Recurring Lyrical Themes and Words

[Kittenpuppy 1]

Pity I can't paste lyrics

[Lanakai 661]

 

First of all, I'm from Vietnam. But I was born and raised in the north, not the south. However the southern cultures and histories are always captivating subjects for me to look into. 

 

About Saigon, that is one of the former names of Ho Chi Minh city. It is the largest city in Vietnam, along with the capital city Hanoi of the north in the category of most dynamic cities here in South East Asia. The name of the city is actually Sài Gòn. Black and white, in Han-Viet dictionary, Sài means 'wood,tree,jungle,..' while Gòn means ''silk-cotton". Mostly based on the fact that in the past, this beautiful land has a lot of kapok trees, forest after forest. But there's actually lots of theories about the real meaning of that name. I can't say it for sure cause I don't know exactly the purpose of people who named the land at that moment. But the name is a beautiful word play in Vietnamese, it's neat and poetic, lots of poets and writers use that word in their works here in our concepts of literature.

 

We started using that name since forever, we used that name when the land was invaded before 1955, it became the capital of French colony of Cochinchina. It later became an independant public from '55 to '75, still under the name Saigon, however it back then was an anti-communist state and declared lots of battles with the North. In those 20 years, the government was under influences of some Western countries and America. The president was actually a puppet, so that independance just became nonsense again. France and the US used it against its own brother, the north. Kind of like North and South Korea. But we were lucky enough not to end up like Korea right now. After 1975, the war ended with the Communist victory. In 1976, it merged with the other pronvices of the old government and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh city after Uncle Ho, our revolutionary leader at that time.

 

To sum up, you can see that the land was full of wars until 1975. Battles after battles, millions of people die from so many sides. Not only Saigon but all the other lands of Vietnam had that same story. So that explained the National Anthem's lyrics - 'the land of sweetness and danger'. Also in NA, she sang about the Bell Tower Hotel, it's an vintage hotel, a historical proof witness throughout all the dark times of the city. But it's still standing after so many years, that's why she sang "Keep me safe in his Bell Tower Hotel"

 

About the term "Queen of Saigon", she used that line in 3 songs - National Anthem, Live Or Die, West Coast. In my opinion, Saigon is a big deal until today, lots of countries in this world want it because of its geographical position which would be an edge to people who have it if any war occurs. The Russian, the Chinese, the American, they all desire that land somehow. Queen of Saigon is the queen of something important, something exquisite, something that is worth dreaming about. But Saigon is also a name of the past, we don't usually use that name anymore here in Vietnam because of the history was too violent and heart-rending, which makes that queen no longer exist. She is now the queen of the past, of something that used to matter. The queen was replaced, it's gone but not forgotten, but still an icon that will be discussed about.

 

Also, there's a play called Miss Saigon. It's pretty famous. It is about the love of an Asian girl with an American guy. The love scenes were set on the background of guns and wars at that time, that love is dangerous and forbidden based on those circumstances. How strange that in National Anthem video, Lana asked A$AP Rocky to play JFK and to have an interracial relationship with her.

 

 

 

I honestly love you for this post!!!     

[bloodstriped 24]

This is actually a project I've undertaken, listening to every song and noting practically every noun/pronoun into categories, lol. I think it's so cool that she's come to form this identity through her interests.

[Honeymooner 336]

Whenever she says diamond, she always pronounces it with three syllables like di-a-mond 

 

Sometimes, you just have to fill in a syllable, I suppose.   Also in in Video Games, she needs a 3rd syllable in the word "Only", so it comes out "On-a-ly".  "On-a-ly worth living if somebody is loving you"

[Honeymooner 336]

Why is she keep saying Queens of Saigon in her song?

 

West Coast and National Anthem

 

I was gonna reply to this thread at the end and mention "Queen of Saigon," but you beat me to it.

 

Another reference I've heard in 2 different songs, and I'm surprised no one else mentioned it by now:  "Take [your/that] body downtown" is mentioned in both Video Games and National Anthem.

[queenofsiagon 1]

In Hundred dollar bill she mentions chevrolete "jimmy pulls up in his blue chevy nova"

[Neptune-Avenue 220]

She's the queen of:

 

• New York (Us Against The World)
• Coney Island (Off To The Races, Carmen)
• The Gas Station (A.K.A.)
• Disaster 
• The Stage (Hit & Run)

Did I miss any?

saigon ;p

[Anthem 1,557]

I think she annoyingly uses the word "crazy" enough to be of note.

 

American - "You make me crazy, you make me wild"

Back to the Basics - "Crazy and shameless in love"

Backfire - "My man's crazy"

Because of You - "But it can all get a little crazy"

Body Electric - "We get crazy every Friday night"

Cola - "Harvey's/Ah he's in the sky with diamonds and he's making me crazy"

Cruel World - "I'm crazy", "You're fucking crazy/Crazy for me"

Flipside - "I'm gonna have to say you're crazy"

Gramma - "Don't cry honey, crazy girl"

Is This Happiness - "I think you're fucking crazy as the day is long"

Lucky Ones - "You're a careless con and you're a crazy liar"

Million Dollar Man - "If you're going crazy, then grab me and take me"

Noir - "Dangerous but I'm crazy"

Off to the Races - "Because I'm crazy, baby"

On Our Way - "You're making me crazy"

Paradise - "Tie you up and make you crazy"

Prom Song - "I'm not crazy"

Ride - "I'm tired of feeling like I'm fucking crazy"

Television Heaven - "Come on inside oh you crazy child look at you"

West Coast - "He's crazy and cubano"

Young and Beautiful - "Crazy days/city lights"

 

I don't even know if that's close to all of them.

[Valentino 884]

Whenever she says diamond, she always pronounces it with three syllables like di-a-mond 

I think this is actually an alternate pronunciation of diamond. "Die-a-mond" is the older pronunciation and "diamond" is newer. "Theater" and "diary" also used to be pronounced with three syllables, but most young Americans today don't.

 

Here's an 1893 citation for some old people chastising someone else for saying 'die-mond' when 'die-a-mond' is clearly the superior pronunciation.

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

I just noticed that she mentions the Florida Keys at the end of "Axl Rose Husband"

 

"Guns and Roses" -> "Florida Kilos"

 

The Lanaverse is more detailed and complex than Tolkien, I swear

[Honeymooner 336]

The words "F---ing crazy" appear in at least 3 songs (these are the ones I've heard):

 

Ride: "I'm tired of feeling like I'm f---ing crazy"

Cruel World: "'Cause you're young, you're wild, you're free / You're dancin' circles around me / You're f---ing crazy"

Is This Happiness: "You think you're Hunter S. Thompson / I think you're f---ing crazy as the day is long"

 

And just the word "crazy" also appears in "Flipside," and many others, I'm sure...

[delreyfreak 5,340]

Y'all forgot lemonade for your beverages list lmao...

 

"Crying tears of gold, like lemonade" - Ultraviolence

"Lana Del Rey, will you serve me lemonade?" - Trash (Magic)

"They say make lemonade out of lemons & I tried but I can't understand it" - Starry Eyed

[AngelHeadedHipster 2,628]

♛  LANA DEL REY - THE HONEYMOON QUEEN  ♛ 

 

♛ QUEEN OF DISASTER

♛ QUEEN OF THE GAS STATION

♛ QUEEN OF SOUNDTRACKS

♛ QUEEN OF THE DOWNTOWN SCENE

♛ QUEEN OF CONEY ISLAND

♛ QUEEN OF SAIGON

♛ QUEEN OF NEW YORK CITY

♛ QUEEN OF HEARTS

♛ QUEEN OF THE STAGE

♛ QUEEN OF ALCHEMY

♛ QUEEN OF THE NIGHT  !!!

BASICALLY ♛ QUEEN OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING UNIVERSE  ....DROPS MIC !!!

 

 

ALSO KNOWN AS  :

 

♛    CONEY ISLAND QUEEN, NEW JERSEY QUEEN, QUEEN IN MONTEREY, NEW YORK CITY QUEEN

♛    SHININ QUEEN, FADED QUEEN, LONESOME QUEEN

♛    TABLOID QUEEN, DAIRY QUEEN, BLUE 50'S QUEEN, QUEEN DIANA

♛    SNOWFLAKE  ICE QUEEN, CALENDAR PIN-UP QUEEN, SPARKLE JUMP ROPE QUEEN

♛    DEGENERATE BEAUTY QUEEN, DRUNK BEAUTY QUEEN

 

 

♛ QUEEN OF A.K.A LIZZY GRANT ♛

 

1. I'm going back to Arbor Dean, Where when I was a Beauty Queen -> [brite Lites]

2. You're my little Sparkle Jump Rope Queen. You're my little sparkle -> [Put Me In A Movie]

3. Love casinos, Indian reservations. But, baby, if you love me, take me to the gas station, Gas station -> [Queen Of The Gas Station]

 

♛ QUEEN OF BORN TO DIE ♛

 

1. Carmen, Carmen, staying up til 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 -> [Carmen]

2. I'm your National Anthem, Boy, put your hands up, Give me a standing ovation, Boy, you have landed, Babe, in the land of Sweetness and Danger, Queen of Saigon -> [National Anthem]

3. I'm your little harlot, starlet, Queen of Coney Island, Raising hell all over town, Sorry 'bout it -> [Off To The Races]

4. I got my red dress on tonight, Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight. Done my hair up real big Beauty Queen Style, High heels off, I'm feeling alive -> [summertime Sadness]

5. The prettiest in crowd that you had ever seen, Ribbons in our hair and our eyes gleamed mean. A freshmen generation of Degenerate Beauty Queens -> [This Is What Makes Us Girls]

 

♛ QUEEN OF ULTRAVIOLENCE ♛

 

1. Where have you been? Where did you go? Those summer nights seem long ago, And so is the girl you used to call, The Queen of New York City. -> [Old Money]

2.And when her old man comes to call, He finds her waiting like a Lonesome Queen 'Cause to be by her side it's such a change from old routine. -> [The Other Woman]

3. Down on the West Coast, they got their icons, Their silver starlets, their Queens of Saigons And you've got the music, you've got the music in you, don't you? -> [West Coast]

 

♛ QUEEN OF UNRELEASED SONGS ♛

 

1. I'm smilin', the New Jersey Queen and, You're the best thing I ever seen -> [All Smiles]

2. (a) I’m the garden of Eden, Lady Liberty, Til it flame I'm shinin' Queen, Queen -> [Axl Rose Husband]

2. (b) You’re my one king daddy, I’m your little Queen, Red, white, and blue -> [Axl Rose Husband]

3. Ridin' around town blue and leather, Walking them streets like the Queen of Hearts -> [baby Blue Love]

4. He's selling Stars on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Faded Queens -> [beautiful Player]

5. Dance on tables, makin' deal with devils, like a Drunk Beauty Queen -> [because Of You]

6. If you wanna get that sugar cane, If you wanna be that Pin-Up Queen, You can, you can. -> [boarding School]

7. Baby, we are chancers on the scene Glamour in the gutters, only so arty, Sick graffiti artists and Tabloid Queen -> [Children Of The Bad Revolution]

8. He says I'm his Snowflake Ice Queen, oh. I just can't cause he treat me so mean, oh. ->[Crooked Cop]

9. Icon young star heroin fiend, Just sit n' I'll sing I'll be your Queen, You know how I like that celebrity type, Poor me -> [Disco]

10. I’m a bad jazz singer, Givin’ You the finger, No matter what you linger, Cause you like me even when I’m mean, I’m the Queen -> [Dum Dum]

11. I'm clocking chicks, Left and right, Just to get to you. You're out there On the grind now come home, To your Queen, boo. -> [Ghetto Baby]

12. I'm your go-go dancer, Midnight answer, Jukebox sweetheart, Queen of the night. -> [Go Go Dancer]

13. You're the King, My fear baby, I'm the Queen of Alchemy, I know a way to make gold by mixing our souls to escape reality. Queen in Monterey, Run to that ocean, I got that magical trance potion. -> [Heavy Hitter]

14. Hollywood and New York, mister major. And there's me, Little Queen of the Stage, yeah. -> [Hit And Run]

15. I am the New Jersey Dance Queen, He is the Gangster Action King -> [Hundred Dollar Bill]

16. I used to be a Beauty Queen with simple acquisitions, Met my local rock-star now I’m having visions -> [is It Wrong?]

17. You can be my film noir star, I’ll be Queen of Saigon -> [Live Or Die]

18. I'm the New York City Queen Queen, You should hear me sing sing, Baby I'm the real thing, check one two -> [Making Out]

19.(a) My local rockstar, the Willy B Crew, You out there on the grind, Now come home, To your Queen, boo! -> [Match Made In Heaven]

19. (b) Call on your knees, Beggin' me, please, I am your Queen, Oh-ah! -> [Match Made In Heaven]

20. I can be your one time baby, I can be your little Dairy Queen -> [Meet Me In The Pale Moonlight]

21. Methamphetamines, Pink flamingo, Blue 50's Queen, Blue oyster globe -> [Methamphetamines]

22. And I never dreamed that I'd be the Queen and I'd be so happy that I could die. -> [Prom Song (Gone Wrong)]

23. You make me wanna be like one of those girls, Calendar Pin-Up Queen, in platinum curls. -> [Puppy Love]

24. You're the King and I'm the Beauty Queen of Disaster, disaster. -> [Queen of Disaster]

25. You called me the Queen of the Downtown Scene, babe. How the fuck would you switch it up and then replace me? I don't get it, I'm so legit. -> [so Legit]

26. Well, once you and I, we were the King and Queen of this town -> [starry Eyed]

27. You used to call yourself "The Don", And call me "Queen Diana" -> [Teenage Wasteland]

28. If you want a cola, I can make it colder, If you want a bad girl, Nobody’s bolder, And if you want the Queen Of New York then you Better call me, call me. -> [us Against The World]

29. Well I can tell that you’re the type To never trust a Beauty Queen. But I was never voted for nothing, And high school never meaned Anything to anybody -> [You're Gonna Love Me]

[kristinaj 1,166]

Wonder if Lana has ever lurked in this thread

[kristinaj 1,166]

Why is she keep saying Queens of Saigon in her song?

 

West Coast and National Anthem

 

West Coast

Down on the West Coast, they got their icons

Their silver starlets, their Queens of Saigon

And you've got the music, you've got the music in you, don't you?

 

National Anthem

I'm your National Anthem

Boy, put your hands up

Give me a standing ovation

Boy, you have landed

Babe, in the land of

Sweetness and Danger

Queen of Saigon

 

Anybody has any idea why please?

 

Resurrecting this old post, but I've always thought that Queen of Saigon refers to a prostitute? Like during the Vietnam War a lot of women in Saigon would offer themselves to the American soldiers and prostitution ran rampant

[luckyonewithoutyou 1,928]

Resurrecting this old post, but I've always thought that Queen of Saigon refers to a prostitute? Like during the Vietnam War a lot of women in Saigon would offer themselves to the American soldiers and prostitution ran rampant

I read some theory on Reddit about this one woman (who many people referred to as the Queen of Saigon; I don't remember her name). She was the epitome of wealth and elegance, and her charm was comparable to Jackie O (which, coincidentally, Lana plays in the NA video).

[Wild One 3,305]

Billie Holiday

[missdelreyxo 3,783]

love her writing

[VioletsnRoses 50]

Struggle with wanting to be free yet wanting to belong to someone.

[My Sparrow Blue 689]

Has the whole Jim/Jimmy/J character been brought up yet?

- {Ultraviolence} 'Jim brought me back...'

- {Hundred Dollar Bill} 'Jimmy pulls up in his blue Chevy Nova'

- {Jimmy Gnecco} J/Jimmy repeated through the the song

- {Motel 6} 'Jim and Chuck'

 

There are probably a lot more too.