Lana Del Political Songs

[yayoop 4,611]

We randomly got onto the subject of political Lana songs over in the BB pre-release thread and I decided to actually make this thread to get to the bottom of things.

 

For a quick reference I guess Looking for America, When the World Was at War We Kept Dancing, God Bless America - All the Beautiful Women In It... would be political songs (but why?)

 

But surely there are others. For you, what constitutes a political song? What would a political Lana song be? Is Coachella - Woodstock in My Mind political? It references the nuclear missile crisis with North Korea but is also more about taking the time to appreciate what you have. But would you say it's still political? Text Book (from the upcoming album Blue Banisters) references the BLM protests but the song seems to be more biographical as opposed to solely political, but what do you think?

 

I'm honestly curious now that we've been talking about

 

Spoiler

Is GoGo Dancer about the inequality of sex workers in the modern day?? I'm joking, I'm just trying to keep it fun okay guys

 

This is dedicated to @daddyauerbach, @Style and @COCC for inspiring me

[Cherry Blossom 21,549]

interesting thread! thx for the tag 

i think what defines a political song is when lana has a clear political motive behind it. god bless america, coachella, when the world was at war are all political songs (imo) because the subject matter and what they’re about is quite clear.

change could be considered one of them because it talks about the tensions between nuclear warfare.

the greatest mentions trump and kanye, and climate change and seems more a comment on culture not politics.

looking for america is a response to gun violence and was a charitable song, so i think that is political too.

i don’t consider textbook political as it just has a brief line that relates to politics but also was something lana did with the people it’s about. however it could be considered political as it talks about changing history in textbooks, and potentially creating a better world and legacy  (?)

would love to see others opinions 

[Super Movie 51,734]

I've always seen Lana's political songs as WTWWAW, GBA, Coachella, Change, The Greatest and Looking For America. And it's not a song, but Paradise Is Very Fragile on Violet is quite political as well

[Alison by Slowdive 26,150]

high by the beach advocated for cannabis' legalisation 

 

i agree with you that text book comes across much more "biographically" - it is such a complex song lyrically and thematically, i haven't fully digested it - but at the very least, it's not politically neutral, and therefore i would say it is a political song

 

 

[Cherry Blossom 21,549]

Just now, Alison by Slowdive said:

it's not politically neutral, and therefore i would say it is a political song

 

 

omg interesting take i didn’t think of that

[yayoop 4,611]

8 minutes ago, Style said:

interesting thread! thx for the tag 

i think what defines a political song is when lana has a clear political motive behind it. god bless america, coachella, when the world was at war are all political songs (imo) because the subject matter and what they’re about is quite clear.

change could be considered one of them because it talks about the tensions between nuclear warfare.

the greatest mentions trump and kanye, and climate change and seems more a comment on culture not politics.

looking for america is a response to gun violence and was a charitable song, so i think that is political too.

i don’t consider textbook political as it just has a brief line that relates to politics but also was something lana did with the people it’s about. however it could be considered political as it talks about changing history in textbooks, and potentially creating a better world and legacy  (?)

would love to see others opinions 

 

My pleasure! thank you for the inspiration!

 

I love seeing your opinion, everybody's interpretation is valid because we all have such different perspectives. I hadn't thought of Change as being a political song, I always took it as a very violent (ironically since it's such a soft ballad) personal song, I never thought to think of it as political. I'll have to give it a re-listen with this new perspective. I agree with "The Greatest" it definitely seems like a more cultured exploration, I'm curious to listen back to that now as well!

Even Textbook for me it always seemed like she was talking about how her "damaged" relationship with her parents were almost textbook because of how "cliche" her "daddy issues" were, but I'm curious to hear it in a different light.

 

I'm so happy I made this thread now ahaha

11 minutes ago, Super Movie said:

I've always seen Lana's political songs as WTWWAW, GBA, Coachella, Change, The Greatest and Looking For America. And it's not a song, but Paradise Is Very Fragile on Violet is quite political as well

 

It's funny I never thought of Change or the Greatest as political songs, I'm excited to re-listen to them with a different perspective.

I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT TO REFERENCE HER VIOLET POEMS. I read that book in one sitting last year, now that I have the vinyl I need to re-listen to it and try to really digest it, I honestly gasped when you mentioned Violet ahaha

[yayoop 4,611]

10 minutes ago, Alison by Slowdive said:

high by the beach advocated for cannabis' legalisation 

 

i agree with you that text book comes across much more "biographically" - it is such a complex song lyrically and thematically, i haven't fully digested it, but at the very least, it's not politically neutral, and therefore i would say it is a political song

 

 

 

Definitely agree on the cannabis front, HBTB is my anthem, let's go legalisation in Australia!!

 

But damn, I never thought of that, you also made me gasp when I read your post. I guess even referencing a political action is a political statement in itself. The fact that she was protesting and makes a statement of "if only you did the same as me" (to her father) is a political action in itself. Oof, I love that

[Vanilla Icy 29,602]

money power glory is a capitalist anthem 

[Fingertips 72,044]

Change, Looking for America, Text Book and The Greatest are her best songs with social or political commentary. 

[GeminiLanaFan 49,129]

I don’t even think that any of the four songs that are called « political » are. To me, they are all « peace-oriented ». Finneas released real political songs last year, criticizing the Trump administration. As for Text Book, it’s way too much oriented on her psyche-relationship troubles-« daddy issues » to be political: It just happened that she had a realization of those at a BLM rallye (according to the song anyways). 

[GeminiLanaFan 49,129]

I really do like that definition that if a song is tainted with social issues or culture matters that it could be a political song. I never thought of that that way. By that definition, then yes, I guess, she did write at least 5-6 political songs. (Yes I know, I just contradicted my last post lol)

[yayoop 4,611]

1 minute ago, GeminiLanaFan said:

I really do like that definition that if a song is tainted with social issues or culture matters that it could be a political song. I never thought of that that way. By that definition, then yes, I guess, she did write at least 5-6 political songs. (Yes I know, I just contradicted my last post lol)

 

I thought your first post was very interesting, I mean that in of itself makes sense. They are peace-related but then that does make the other post about "making a neutral political statement is a political statement" seem more relevant

 

This is actually a really interesting topic, I don't think there's any right or wrong answers, it's all up to interpretation depending on our individual perspectives. 

 

I should really give a listen to Finneas' album, I'm interested to hear his take on political songs

[bluechemtrails 26,856]

I'm really happy that most of her songs are not political, that she is almost not political. She got always into trouble when it came to political issues on twitter.

[yayoop 4,611]

5 minutes ago, Yayo6408 said:

I'm really happy that most of her songs are not political, that she is almost not political. She got always into trouble when it came to political issues on twitter.

 

Her QFTC seems to be her extent of political/cultural on social platforms, imagine that in song form.. lordie may

She seems to hit the right level of political exploration in her songs that it's not so political/controversial that it's exhausting and polarising and inaccessible 

[The Siren 30,523]

Coachella and when the world was at War

[yyxy 1,292]

The whole Lust for Life album (or at least most songs that has political themes).

[Crimson and Clover 22,516]

I really love the greatest because it’s subtle but not so subtle? There’s something about it…

[Alison by Slowdive 26,150]

her cover of doin' time advocates for prisoner welfare and rights  pawn shop blues is a commentary on the soul-sucking daily grind 

[Caroline3 15]

National anthem is sorta political. It talks about capitalism and greed, and possibly classism.

 

“money is the anthem of success”

 

“So before we go out, what’s your address”

 

”White, red, blues in the sky”

Very patriotic, talking about the American flag