I was looking for an Arthur Lynn blog post and ended up looking through his posts. I noticed he referred to Van Halen as "kings" and the "band that changed my life and kicked me in the balls." He specifically tags them as "david lee roth, diamond, edward van halen." And that reminded me of Mermaid Motel:
'maybe we could go to Suede Tokyo See Van Halen at their reunion show Heavy Metal hour on TV Diamond Dave and Ray Lee'
I mean, there's nothing saying none of her other long-haired boyfriends/paramours/whatever couldn't have liked Van Halen, but:
Arthur Lynn is confirmed as a boyfriend
we have songs referencing his origins (Greenwich)
we have songs referencing his favorite drink (Diet Mountain Dew)
It doesn't seem odd that this could be a reference to him.
Lana Del Rey lived in New York City from like 2006 to 2009-ish. Van Halen's reunion tour with David Lee Roth 2007-2008 had a stop in NYC November 13, 2007 and May 23, 2008. Neither of these dates would conflict with her known shows. I don't know when she wrote Mermaid Motel, but she performed it at Arlene's Grocery February 3, 2009, so it's possible for it to refer to the reunion show as a past event (as opposed to a future event).
Ray Lee is currently a drummer for Korn but "served as the drummer of the Van Halen frontman’s solo band from 1997 to 2005, performing on 1998′s ‘DLR Band’ and 2003′s ‘Diamond Dave’ albums." I'm still not sure about Suede Tokyo. There is a band by the name of Suede and they have indeed performed in Tokyo, but I don't know why Lana would refer to that. More educated people, help?
So I'm speculating Mermaid Motel is about Arthur Lynn. Which brings me to something else...
One site listed Lynn's interests as such (trying to find the site since, like an idiot, I just saved the interests). Pay attention to the bolded ones. music, girls, guitars, america, diet mountain dew, van halen, ice cream, photography, jersey, angiescreams, indian summer, woods, food, freckles, the sun, the moon, seasons, amplifiers, family, friends, karma, october, yo mama, yo mama's apple pie, and those little people we call doggies
JERSEY Note his blog is subtitled "thoughts from a jersey boy." His flickr lists his hometown as Jersey but "currently" (not sure when screenshot was taken) Greenwich, CT. I was already pretty sure that Motel 6 was about Lynn due to DMD references, but "to Jersey with love" makes more sense now.
MORE VAN HALEN STUFF + CONEY ISLAND + YOUR MOM: This is the most recent screenshot I’m showing – we’re going in reverse chronological order, from ‘last login date.’ In this screenshot from her Lizzy Grant MySpace, url therichwhores, she lists Diamond Dave as an influence (along with Britney Spears and motorcycles, two other lasting influences). Notice she lists her location as New Jersey. Also notice that she describes her music as metal - not a musical genre I would put any Lana Del Rey song in, ever. I wonder if Arthur Lynn, who could conceivably be the one into "heavy metal hour," influenced her calling her music "metal."
She's still therichwhores here, but her location is now Alabama. Her genre is glam, blues, experimental. No metal – not yet, anyway. David Lee Roth is one of 3 influences, along with Britney Spears and motorcycles.
The earliest Rich Whores screenshot I’m showing. In this one, she lists David Lee Roth and Coney Island as influences... along with "your mom." Yeah, just like Mr. Lynn listed "yo mama." Britney and motorcycles remain, but the other influences have shifted. Arthur Lynn is explicitly listed as a member here. She's living in New York now. (aside: pretty things is an influence here. we'll see that again later)
AMERICA Lana said this about one of her ex-boyfriends:
Lynn loves rock and roll, that's perfectly clear. But what distinguishes him from Gnecco or Carney or other musical liaisons? Well, the 4th 'like' listed by Lynn was America. It's a weak connection, but I don't think we've ever tied that comment to any other boyfriend. Lana didn't always talk or sing about America. Her May Jailer era stuff, for example, seems more focused on the details of personal relationships than concepts like America or archetypes like the gangster boyfriend. I don't know when Lana started playing with Lynn, but it'd be curious to see if that date coincides with an increasing number of references to Americana. If we assume Mermaid Motel is about Lynn, then we also have a connection to Coney Island, another interest of hers that you don't see mentioned in the early days.
To see how big the change from her May Jailer stuff to her Lizzy/Lana stuff was, let's look at more MySpace pages...
Folk, acoustic, experimental! Only one of these genre descriptors survived into the post-May Jailer MySpace descriptors. Her influences are Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Nirvana, Leonard Cohen, Radiohead... only Nirvana is repeated as an influence in the later MySpace page, although Daniel Johnston seems to be in the vein of singer-songwritery stuff.
A year later (according to last-login date) and "Cony Island" (sic) and "pretty things" have been added as influences. She's now experimental, blues, folk - the acoustic part is gone. Another mid-2000s screenshot shows "Bread and Oranges" appearing alongside Money Hunny, Fordham Road, and A Star for Nick. It now has its final name, Pawn Shop Blues, and For K Part 2 has shown up - the LDR album appears to be forming (Jump, Kill Kill, and Put Me In A Movie show up in the Lizzy screenshots above).
The last login date for this one is 5/17/2007, whereas the last login date for the earliest Rich Whores page is 12/12/2007. It appears to be a transitional state, not just with regards to her layout, but also her name and influences. The music is less acoustic. Coney Island starts showing up, as well as motorcycles and Van Halen. Metal inexplicably becomes a descriptor. Would fit in pretty well with Arthur Lynn showing up… just sayin’.
(one last thing... under band members, she lists "TAGS & TIM." Who are these people?)
CONCLUSION? From 2007-ish to maybe 2009-ish, Lana dated Arthur Lynn. Arthur Lynn may be the boyfriend who loved rock-n-roll and America. Before his introduction into her band (and we don't know when they met, so they could have met before Lynn was part of the Rich Whores), Americana references were rare in her music, she made singer-songwritery stuff about people's lives, and she basically had a very different persona. Lynn becomes part of the Rich Whores, she now likes Van Halen, specifically David Lee Roth and the album Diamond Dave, Coney Island (all mentioned in Mermaid Motel), her music is described very differently (metal, really?; and glam), she somehow picks up on his jokes (yo mama)... I think he was an influential boyfriend.
Oh, and to tie this back to other boyfriends...
According to the Galore interview by Chuck, Lana broke up with Steve Mertens when she was 22. So 2007?
Lana mentioned a seven-year relationship with a record producer in the 2014 Fader interview and I think Mertens is the only one who could potentially fit that.
Which would make the timeline of that relationship 2000-2007. Which means she would have been 15 when she started dating Mertens... If Mertens is the 7 year relationship (and I don't think any of the other ones could be that relationship), then that means she would have had 4 major ex-boyfriends.
Mertens 2000-2007.
Lynn 2007 to 2008 or 2009
Mizrahi 2009 to 2011
Barrie 2012 (?) to 2014
Thoughts? It's like early in the morning and I've spent a couple hours doing this, so I'd like fresh eyes.
Trap meets hip hop meets FKA. I love the references to Put Me in a Movie, but she flips the perspective. She's in charge now. A big "fuck you" to Barrie.
what relevance does the moon even have. like I get that it's called Honeymoon but it literally has nothing to do with the lunar cycle. its like saying that she was going to release UV on the anniversary of WW1 because they're both violent. stop with the moon theory, its a lot of shite.
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