song is her favorite track on Ultraviolence.
In the song Cruel World lana uses a metaphor by saying "shared my body and my mind with you" because she opened up her mind with somebody else in a way that she has never done before. Lana also used pastiche in many of her songs by relating the sound of her music to that of the 20's rock. She carry's a very raspy and sultry voice and has a powerful and uninhibited singing style combined with and emotion roller coaster lifestyle kind of correlates with Janis Joplin.
​
Ride Monologue
She drops lyrical clues that hint at a tragic backstory without explicitly revealing whether they’re about real human being Lizzy Grant or the fictional Lana. She tries out different vocal affectations and stock feminine personae on various songs; a baby-doll voice, a husky, jaded lilt, an earnest soprano that cracks vulnerably reaching for high notes.
At one point Del Rey’s character leans into a car to coax a john while describing in voice-over how her mother described her as having “no moral compass” and “no fixed personality.” Those are terrible qualities in a friend or a real human being, but they’re great for a pop star, and basic requirements in a sex object. The “Ride” video shows Lana peddling a fantasy of tender degradation and commercialized self-objectification as the road to freedom from personal demons. Like any fantasy, sometimes it can get really dark and strange
I was in the winter of my life
And the men I met along the road were my only summer
At night I fell asleep with visions of myself dancing and laughing and crying with them
Three years down the line of being on an endless world tour and my memories of them were the only things that sustained me
And my only real happy times
I was a singer
Not a very popular one
I once had dreams of becoming a beautiful poet
But upon an unfortunate series of events saw those dreams dashed and divided like a million stars in the night sky
That I wished on over and over again, sparkling and broken
But I really didn’t mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted and then losing it to know what true freedom is
When the people I used to know found out what I had been doing how I had been living, they asked me why, but there’s no use in talking to people who have a home
They have no idea what its like to seek safety in other people
For home to be wherever you lie your head
I was always an unusual girl
My mother told me that I had a chameleon soul
No moral compass pointing me due north
No fixed personality
Just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and wavering as the ocean
And if I said I didn’t plan for it to turn out this way I’d be lying
Because I was born to be the other woman
Who belonged to no one
Who belonged to everyone
Who had nothing
Who wanted everything
With a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn’t even talk about it
And pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me
[Song]
[Post-Song]
Every night I used to pray that I’d find my people
And finally I did
On the open road
We had nothing to lose, nothing to gain, nothing we desired anymore
Except to make our lives into a work of art
Live fast
Die young
Be wild
And have fun
I believe in the country America used to be
I believe in the person I want to become
I believe in the freedom of the open road
And my motto is the same as ever
"I believe in the kindness of strangers"
And when I'm at war with myself
I ride
I just ride
Who are you?
Are you in touch with all of your darkest fantasies?
Have you created a life for yourself where you can experience them?
I have
I am fucking crazy
But I am free
In this monologue there is many hidden messages in an article review they state that Lana was "peddling a fantasy of tender degradation and commercialized self-objectification as the road to freedom from personal demon." Degradation comes by Lana saying that she was born to be "the other women" and shes okay with being homewrecker or tearing apart families because that is all she feels she was good for. Lizzy never actually reveals if she was a prostitute or if one of her so called altered states is like Carmen or Lana. She tends to have many songs and calls her self something different to hide her personal demons. Lana says he indecisiveness was as wide and wavering as the ocean meaning she changes her mind very much.
Carmen
French Translation
My love, I know you love me too
You need me
You need me in your life
You no longer can live without me
And I would die for you
I would kill for you
[Verse 1]
Darling, darling
Doesn't have a problem lying to herself
Cause her liquor's top shelf
It's alarming, honestly, how charming she can be
Fooling everyone, telling them she's having fun
[Pre-Chorus 1]
She says, "You don't want to be like me
Don't wanna see all the things I've seen"
I'm dying, I'm dying
She says, "You don't want to get this way
Famous and dumb at an early age"
Lying, I'm lying
[Chorus]
The boys, the girls
They all like Carmen
She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes
She laughs like God
Her mind's like a diamond
Audiotune lies
She's still shining
Like lightning, woah
White lightning
[Verse 2]
Carmen, Carmen
Staying up till morning
Only seventeen, but she walks the streets so mean
It's alarming, truly, how disarming you can be
Eating soft ice cream
Coney Island queen
[Pre-Chorus 2]
She says, "you don't want to be like me
Looking for fun, getting high for free"
I'm dying, I'm dying
She says, "You don't want to get this way
Street walk at night, and a star by day"
It's tiring, tiring
[Chorus]
The boys, the girls
They all like Carmen
She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes
She laughs like God
Her mind's like a diamond
Audiotune lies
She's still shining
Like lightning, woah
White lightning
[Bridge]
Baby's all dressed up, with nowhere to go
That's the little story of the girl you know
Relying on the kindness of strangers
Tying cherry knots
Smiling, doing party favours
Put your red dress on, put your lipstick on
Sing your song, song, now the camera's on
And you're alive again
[Interlude]
Mon amour, je sais que tu m'aimes aussi
Tu as besoin de moi, tu as besoin de moi dans ta vie
Tu ne peux vivre sans moi
Et je mourrais sans toi
Je tuerais pour toi
[Chorus]
The boys, the girls
They all like Carmen
She gives them butterflies, bats her cartoon eyes
She laughs like God
Her mind's like a diamond
Audiotune lies
She's still shining
Like lightning, woah
White lightning
[Outro]
Like lightning, woah
White lightning
Darling, darling
Doesn't have a problem lying to herself
Cause her liquor's top shelf
"Carmen is a song I can't say too much about because it's so close to my heart. It's the song on the record I relate to most closely. It's set partly in Coney Island, a place that's been important to me throughout my New York City career."
Prostitution!!!!
Coney Island is a peninsula in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. As well as containing America's one time largest amusement park, it was America's original Sin City, decades before Las Vegas, and was rife with prostitution.
Substance Abuse
The song's 17-year-old protagonist suffers from substance abuse. Del Rey admitted in 2012 that she had a problem with alcohol when she was a teenager, but hasn't drunk for a number of years.
The song came about in a natural way. Del Rey recalled to Complex magazine: "I was out really late and walking to the tempo of my own rhythm, and then I just started singing, 'Carmen, Carmen doesn't have a problem lying to herself cause her liquor's top shelf.' And it was an easy cadence. The whole thing just came, and I think I was in a really good place then, so it was like things... it was really easy to channel."
In the song Carmen also my favorite song by Lana she refers to her substance abuse by hinting that her "liqurr is tolp shelf" she has money and she likes good liquor. In 2012 Lana admitted to having an alcohol problem as a teenager, but has not drank in years. In this song she also sings that she was only seventeen walking the streets of Coney Island Brooklyn's Sin City Flooded with prostitution and sex-trafficking.Lana also says " Baby is all dressed up with nowhere to go
That's the little story of the girl you know
Relying on the kindness of strangers
Tying cherry knots
Smiling doing party favors"
At a young age she had nowhere to call home and did party favors for strangers also hintiing a prostitution. In this song she calls her self Carmen her music kind of reveals a post modernistic style of altered states. She says the boys and girl all like Carmen however Carmen is not real. Carmen is happy and has no problems because that is her character however under Carmen lies Lizzy Grant more popularly known as Lana Del Rey who holds a dark past.
Work Cited
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“Carmen(song).” Genius. n.d. Web. 14 Dec 2016
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“Cruel World(song).” Genius. n.d. Web. 14 Dec 2016.
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“Ride Monologue(song).” Genius. n.d. Web. 14 Dec 2016.
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"Carmen by Lana Del Rey Songfacts." Song Meanings at Songfacts. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
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Rey, Lana Del, 2012 October 15, Molly Lambert, 2015 October 29, 2015 October 23, 2015 October 9, 2015 October 5, 2015 October 2, 2015 September 18, 2015 August 12, 2015 May 19, 2015 February 24, 2014 December 5, 2015 October 30, 2015 October 28, and 2015 October 27. "Lana Del Rey Adds ‘Biker Gang Prostitute’ to Her Collection of Personas in ‘Ride’." Grantland. 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2016.
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"Cruel World (song)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.
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"Ride Video - Google Search." Ride Video - Google Search. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.
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​"Lana Del Rey Lyric Quotes." Lana Del Rey Lyric Quotes. QuotesGram. Web. 16 Dec. 2016.