LA Who Am I To Love You

[MargaretThatcher 1,331]

“LA, who am I to need you when I have needed so much, asked for so much, but what I have been given, I'm not sure yet

I may never know that either until I'm dead“

 

Been thinking about this part. So many people come to LA expecting magic to happen. The thing is you make your own luck in LA. So many people move to LA thinking the city will solve all their personal problems that they bring with them. Lana says that she won’t know her true legacy until she is dead. No artist ever finds out their true legacy because your legacy isn’t written when your alive. So this is very powerful.

[Mer 61,781]

“LA, who am I to need you when I have needed so much, asked for so much, but what I have been given, I'm not sure yet

I may never know that either until I'm dead“

 

it's a poetic way of saying "Do you think I have time for imbeciles like you all? All you do is pay me dust"

[COLACNT 5,180]

i'm honestly in love with the instrumental, and the way her cadence swings from sweetness to fucking schizophrenia. the audio companion was a genius move 

 

https://vimeo.com/442223554 

[MargaretThatcher 1,331]

it's a poetic way of saying "Do you think I have time for imbeciles like you all? All you do is pay me dust"

 

You could also interpret it like that too; as a rebuttal to the entertainment industry establishment where corporate greed rips off the creator. Being an artist is not an easy job. 

[American Whore 51,340]

this is such a beautiful track. just wish the album was on apple music dammit.

[landeath 598]

this is so beautiful omg

[AnarKissed 278]

Excellent poem. Alas, only L.D.R. holds the key to deciphering its mysteries; but that won't stop us from trying...to de-code the enigmas...

[Log Lana 911]

Oh Lana, you brilliant b*tch, constantly trying to get me emotional!

Well, you have succeeded.

I've only listened to 6 poems from Violet, so I still don't have the full vision, as we can say, but out of the six this one was truly special and made me cry. The way she is fully committed to the words... God, I'm speechless!

Still need to process, though, because A LOT is going on down here

[Elle 121,295]

Lana uploaded a video of her reciting the poem - 

[Trash Magic 28,392]

Alternate ending

 

I'm yours if you'll have me

Quietly or loudly

Sincerely, your daughter

and regardless you are mine

[How2Disappear 976]

I'm from the Sacramento area and we call it Sac. I hear "I love Sac so why did I...."

[MargaretThatcher 1,331]

I'm from the Sacramento area and we call it Sac. I hear "I love Sac so why did I...."

My cousin who lives there calls it that!

[How2Disappear 976]

My cousin who lives there calls it that!

She said it was her first show in Sac, but not that it was her first time there in general if I'm remembering correctly. I think she said it was a very special city to her . I guess we'll see when the physical book comes

[99centlips 8,520]

what happened between her and the new york post?

 

yeah what's her beef with new york post? 

[Venice 6,933]

Unquestionably one of the best (on par w SportCruiser imo or just is). I'm impressed with how she personified a city and compared her life, wants and needs to those of LA. All kinds of lines stand out. Sometimes I'll play it just to have it in the background, or if I see it floating around in a playlist and am reminded of how beautiful it is - I think it's because it's spoken word that I don't exactly have to be in a certain mood to listen like I do with a song. 

[the bootleg queen 12]

I really like how Lana is using an extended metaphor to describe her feelings for L.A by comparing it to a past lover a lover who was probably prosperous, came from money, successful and her lover is a somebody in life which is what L.A at the surface level embodies.

 

This is very reminiscent of the idea of the american dream which is prevalent through a lot of her music e.g the song Hollywood where she dreams of becoming that somebody and becoming prosperous in that way mentally and spiritually yet in this poem she questions who is she to dream when she is only a dreamer and has nothing else which creates a sense of self-deprecation and almost calling herself a burden in which she idolises L.A and thus idolises this lover especially in comparison to San Francisco and N.Y which are most likely her long lost exes.  

 

In the later part of the poem she is also reiterating the idea that she is the other woman who belongs to no-one etc. which she has expressed in songs such as Ride and she describes herself as being an other woman to all these places and because of this realises that she can only belong in this lover's hands because 1.A lover in New York or New York itself has treated her so badly leading her to hate it and San Francisco or the lover there probably does not attend to her needs and makes her feel even more lost and more than anything it seems like Lana needs a sense of belonging and commonality which only L.A or that lover can give her.

 

Because she is that way being what she describes an orphan, belonging to no-one she says she must love L.A/him the most and she says to this lover/place that they do not have to offer anything more than what they are and in return she will love him/L.A deeper than the surface level which most people do and love deep and eternally.

 

In this poem she allows us to she her complex relationship between L.A/her lover and lets us visualise it in a highly memorable and tangible way making us visualise her lover, the way she loves and their general relationship as striking and very heartfelt and allowing the readers to thoroughly feel the sense of vulnerability we feel in love.  

[drugsdesire 9,884]

this poem is so heartbreaking that i can't listen to it often because it hurts so bad

[PARADIXO 32,943]

I usually don't get too inspired by LDR or add elements of her music into my own art, but this one inspired me to write a song for my favorite city, about how much I want to live there, how much I feel like I belong there. I'll see how it turns out!

[WhiteHydrangea 4,216]

A masterpiece

[Rorman Nockwell 56,719]

The book version is slightly different to the spoken version (again, spoiler, because I know most people don't have it yet)

Spoiler

Instead of:

The city not quite awake, the city not quite asleep
The city that's still deciding how good it can be

It's:

The city not quite awake

The city not quite asleep

The city that's something else - something in between

The city that's still deciding

How good it should be

 

And instead of:

Not you at your worst
Totally on fire, unlivable, unbreathable, I need you
You see, I have no mother

It's:

Not you at your worst-

Totally on fire, unlivable, unbreathable

I don't deserve you at all

You see - you have a mother