CriesMarmalade

Best: Shades of Cool, Black Beauty, Florida Kilos, Pretty When You Cry, (Sad Girl would be on here were it not for the chorus) Worst: Is This Happiness, Money Power Glory, Old Money

Can't believe no one has mentioned Live Forever or Greenwich. Live Forever is classic Lana and flawlessly written, and Greenwich's off-beat jazziness is heavenly.

For some reason I get a very Lanaesque vibe from this song: Je Reviendrai Toujours Vers Toi by Brigitte Bardot: http://www.ina.fr/video/I00017948 Since some people have mentioned the Velvets, I think this would be their most fitting song for Lana: I would also like to hear her do Heart of Glass.

I used to think it was 'my body don't mean a thing'. Looking up the lyrics to that song kinda ruined it for me.

Real life violence and real life murder aren't anything to glamorize either, but does that make gangster and action movies morally deplorable? Of course not, because the former destroys lives and the latter is pure adrenaline-fueled fantasy. The very essence of glamour itself is make believe; nothing placed under the cold light of day is ever glamorous, nor does glamour have anything to do with what is 'good' or should be considered acceptable. It is purely stylistic, the way Lana imagining herself as a murderess femme fatale in 'Kinda Outta Luck' is purely stylistic, and has nothing to do with her being a depraved, murder-endorsing sociopath. Of course as I said earlier, I understand why our instincts cause us to be more disturbed by rape than by other forms of violence, but I still don't see that as a valid excuse for holding double standards.

Pretty sure it's 'indian reservations'. If you listen carefully you can hear an emphasis on the 'd' that 'and neon' wouldn't have, plus we know that Lana spent some time working on an indian resevation.

I agree with a lot of the criticism toward Lana's lyrics, which are often juvenile and repetitive (literally, not just thematically), and give the impression that Lana is trying to build herself up as a tortured soul, bad girl, gangster, or whatever other image appeals to her. That's not to say I don't admire her for daring to take on many different archetypal personas/roles, it's just she sometimes does it in such a tryhard way (pointless drug references, mentioning how 'crazy' she is/how she's going to die young) that it makes the biographical aspect of her work seem doubtful. I think Lana's lyrical strengths lie in finding beauty/poetry in mundane things or observations (LDR aka Lizzy Grant is a good example of this) and in referencing classical American themes/motifs, as well as generally setting a scene/atmosphere. She seems to have lost this touch and is more interested in an epic/larger than life kind of drama (Born to Die, Money Power Glory) which betrays the 'show don't tell' that she did so well earlier on. I do find a lot of criticism toward Lana's obsession with heartbreak/lost love to be rather hypocritical though. This may be one of the most, if not the most, popular themes throughout all musical history, on which so many artists have based their entire musical output. I think this is where the criticism goes into the anti-feminist angle and people's issues with Lana's submissive devotion come up, a point that really bothers me, because it seems to suggest that critics only want her to sing about the experiences which they find acceptable, or that women like Lana should feign an image of empowerment for the sake of making others happy. It takes strength to reveal weakness, and delving into it is far more the mark of a real artist than jumping on a feminist (or any political) bandwagon for the sake of 'setting a good example' is.

'Beauty and rage'. I heard 'range' as in, her vocal range 'He hurt me but it felt like true love'. I heard 'felt like July', probably cause Lana references July so much 'Chariots of gold'. I heard 'Jerry it's a goal' 'Riviera girls'. I heard 'we're the era of girls' 'Grand Ole Opry'. I heard 'grind all our prayer' 'Those bitches before'. I heard 'those pictures before' 'Indian reservations'. I heard 'neon reservations' 'Grenadine sunshine, can you break this heart of mine.' I heard 'remedy, sunshine, get your face out of mine' 'Hair thinning in the wind' (is this the actual lyric, btw?) I heard 'Henathine(?) in Berlin' 'We're like Sid and Nancy loving the fight' I heard 'where we'd sit and sweet love in the fire' 'Now everyone knows amicable' I heard 'everyone knows I'm a cripple'

Bel Air and Black Beauty. Need to have an inspiring setting to want to listen to them though.

Born to Die by a loooooong shot. Cheesy lyrics, weak melodies, and just an overall air of tryhard melancholy. Young and Beautiful is worse but not as popular so it can't count as being equally overrated. One of my favourite things about Lana is her ability to convey strong emotions without resorting to overstated sentimentality like most modern pop, but even she falls victim to it from time to time.

I don't see the big deal about the rape video. Yes, I think it's clearly supposed to be sexually inticing and stylized (and no doubt reflective of rape fantasies on Lana's part) but that hardly makes it an endorsement of real life rape. Non-sexual violence is so frequently depicted as glamorous, sexy, and cool/badass (Lana has also made light hearted references to murder) and most people can acknowledge that it's intended as pure fantasy, but when it comes to rape people have a harder time being rational. This also extends to all of the BDSM references in Lana's work (''he hit me and it felt likes a kiss'', etc).