Ocean Boulevard Theory: Purgatory / Redemption

[tomxev 331]

TW: su*cide, religion

 

My Ocean Boulevard Redemption / Purgatory Theory: Ocean Boulevard is a su*cide note or story/journey of su*cide and redemption from Lana Del Rey (or a character she’s embodying and adapting to her story)

 

The Grants: I don’t remember who wrote this, but someone in this thread earlier discussed how the “so you say there’s a chance for us?” could refer to Lana reflecting on how there may still be a chance for her family line to pass on to heaven and break karmic curses - hence the “I’m doing the hard stuff, doing my time, doing it for us, for the family line” - perhaps this song is about the character/Lana reflecting on the work she’s done to end karmic curses before she leaves the world - she’s reflecting on what memories she will take when she leaves

 

Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard: “I can’t help but feel someone like my body marred my soul” - an ancestor (like her body) marred or cursed her soul. She’s now doomed to pass on, she feels, like those who have recently passed in her family. “When’s it gonna be my turn?” - used to be a line that I thought meant, when will it be her turn to find happiness / fame / love, etc. but perhaps she’s wondering when this curse will reach her and end her. It could also mean she knows, tongue-in-cheek, she’ll never find that love or happiness she wants due to the karmic past. As such, she decides to go before it reaches her (or it’s just her 13th reason why) - she indulges and enjoys her final moments of pleasure before death: “fuck me to death, love me until I love myself” - she now has committed to death and reminds everyone not to forget her. - the Tunnel can be a metaphor of su*cide too, in that, what it was meant for / it’s purpose has effectively killed it - the passage of time and the constant use of the tunnel’s transport (it’s purpose) has led to its end / closure. The Tunnel can also be a metaphor for a coffin (under Ocean Boulevard , under the ground)

 

Sweet: “you can find me where no one will be” - the character is telling us where she will go to die. Where no one alive will be, in the tunnel, in the woods, in the valley, in the north country, barefeet and free; “do you contemplate where we came from?” - have you thought like me where we go, what created us - have you contemplated death? “Do you want children, do you want to marry me?” - she asks to let him know that if he’s expecting those things, they won’t happen for them - she feels this karmic curse won’t allow her to find those things. “If I’m not there, come to my house” - when she’s gone, she’ll go back home (in Paris Texas, later in this theory, Lana is in purgatory and returns home)

 

A&W: Lana thinks of her past one last time before passing, discusses what may have led her to this point - “do you think I give a damn what I do after years of just hearing them talking?” - do you think I care if I’m su*cidal after years of the press / abusers disrespecting her. She indulges one last time in sex.

 

Judah Smith: self-explanatory: she turns to God. She reflects on lust and idolatry.

 

Candy Necklaces: she turns to her doomed relationship, and reflects on its self-destructive nature (due to the partners drug addiction). She indulges one last time in drugs (or kills herself whilst on them / takes pills). “Sitting on the sofa, feelin’ super su*cidal” - in this theory, the repetition of “Candy Necklaces” at the end of the song is when she dies.

 

Jon Batiste: another illusion to su*cide: “I’m feelin’ early” (dying before your time), her and Jon are dancing in purgatory, the interlude feels like a fever dream because it is, it’s the transport between life and death, she’s passing through the tunnel.

 

Kintsugi: (please don’t get offended by this one, I’m trying my best to be extremely sensitive in explaining this - I understand that this is an emotional song about the death of Lana’s loved ones and her grief, but I think there’s a tie to this story) - “there’s a certain point that the body can’t come back from” - the character/Lana’s lover is now reflecting on her death  and passing and expresses their grief. “Daddy, I miss them, I’m in the mountains” - she is reflecting on how much she misses everyone she loves from purgatory, she has turned to the mountains (referring back to the nature in Sweet, expressing where she will be when she’s passed)

 

Fingertips: Lana looks back on her life whilst in purgatory, she is lost and trying to determine how to be saved to reach heaven. “It wasn’t my idea the cocktail of things that twist neurons inside, but without them I’d die. They say there’s irony in the music, it’s a tragedy” - death by drugs/pill (cocktail of things). The irony in the music is that she’s already dead (“but without them, I’d die”). “If I take my life, find your astral body, put it into my arms” - another reference to su*cide

 

Paris, Texas: Lana is travelling through purgatory - she has left the mountains and is visiting various places to find her closure / escape purgatory - making amends, saying goodbyes. She visits Paris with a suitcase and has to leave because that’s not her place to rest. “When you know, you know. It’s time to go”. She now visits Spain, but only has a notebook rather than a suitcase of things - her worldly possessions are leaving her, her spirit is beginning to make peace with death / earth. She visits friends in Alabama to say goodbye. “It’s time to leave, like the summer breeze” - her spirit is giving signs that she’s there through nature. “When every star is bright, brighter than you are, it’s time to go” - the stars (passed ones) who shine brighter are the ones who have found their closure in Paris, Spain, Alabama, etc. She finally realizes (in order for her star to shine) she needs to go home. She visits and her lover has moved on, she calls to no one. Now that he has fully grieved and mourned her passing, it’s another sign that her time on earth in purgatory is ending. She must call to God for help, for a sign that she’s on the right track (which we see in Grandfather) “You’re home, when you’re alone” - making peace with oneness, solitude, letting go of people in the real world. “When you’re right, you’re right, even when you’re wrong” - Lana reflects on her life and how things that felt right at the time, might have been wrong. Also, every place she visited that may have felt “right”, was wrong and it wasn’t meant for her to rest.

 

Grandfather:  In this monologue, the climax, Lana calls to God and confesses to him her truth - she wasn’t manufactured, she’s good in spirit, warm-bodied, a deity wrapped in white. Regrettably, a white woman. During this plea, she calls to him to please send her three butterflies to let her know he’s there as she’s travelled enough and needs to know he’s listening. She’s making peace with her “sins” and what people shamed her for and confesses her good intentions and pleads to God to feel it in bones, hear it in her poetry, her music, etc. At the end, the butterflies appear and Lana ascends to heaven.

 

Let The Light In: “Look at us, you and me, back at it again” - Lana is indulging in utopia, embracing her family, essentially this is the Heaven track.

 

Margaret: the final part of the story, Lana looks down to Jack and Margaret as an angel / spirit and is able to now pass her truth and writing on to others (“This is a simple song, gonna write it for a friend”) . The end of the song also feels like the perfect closer / credit roll to the story.

 

BONUS: In Fishtail, Lana reflects on how her lover was distant in her life - he’d never even come to braid her hair! He was absent. “Palm trees in black and white” - this world of the past is faded, it’s a memory. He wanted her sadder. In Peppers, Lana reflects on the true feelings she felt of being in LOVE. “Hands on your knees, I’m Angelina Jolie” - she tells the world to bow, get on their knees and put their hands on her knees, grieve and mourn at she grave because she was a cultural icon like Angelina Jolie. Maybe this refers to her having found true love in Heaven,  which fits as Peppers came before (past love). In Taco Truck, Lana meets her boyfriend at the taco truck, has transcended as Lanita and is now telling the fucking press to spin her death however they may, print it however they want in the cover story, fuck you from the afterlife, I know you always hated me. (Also reflects on how stars are treated post-humously).

 

We return to Venice Bitch, a simpler time, a peaceful and serene moment in Lana’s life, but this time it’s a fucking party because she’s living it up in Lake Placid. The transition between Taco Truck and VB might indicate all of this was a dream, hence the woman explaining she had a nap and had this dream… If this were all framed to be a true story about Lana’s su*cidal ideation, this could be her letting us know she’s better now - “get high, drop acid, never die, not tonight”, she’s realized who she is and chooses to live on. If we were her’s, we’d be jealous of her love. Signin’ off, bang bang kiss kiss <3

[plastiscguy 63,430]

[love deluxe 8,860]

this is actually an interesting interpretation 

[ShadesOfViolence 6,627]

8 minutes ago, plastiscguy said:

My reflection on my monitor

[Dark Angel 201,027]

if you guys think this thread is wild, you should all see the esoteric origins of mankind thread

 

edit: okay this thread is actually pretty wild!

[Mer 61,223]

TBH I don't hate this theory/analysis but why did it need its own thread? 

[Ultraviolencez 2,608]

13 minutes ago, plastiscguy said:

HAHAH STOP

[ShadesOfViolence 6,627]

I appreciate this theory actually, well done

[tomxev 331]

1 hour ago, plastiscguy said:

 LMAO LEAVE ME ALONEEE!!!

[The Siren 30,517]

[Psychedelic Pussy 30,105]

I was vibing with the interpretation for the first 4-6 songs but after the Jon Batiste interlude you lost me sis 

[Make me your Dream Life 87,459]

I find this to be a great effort and interesting theory, and, for someone who likes to understand things, for me personally, surface level, I think this album's a rite of passage and I know there's a scat person that visits but i'm still gonna say it, flushing of a lot emotions, and having to release a lot emotions that she must've been holding onto for a long time. 

even sex can be considered as a method of release, and when u think about it, an exercise towards relief (ideally personally that connection that u feel, rather than body count even if they're hot). knowing how her childhood's been revealed to be tumultuous and having a hard relationship w her mom and being the same sex can really negatively impact a person. and this could reflect off of how some of her relationships would cycle and repeat well *spoiler warning* possible trauma, thus needing her to eventually face herself as relationships can be the ultimate mirror of cycles. but basically, all that catharsis, does have silver linings to it. 

oh and also I love the theme of identity, and the different spheres of it that she's been writing more about. 

I do think and strongly believe that if you want to change as a person, some things do have to fall away and you have to improve. and the theme of destruction gives way to clarity

regardless of whether or not we'd agree, I really do love discussions like this and hope there'll be more in the future w less stigma. 

[Make me your Dream Life 87,459]

I really do wanna emphasize the concept of death, and how that can also very much mean rebirth to keep things positive. and that people are allowed, and should have more freedom to be able to change and grow from their past selves. 

[past the bushes 30,934]

let him cook