countercouper

Here's a novella for you: This is the dumbest post in the entire thread. charliexx's assent is up there too.

I liked your post, because I think it's posts like these that are what message boards are for, and agree with some of what you've said, especially on the lyrical side. But I think if you reframe your conception of LDR from commercial pop singer to the most successful indie artist in America, a lot of what you've written in the last 3 paragraphs become irrelevant. Sonically, if she ever stopped singing in the disaffected style, I would stop listening. For every fan that likes her for what she's not, there will be 10 fans who like her for what she already is.

I think it makes perfect sense actually. What you have to remember is how heternormative Lana's music and imagery has always been. Given that her persona is pretty much a female take on 20th century heterosexuality (which even the lesbian undertones in Summertime Sadness are perfectly consistent with), I think Lana figured out that a song like MTWBT could easily include too many objectifying shots of men, e.g., homoerotic shots of them shirtless, and be "off brand". I think it was a conscious decision on her part to emphasize: (1) the femaleness of the gaze and (2) the "heterosexuality" of the boys being watched (by having them play basketball - I'm surprised she didn't have them playing baseball). Maybe I'm overthinking this, but if you stop and think about it makes perfect sense.

Does anyone else hear "dive deep and die blue my sweet"? Or am I the only who doesn't hear the "-ve" sound? To me it really just sounds like she's saying "I blue my sweet" lol.

She's no Rilke, but Lana's an exceptional lyricist by contemporary pop standards. She has a distinctive sense of humor, a sharp eye for imagery and a phenomenal ear for wordplay—when she tries: You look like a Florida native "Are you?" I said, at the rate of Slow molasses from the state of Vermont with a southern drawl The way your face is shaped, I wonder if you know The way you stand up and your silhouette glows I'm electrified, I'll be up all night now He had a cigarette with his number on it He gave it over to me, "Do you want it?" I knew it was wrong but I palmed it I saved it, I waited, I called it Fellas, if you wanna get that invite quicker Pack up the pickup, pick up the liquor Go on use your charm, come on gonna get her Ladies, if you really wanna reign them suckers Line up your lips, plump up your puckers It's about the only way to get them motherfuckers Who's living life like it's the belvedere Swinging all night on the crystal chandelier Bring that Velvet Elvis over here, come on You're God's favorite child, boy, believe it Try hard to remember the day Sick as fuck and selling yay, diamonds and getting blazed Dance at night back in Alabama Christmas lights on my teal green trailer American flags, blue, blue streamers Ponytail and lollipops, dinerettes and soda pops New blue bathing suit, ruched tops and Cadillacs Blue lake car to dunks, hopscotch, shit talk Alabama hardknocks, motel dress locks Baby, if you loved me You would call me your bunny Tell me I'm just a baby, honey Beat me and tell me That no one will love me Better than you do My baby has an eye for pretty things, pretty things He thinks that little girls are butterflies and cuts their wings Sicko, psycho, sicko, but he's my beau Puts them on a roller coaster, lures them in with Coca-Cola Salvatore, you can def' be my baby boo Be my mafiosi rock 'n' roll high Back to Malibu in my trailer park for two We're like Sid and Nancy loving the fight You can be my Tony Montana and I can be your Pfeiffer fire I can take you higher, I can get you hooked on love and desire Remember that little old cowgirl Waiting for you back in that Red River Valley Waiting back in that Tallahassee He's my drugstore cowboy, Italian alloy Classical American And I'm America's sweetheart, cute delicious sweet tart Sippin' on my Diet Coke, singin' in the trailer park I'm a wild child, sky high, lying on your floor I know I had a lot but, babe, I wants a little more, dum dum I want a little more, dum dum In my white mink pink, cigarettes from the store We're making robberies from Tijuana to the shore, dum dum 'Juana to the shore, dum dum I belong to a bygone era like the Bugsy Malone Of the deep Sahara 'cause I'm on the scene Yeah, I'm on the scene I’m a bad jazz singer giving you the finger No matter what you linger 'cause you like me even when I'm mean I'm the queen Cigarettes and Robitussin Will I ever get to heaven? It's not looking good now Black eyes, short dress, let's break it down You shoot and I pose, Polaroid frown I'll do what you like I won't make a sound Look at you smoking in them neon lights Under the thunder, yo, you like so nice Made me wonder how you spend them nights Me, I spend them looking for men I like Like you, like you, like you I had a man, he was sweet as pie I met him as I walked right by him He said, Baby, you so fine that when you walk Even the stoplights stop to talk about you You're the state's number one and everybody knows it You smile all the time, 'cause how can you not show it? When even you know that you're so to die for, to die for What do I need to get high for? If you wanna get that scholarship Yale's not a problem, let's solve it I'm the sweetest girl in town So why are you so mean? When you gonna ditch that stupid bitch you got It's me you should be seeing Babe, you can see that I'm danger Glamorous but I'm deranged, yeah Teetering off of the stage, yeah You used to say that I was beautiful like Cleopatra But you the king too, so I would say it back atcha It's the voodoo Mississippi south Sixty-nine million stars Birds are flying out of my mouth Spirits creeping in my yard Hold my head, it's tilting back Something dancing me around Putting crystals on my neck Lifting my feet off the ground, the ground In the name of higher consciousness I let the best man I knew go 'Cause it's nice to love and be loved But it's better to know all you can know I said it's nice to love and be loved But I'd rather know what God knows I said, he loves my heart-shaped sunglasses He loves the heart shape my ass is Wake up each night at the same time Pull up the blind and look outside And in the orange light, the fog is rising This is life, this tonight, peace in the quiet We could get high in Miami, ooh Dance the night away People never die in Miami, ooh That's what they all say Baby, put on heart-shaped sunglasses 'Cause we're gonna take a ride I'm not gonna listen to what the past says I been waiting up all night Take another drag, turn me to ashes Ready for another lie Says he's gonna teach me just what fast is Say it's gonna be all right Again none of this is Rilke or Rimbaud, but taken together I think they're quite remarkable for what they are: pop lyrics. I personally don't think any of the lines in "Honeymoon" reach the level of playfulness or cleverness exhibited in the lyrics I've highlighted here, but that doesn't mean Lana's not an unusually creative wordsmith. And that's the rub, isn't it? No matter how good of a writer you are, every single time you sit down at a blank page, you have to start from scratch—and you have to really, really try. And my intuition tells me (and who can blame her) she doesn't try quite as hard as she used to.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2014-20141201/lana-del-rey-ultraviolence-20141201 http://time.com/3613540/top-10-best-albums/

Does anyone else hear "Hit and Run" in the verses?

Hey folks, I just bought the second iTunes version and converted it to an mp3 using Fission. Here's a download link: NO DL LINKS PLS