Vertimus

When the Interscope site lists Lana Del Rey: 'Norman Fucking Rockwell,' and a release date, we'll know for certain that nothing has changed with the album and title, or when there is an official press release. Neither Eclipse speaking to the estate or what Abagail Rockwell wrote in a tweet is hard evidence. We all know anyone can say almost anything on Twitter. If Eclipse was a legitimate journalist working on specific assignment for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal or Rolling Stone, etc., and if he contacted the Rockwell trustees and was given a formal interview, and could prove that and produce even a short article for his employer, that would be hard evidence and news. Short of that, such a claim has to remain in the realm of hearsay, gossip, wishful thinking. In most cases, such organizations do not speak to the press, and certainly not off the cuff to curious strangers about legal issues. He would be given a 'no comment' at best, by phone or in person. This is not a matter of emotion, feeling or what we want to believe, not for me, not for anyone. We're trying to figure out what's causing the delay with the best information, the best hard, authentic information we have. As I have acknowledged, there could be numerous other reasons why the record has been delayed, especially because LDR decided to change her last album, LFL, at the 19th hour two years ago and add and subtract songs.

I don’t know what that quote means to you—it doesn’t suggest much to me. What do “going to Mars” and Trump being president have to do with one another? One is good, one bad? Both unbelievable? Shocking? And saying after both, ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’ doesn’t suggest anything to me either, unless perhaps she really doesn’t understand much about Norman Rockwell. Contemporary America definitely isn’t like the America of Rockwell’s era. America hasn’t been like his America since JFK was assassinated, so it doesn’t really work, as a punchline, on an ironic level. Some of her lyrics are outstanding, others, like to ‘Groupie Love’ or ‘Freak,’ are rather flat and/or labored. Laws and Legal precedents are not conspiracies.

I don’t know your age or interests, but Norman Rockwell is EXTREMELY famous and well known, as famous and well known as Andy Warhol, just not as critically acclaimed. So that you should hear Rockwell’s name mentioned or bandied about on television or elsewhere in the media is not at all surprising.

Look, she’s making fun of the men who think they are, as artists, ‘so fucking great’ that they think they’re ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell,’ just as she might have said, ‘Pablo Fucking Picasso’ or ‘Jackson Fucking Pollock.’ I don’t think she picked Norman Rockwell specifically as an artist’s name except that it probably fit with the melody, and the number and placement of syllables was right. She could just have used Grandma Moses or Salvatore Dali. Rockwell is not ‘an artist’s artist,’or a fine artist, but merely a well-loved commercial artist. Well-loved by the ‘common man,’ that is, not by academia or the critics, who consider him a magazine illustrator. The album title is definitely not a parody, satire, spoof or lampoon, and it’s not a burlesque either. As three words, it’s a mockery or insult. Your own handle here is a lot closer to a parody, as would be ‘Norman Fuckwell.’ A well-founded lawsuit with fairly clear legal precedents by the Rockwell trustees and/or Hallmark is not a conspiracy. I’m not saying that the album will not be called NFR, I am saying the album title (and title song, if any) are the most likely reasons for the album delay, regardless of what a Rockwell family member says now or what LDR says either. If you were LDR, would you want to have to tell the world, “Well, when I named and announced the album, I was being thoughtless, ignorant and headstrong, and persisted and persisted regardless, but finally had to give into overwhelming pressure and legal threats from multiple fronts and so have had to scrap the title, the title song, and all the printed album art, and had to go back into the studio for half a year and am now calling the new result ‘Happiness Is A Butterfly.’ Would you want to attempt to come up with a better, face-saving explanation and be mocked or have to eat humble pie in front of the entire world, music industry and fandom?

If you believe placing the word ‘Fucking’ between anyone’s first and last name constitutes a parody, then you don’t know what parody means.

What is parodic about the NFR name? Nothing.

And we have no way of knowing whether Abagail really knows what she’s talking about, whether she’s sidestepping a touchy situation she doesn’t want to be publicly associated with, etc. The only parties in the Norman Rockwell camp who can absolutely clarify that are the trustees and their lawyers, and not even they may be able to speak freely if there was a non-disclosure agreement. It’s not just using the NR name, as some keep repeating, which is no doubt trademarked anyway, as it still brings in millions a year in licensing fees from Hallmark and others. It’s that NR is associated with traditional, vintage America, and homey values like innocence, first love, selflessness, courage, appreciation, hospitality, trust, love of family, love of parents, neighborliness, grade school, gardening, Little League, etc. Therefore, the trustees of the estate are very unlikely to allow the word FUCKING to appear between Norman and Rockwell in any public or commercial context, as it would besmirch the name in the contemporary mind and they and the family and descendants would stand to lose millions, and of course Hallmark would certainly object too, and perhaps sue them as well. So if the album was just called Norman Rockwell and there was no profanity on the album, and the conception of NR was treated fairly and traditionally, and they approved the entire album contents, they might allow the use of the name provided the estate received some cut of the profits. But they certainly wouldn’t approve the title with FUCKING in the middle, and would also likely withhold permission because of lines like “fresh out of fucks forever,” or, in the past, “my pussy tastes like Pepsi Cola.” We’ll know a lot more when the album is released, in terms of what it’s called, whether there’s a title song of the same name, or if the album has another name. The NR estate probably ALREADY objected to the name NR being used in a song that also has the line, “fresh out of fucks forever.” NR was about a traditional and in some ways, conservative, as you get, and that is still his image. You have to think in terms of celebrities from another, more ‘respectable’ era, like Carol Burnett, who is still living, still makes a living off her name, and would sue if someone released an album called ‘Carol Fucking Burnett.’ As I said here weeks ago, before her death, Elizabeth Taylor filed a lawsuit against people using her name and image and won. Someone like Britney Spears might or might not object to an album being released by a popular recording artist called ‘Britney Fucking Spears,’ but she’s relatively of this era. I bet Taylor Swift would never allow it, even though she’s from a later era.

There is another version which was released/leaked about two years ago, which is trip-hoppish/disco-ish/house-ish, and was referred to as the 'final version,' and is many times less good to me. The original is much more in the 'Velvet Crowbar' vein, with clear vocals and lyrics.

Another way to approach the NFR delay is right in the 'Hope' lyrics. These are the lyrics of a professed very troubled person, and I think it's safe to assume that the narrator is LDR to some unverifiable degree. And we've seen admissions that she, or the personages in her songs, are mentally troubled in other lyrics, on 'Ride,' on ''Cruel World,' among others, and on some of her unreleased songs. Mental illness is as common as physical illness in my experience, and just as varied, and no more to be shunned or feared than a broken leg or psoriasis. A lot of those homely selfies she posted during the LFL era, where she was wearing no makeup and the camera angles grossly distorted her lips and nose, didn't seem to suggest mental health either, not if she was the one making the decision to post them (which I believe she was). I have no problem accepting that she may be experiencing some mental distress, even significant mental distress, and there's her teenage alcoholism and frequent mention of hard drugs in her lyrics to potentially factor in as well. Who knows what she's been experiencing? One of the things I've always liked about LDR is that she's able to tackle the darkness as well as the light. I don't think there's barely a darker song extant that the unreleased original version 'Live or Die.' As disappointing as this era has been, and as much as we want NFR to have dropped yesterday or in February, I think we have to try to wish her the best and hope any technical, production, aesthetic, record company, or legal issues go away soon, and any deep personal matters too. It certainly appears, via her Insta Baddies and other posts and photos, that she's trying to live her life in a completely different way at present. Perhaps she's 'gotten free' or is still trying to 'get free,' or perhaps she's found that she's as 'stuck' as ever, which is a very human place to find one's self.

It’s unlikely, but possible, that NFR will never be released. It’s happened before, with artists like Marianne Faithfull. There are problems with the production, everyone involved gets irritated and angry and points fingers at one another, the record company likewise loses patience, and decides to shelve the project altogether.

The endless delay might be because of the poetry book, which she apparently miscalculated the production time for (and in spades), but the delay really suggests that there's another reason for it. It may also be that when she announced the poetry book in September of 2018, she had no publishing plan, and was hoping established commercial publishers would coming knocking, hoping to get the publishing rights, and either none did, or none wanted it after reviewing it. Such 'baiting' ploys are common in all media industries. Artists don't typically release an entire cohesive album in singles and pairs over a period of a year, and corporate record companies don't support that, because it makes promotion almost impossible, which means they have no opportunity to recoup their investment, among other problems. It may be that whatever the cause for the delay is both complicated and embarrassing, and no resolution has yet been found. LDR may be frustrated and angry about all of this, and so has become relatively apathetic about the future of NFR. She certainly sounds as if she has. She has had a lot of what seems like bad luck since the release of BTD, with the SNL gig (and SNL mocking her a week later), the public Lorde feud, losing the James Bond song to Sam Smith (who then had a huge hit with it and appeared on SNL with Lorde, of all people), Lou Reed dying the day he was to record with her for UV, her troubled relationship with Barrie and the fallout from it, her houses being broken into by obsessive fans and being stalked and threatened by them, the significant drop in her sales with UV and Honeymoon compared to BTD/P, the Left (which she sees herself a member of) turning against her in various ways on multiple public fronts, Eminem slagging her, whatever the G-Eazy situation was, and so on. Some of these things are just par for the course for any celebrity in this era, and some are just life, period. But I think it's enough to frustrate and exhaust anyone. No wonder she doesn't have the time or inclination to be an international style influencer anymore.

You're right, it might refer to AA, since she acknowledged that she was an alcoholic as a teen, and AA meetings, food pantries and homeless shelters are all often found in churches and church basements. 'Serv'in up God in a burnt coffee pot' makes me thing of her actually serving the homeless. Part of the brilliance of the song, and some of her other songs, is that the interpretations can be so diverse and still seem accurate. I think the song puts her in a whole new category as a songwriter, but personally, it's not the sort of thing I look to her for. 'Old Money' is one of my two favorite LDR songs, but since she appears to be stepping into a character in that song, that of a mature woman looking back on her life with some desperation and regret, it has an almost universal appeal in capturing an essence so exactly, but 'Hope,' while I like it, is almost too personal for me.

We know LDR worked or volunteered for a period in a homeless shelter when she was younger; that experience is very likely what she's referring to in 'Hope' when she sings the lyrics below. The shelter was probably in a church, as many are, and the 'Triad' is another, less common way of expressing the 'Holy Trinity,' the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Note that 'Triad' is capitalized. I had fifteen-year dances Church basement romances, yeah, I've cried Spilling my guts with the Bowery bums Is the only love I've ever known Except for the stage, which I also call home, when I'm not Servin' up God in a burnt coffee pot for the Triad Since 'God' is featured in song titles on 3 of her LDR albums, it comes as no surprise that she's exploring the theme of God, religion and Christianity again. Many pop and rock artists have, from the Velvet Underground, George Harrison, the Doobie Brothers, Joni Mitchell and Queen to Kate Bush, Depeche Mode, Bruce Springsteen and Tori Amos, among others...it's a long list. Again, I am not advocating religion or Christianity, I'm sure underscoring what I see right in the lyrics, just as I would to LDR's references to drugs, sex and romance.

I have been following the site for years, so I know about the Hillsong topic. Is it against policies to discuss Christian/religious themes in her songs? MAC does seem to be about LDR adopting a ‘personal Jesus’ role to me. I'm not advocating Christianity or religion, I'm only commenting on what I see in the lyrics when I look at them like text, and what I hear in the nuances and inflections in her voice.

"Ok but going to church regularly does not make someone a bible thumper?? She's always talked about God and her relationship with religion and always had religious imagery in her work, just look at Tropico. So idk why people are surprised she's been going to church." Absolutely true, loleetah. And for as long as she's been a public figure, the idea of God and religion has wormed its way in and out of her music (specifically on 'Gods & Monsters). I don't think she's going to become a zealot, a snake-handler or any sort of fervent fundamentalist. She also mentioned her brief involvement in some kind of a cult while fairly young, so she no doubt learned the dangers of unquestioning belief in anything.

It's worth noting that some Christian denominations are now wholly welcoming to gays and lesbians in both formal policy and action. The Episcopalian Church welcomes gay members, recognizes and performs gay marriages and ordains gay clergy of both genders; you can't get more welcoming and fully accepting than that. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is also welcoming to gay men and lesbians, though both only changed their policies within the last 20 years or so. The United Methodist Church that is dominated by conservatives both here and abroad, and continues to welcome gay members but not marry or ordain them. The UMC is constantly in the news about that, as they battle over the issue every four years at their 'annual conference.' The Baptist Church is also not welcoming to openly gay men and women, to the best of my knowledge. Small 'private' churches that are split off from mainline denominations and accept no funds from them can stand for and represent almost anything, which is why they usually remain small and obscure. I know nothing specifically about LDR's approach to Christianity, accept that she was raised Catholic. But MAC certainly sounds like 'Christian pop' to me, due to the lyrical content and Biblical references. Another related issue is how PC LDR has become, with MAC and songs like 'Change,' perhaps at least partially because of the attacks by respected figures on the Left like Kim Gordon. Personally, I preferred the older LDR of the 'Velvet Crowbar' and the original version of 'Live Or Die,' which I consider one of the ultimate thematic statements of rock and rock-related music.

Looked at from a certain angle, especially since LDR is an acknowledged Christian, MAC seems like it may be almost directly about Jesus Christ in parts. She begins by speaking as herself or as the female protagonist, who then "whispers to Jesus, 'Take a deep breath, baby let me in.'" Directly after that, is it LDR or Jesus (who has been "let in") who says, "You lose your way, just take my hand / You're lost at sea, then I'll command your boat to me again / Don't look too far, right where you are, that's where I am / I'm your man / I'm your man"? ​In Mark 4:35-4, Jesus calms the storm, and by doing so saves the lives of the apostles. 'I'm you're man' is a direct reference to the song of the same name by Leonard Cohen, we know, but does it also refer to Jesus Christ, as Jesus was God incarnated as Man, according to Christian theology? "Cause even in the dark I feel your resistance / You can see my heart burning in the distance / Baby, baby, baby, I'm your man" also seems to meld both LDR's voice and Jesus's. After my initial listenings to MAC, I took these 'Jesus' references as intentional on the LDR's part. If the voice of LDR (or the female protagonist) and the voice of Jesus Christ are conflated at points throughout the song, it makes MAC the most Christian song she's ever released.

I agree she didn’t change her entire career course due to a feud with Lorde, Gordon’s comments and the backlash after she made the “feminism just isn’t an interesting concept “ comments. I think it was a lot of things coming one after another, including, yes, the fact that the maintenance and effort to remain slim, youthful, stylish and photogenic had to be very exhausting, especially as her fame grew and paparazzi started chasing her on two continents at all hours. While ‘Hope’ has already given us a clear statement on the subject, we’ll know which direction she’s heading once we see the final NFR cover and sleeve art. For me, the “crack another beer” lyric from HTD doesn’t suggest the sophisticated LDR of Paradise, but a much more earthy, unadorned persona, one comfortable singing from a working class POV and about ‘blue collar’ concerns, a la Springsteen and Billy Joel. The plain photo of her sitting on the side of the highway supports that too.

Kim Gordon is considered Alt-Rock royalty to many people of a certain age as well as to feminists in music, so LDR probably did at least think twice about Gordon’s criticisms, which received a great deal of press. LDR has had a lot of poor luck in various ways with other musicians, like Lorde, for example, and then, though LDR is a fan of Bowie’s, he said Lorde was ‘the future of music,’ to paraphrase him. That had to sting. But she’s obviously had praise from her peer musicians, like The Weeknd and Father John Misty, as well as ‘legends’ like B. Springsteen and Stevie Nicks. As far as her persona and appearance going forward, the album cover and sleeve art for NFR will tell us a lot, and maybe everything. After the flat, mediocre LFL artwork, I don’t expect to see a return to glamour and high style. Contrary to what common sense might dictate, pop artists are often better handled by competent managers and record companies than they are by themselves; when they gain enough power through sales and popularity to dictate their own course, they have often stumbled and tripped all over themselves. The Monkees are a good example of that. Of course, that’s hardly always the case.

I recently saw her very early semi-professional modeling shots, which suggested that being beautiful and sexually desirable was something that was there in her and important to her from a fairly early age, as is it for many or most youths. Maybe she’s matured enough to where she feels she can now leave that side of herself largely behind, especially in terms of her music career. Again, on the basis of the work and of what we know of NFR, ‘Hope’ definitely suggests she’s “not that” anymore in her own mind. I think she is attractive, but she seems to be downplaying it as much as she can, even going so far as to post some photos which are very unflattering, at least to me.

Nationalxanthem, I agree. I’ve watched the decline in visuals and the shift in her persona with sadness, as it was everything about the BTD/Paradise era that I loved. She’s changed a great deal without verbal explanation, and no doubt both lost and gained fans in the process, as no doubt some newer fans like the LFL LDR but didn’t care for the BTD LDR when they investigated her older work. To me, her initial era as LDR was a beautiful vision I hoped was authentic, and no doubt some aspects of it were, but a lot was just a performance, rather like the young woman in Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ of the 1950s. ‘Hope’ makes me think the multiple personas are fragmenting her and that now she just wants to be herself, and perhaps not misrepresent herself to younger women who may in turn feel compelled to live up to an impossible standard of beauty, slenderness and public poise. Way back in the late 1960s, Nico destroyed her own beauty for the same cluster of reasons, and didn’t gain respect as an artist until she had.

Regarding the bland visuals and lackluster photos of this era, that started about the time of Honeymoon, when LDR began posting unflattering photos and short clips of herself on social media, clearly by intent. I don’t think she wanted to be known or perceived as a sex symbol any longer, even if that was something that had interested her for a decade or more. Sometimes beautiful women aren’t taken seriously, especially if they’re artists. The ‘this is what I really look like on a day to day basis’ approach was probably also intended to appease certain factions on the Left, such as Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, who trashed LDR in her book. Some on the Left are anti-glamour and feel female glamour is just a tool used by Madison Avenue, something that is used to manipulate women and hold them down. The early lines of ‘Hope’ clearly express that she isn’t a glamour girl anymore (assuming the song is intended to be autobiographical), or perhaps is only when she absolutely has to be (I.e., magazine covers to promote albums). She seems to want the world to know that she’s on the pretty side of average looking, but not more than that.

Regarding the use of the NR name, since his work was deeply rooted in traditional Americana and ‘clean,’ ‘innocent’ images of America, and since names can be trademarked and licensed, I still feel it’s possible that the trust that guards the Rockwell estate filed an injunction to stop the use of the name in the album and title song (assuming there is a title song). The problem would not be the NR name most likely, but the name with the word ‘Fucking’ between first and last, which, to their way of thinking, defiles the Rockwell image. I know a Rockwell granddaughter denied the family trust took any action, but it’s possible she doesn’t know, or, more likely, simply doesn’t want to get publicly involved. So it’s better to feign ignorance. Or it may be that the terms of the agreement, assuming there was one, barred anyone on either side in discussing it publicly for a specified period of time. From the moment I heard the name, I expected trouble. People like Elizabeth Taylor successfully sued to have others prevented from using her name for commercial purposes, and that was without an expletive between Elizabeth and Taylor. I may be wrong, but that’s my personal suspicion behind what appears to be a delay. If so, then the title song would have to be dropped or lyrically reworked and re-recorded, and if the graphics were finished or in process, they would have to be done completely over. And if the title song was dropped, then perhaps she had to write something to replace it, assuming she didn’t want to use something in her back catalogue. The time it’s taken to complete the poetry book may also be partially responsible. There could easily be more than one reason. Look at how often things go wrong in our own lives, despite foresight and careful planning.