The Ocean

[Brooklyn Baby 1,973]

Bound up the stairs

I'm in the shower

Do you know I am going to leave you?

Fresh from the shore

Blonde hair is wide

The ocean makes me cry

 

I'm in love with a dying man

I'm in love with a dying man

I'm in love lying in the sand

I'm in love with a dying man

I'm in love with a dying man

I have done everything I can

 

Tell me about Ray and his girl

Did I know Ray is going to meet you?

Love you, I do

Stay here, I won't

The stars fade from your eyes

 

I'm in love with a dying man

I'm in love with a dying man

I'm in love lying in the sand

I'm in love with a dying man

I'm in love with a dying man

I have done everything I can

 

One, two, make it fun

Don't trust anyone

(x2)

 

I'm in love with a dying man

I'm in love with a dying man

I have done everything I can

 

[tropicunt 638]

Is it really "blonde hair is wide"? I hear "blonde hair is white" 

[reputation 6,314]

"Blonde hair is wide"

[Shades 1,693]

blonde hair is wild

[sparklrtrailrheaven 8,301]

As strange as it sounds, I can actually see it being "wide"-- considering the lyric "I do my hair up, all high and wide" from Trash Magic  

[lernerderrey 2,379]

its "wide" or "white" 100% there's no "L"

[Sitar 22,171]

The extra lyrics and gentler vocals make this song suddenly feel so intimate I can't help but think of this and Wayamaya as two sides of a coin. I can just imagine her and her man driving to the Jersey Shore but pretending they were going Hawaii and coming up with their alter egos Lana and Ray This also really clarifies a lot of the ocean references in other songs, too; of course she created such a strong association with this first love who is still in her stage name today

 

I also never really got the "Ray and his girls" lyric but with all this in mind it kinda makes it seem like he's telling her about this fantasy they've created together.

[slang 1,509]

The view from over-thinking it (and being a depressive?):

 

While it is well known she could not call it "the ocean", whatever the song meaning actually is, my particular fan-fiction for it goes that she considered calling it "die die" (after "the ocean" was nixed), because it's about 2 lovers that are dying in a gradual fashion (with each having differing degrees of knowledge or concern about that); however, she eventually called it "kill kill" because it sounded better. 

 

Moreover, the new lyric from the demo is at least interesting wrt this interpretation. That is <<Fresh from the shore, blonde hair is white, the ocean makes me cry>> suggests negative affect wrt the ocean, which is an astounding thing for LDR to say, given how much I think she likes the beach and the ocean. So here the ocean means something else? A clock metaphor? A death metaphor? Also the comparison of blonde hair to white hair is interesting (if that is the lyric). The distinction between blonde and white hair is age?

 

Unfortunately, the stanza about Ray and his girl is a mess pronoun-wise (across both versions). My preferred reading is as in the original post for Kill Kill lyrics; however, I actually hear her singing "Do I know..."  instead of "Do you know..." for the 2nd line. LDR dialogs in songs are tricky, because she may be "talking" to herself or another person, or both at different times.

 

Tell me about Ray and his girl

Do you [ I? ] know Ray is going to meet you?    <<Did I know Ray is going to meet you>>

Love you, I do

Stay here, I won't

The stars fade from your eyes

 

If she's just fixated on her issues with mortality, what makes the most sense to me is to consider the first line a direct query to her lover Ray, and the second line is her wondering  -- *to herself*-- that if Ray commits to her (as in marriage?), whether they're going to meet up after death (what other context could they "meet" up in, if they are already lovers while alive). I would have preferred "Do I know Ray is going to meet me", but consistently "you", as in asking yourself something, can be done in the second person, imo. Of course, if she's singing about another girl, there goes the interpretation. Maybe she is just leaving him for banal reasons ("don't trust anyone"), idk. The last half of the stanza affirms a negative perspective for the song, namely, she wouldn't ever bet on "endless love"; in fact it's brief ("1, 2"), so she is making the best of it ("make it fun").

[Constantine 4,070]

This is so wunderwul.

[strange weather 1,950]

Moreover, the new lyric from the demo is at least interesting wrt this interpretation. That is <<Fresh from the shore, blonde hair is white, the ocean makes me cry>> suggests negative affect wrt the ocean, which is an astounding thing for LDR to say, given how much I think she likes the beach and the ocean. 

 

 

i see it more like this:

 

she's gone to the beach to make up her mind about leaving her relationship. the second half of the verse/the chorus is lana on the beach (i'm in love, lying in the sand), coming to terms with this decision. 

 

you're right in that she loves the beach/ocean--that is the spot she has chosen to go to when everything else is falling apart around her. i don't think it's a negative association with the ocean making her cry. the ocean evokes strong feelings from her because she has a connection with it. she's also emotional from having to end her relationship while knowing it's what she has to do. it's bittersweet.

 

the theme reminds me of "pawn shop blues" where she is still in love with the guy but she knows it's in her best interests to leave him (in the name of higher consciousness/i let the best man i knew go). 

 

i truly don't understand the second verse's meaning, though.

[slang 1,509]

i see it more like this:

 

she's gone to the beach to make up her mind about leaving her relationship. the second half of the verse/the chorus is lana on the beach (i'm in love, lying in the sand), coming to terms with this decision. 

 

 

If the context of "I'm in love with a dying man" is I'm in love with a drug-addict boyfriend (one of her recurring themes), then your interpretation is very reasonable; I'm just pursuing a different literary approach to it, and there are lots of things that have to be tied together ("blonde hair is white" ?).

 

This is one of those songs where I wish an interviewer had asked her to explain what the song meant and she actually did. I also hope she re-does it like Yayo, not just because of the merits of the song, but to see if she changes the perplexing stanza.