LANALYSIS: Relating Songs To Known/Assumed Relationships

[ConeyIslandQueen262 1,068]

Not sure if this thread is still going on, but I've been reading it for a while and it's really interesting, haha. My personal favorite Lana mystery is definitely her possible relationship with Mr. Campbell, and I've spent a while speculating and developing this theory that I'd like to share.

 

I'm going to categorize and try to explain and connect the lyrics from some songs. This is actually my first post here so I'm a bit nervous, so here goes nothing!

 

Note: Please remember that we have no reason to believe any of this actually happened. For all we know, Lana could be taking events that happened to others and incorporating them into her own fictional storyline.

 

Put Me In A Movie 

Lights, camera, action

If he likes me, takes me home

 

By my interpretation at least, this song seems to be about the early attraction she felt towards him. The lyric is pretty straightforward, she's hoping he'll like her and take her to his home. Not sure what the "lights, camera, action" could refer to, but that's another theory for another time.   

 

Come on, you know you like little girls

You can be my daddy

 

Do I really need to explain this one?

 

He didn't know he'd have this much fun

 

He didn't expect falling for her, definitely understandable given she's one of his students!

 

You're my little sparkle jump rope queen

 

Possibly something he may have said to her? This may be a stretch, but does this tie with "no more skipping rope" from Lolita?

 

You know I can't make it on my own

Put me in a movie

 

...I don't even want to think of the implications here tbh, haha. The "movie" in question could refer to a class project of some sort, or something else... but let's move on.

 

Overall, this may seem like a huge stretch associating this with Mr. Campbell, but the "little girls" line combined with the clip of the man in the suit being arrested that shows up often in the music video are definitely damning, not to mention how Lana seems to purposefully sing with a voice more childlike than usual. 

 

Lolita

Would you be mine, would you be my baby tonight?

 

She's trying to convince him to be with her, similar to Put Me In A Move.

 

It's you that I adore, though I make the boys fall like dominoes

 

She could get any boy she wanted, but she'd rather have him.

 

No more skipping rope, skipping heart beats with the boys downtown

Just you and me feeling the heat even when the sun goes down

 

She isn't going to be with anyone else as long as they're together.

 

Shining like a god, can't believe I got you inside

 

She can't believe she has him, maybe he's the "most gorgeous guy in school" Lana mentioned in an interview?   

 

Dynamite

I'm unsure about this one, the only reason I'm adding it here is because it seems to tie together with lyrics in other teacher songs, so it may be about Mr. Campbell, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

French vanilla ice cream, just the way I like

Dripping on your windscreen, I can't get a bite

 

Pay attention to these lyrics, cars seem to play an important role in Mr. Campbell's storyline (which really says something considering Lana's songwriting).   Also, this may be a serious stretch, but "French vanilla ice cream"? As in, the same type of ice cream Lana was seen eating in her Myspace profile image. The Myspace for Sparkle Jump Rope Queen? Hmm...

 

Guess we could be more than friends, 'cause this kiss won't end

And you got me trembling

 

We know that Lana considered Mr. Campbell her best friend during her time at Kent School, so it's quite possible that they were friends before they allegedly became a couple.

 

You’re dynamite, I’m ready to blow

Take me out tonight

 

She thinks he's cool and wants them to spend the night out together. Given the nature of their relationship, I'd think they spent the most time with each other during the night.

 

I can see the stars collide

 

Stars doing a bunch of crazy things seems to be a theme among songs about Mr. Campbell, so note this as well.

 

Speeding through the wasteland, sparkling in the lights

 

A teenage wasteland, perhaps? 

 

He’s not like other guys, I can’t apologize

For what my body wants and what my heart decides

 

Understatement of the century Lana. Also, notice how she seems to feel the need to defend her attraction to him.

 

‘Cause I’m so close to the real thing

Yeah, I’m so close to the real thing

I’m so close to the real thing I could almost die

 

That real thing being first love? Or something else?   The last lyric seems to connect to "And I never dreamed I'd be so happy that I could die" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong).

 

Say it isn’t over, say it’s not goodnight

Maybe we could go somewhere and start a pillow fight

 

She doesn't want the night to be over since it's the only time they get to really be together. The lyric "start a pillow fight" is very childish, which also reinforces my theory of this song being about her teenage years. 

 

Puppy Love

It's not puppy love, puppy-puppy-puppy love

 

It isn't a simple crush or an infatuation, she's trying to convince him that it's the "real thing" a la Dynamite.

 

You make me wanna be like one of those girls

From the 1950s wearing those big pearls

 

Maybe his age is a factor in her feeling like this?

 

I cook you breakfast, coffee on your desk, yes

I might burn your toast, but baby, I'm still the bestest

 

Teacher's usually have a desk big enough for a full breakfast.   I know it's far from concrete, but I think the school setting is definitely important here. Are there any other relationships she's had during her boarding school time that affected her enough for her to write songs about them???

 

You make me wanna be like one of those girls

On the color TV, it was a new world

The Dick van Dyke show, we're Cher and Bono

The way I sing "I Got You Babe", makes you say, "Oh, no."

 

More old stuffs!

 

'Cause you're the class president without Jackie O

And I'm singing "Happy birthday" like Marilyn Monroe

 

The "class president" line originally threw me for a loop when I was trying to analyze the song, but think of it this way, maybe she's not talking about a literal class president? Perhaps she meant it as in, he's the leader of the classroom, the "president", and she wants to be his Jackie O.

 

(One) This is not a school girl crush (no)

(Two) This is not puppy love (uh-uh)

 

Again, she's trying to convince him that she's serious about this. Also, where I come from at least, "school girl crush" is often used to refer to a female student developing a hormone-addled crush on an older faculty member, like a teacher for example? 

 

It's the real thing when you told me you loved me

Promise I'll never see Arthur or Bobby, baby

 

Here's the "real thing" she mentions again from Dynamite. The second line ties with "No more skipping rope, skipping heart beats with the boys downtown" from Lolita.

 

This is not a school girl thing (no, two)

What about the diamond ring? (uh-uh)

 

Diamond ring? Did he give it to her, or did she give it to him? Either way, this signifies that their relationship has gotten pretty serious.

 

You're everybody's hero and you're hitting it home

 

Given the comments on his Rate My Teachers page, he seems to have been a popular teacher. 

 

Take Me To Paris

Baby say goodnight

Text me when you get home safely

Like you always did

When we was first dating

 

By this time, they've been dating for a while. More references to saying goodnight as well.

 

You're sitting in your office dreaming of a different life

You say you wanna make me smile and see my wild side

If we don't leave town now

We're never gonna get out of here alive

 

He's been thinking about leaving with her and starting a life together. Leaving town is a very important theme in more Mr. Campbell songs, so watch out for that too. "We're never gonna get out of here alive" ties with "Teachers said we'd never make it out alive" from This Is What Makes Us Girls.

 

I'm walking home from school my thoughts are drifting into space

Why don't we leave tonight and take off to a different place

Don't tell my daddy why, gotta get on that plane and just fly

 

Given her wording, this seems to be the first time they've seriously began to think of leaving.

 

Take me to Paris

Let's go there and never look back

 

All the way to Paris? Girl is going all out.

 

I wanna be that fantasy that you got on your mind

Flying across the sea to somewhere that they'll never find

We should go out while we're young

 

Who she is exactly referring to as "they" is debatable, but the main point is that they don't seem to be allowed to be together, which reinforces the subject being Mr. Campbell. Also, she seems to see him as young as well, which is important for later.

 

We'll dance until we die

Wanna go out every night

Promise we won't say goodbye

 

References to dancing and going out at night. Saying goodbye seems to be a shadow cast over their relationship, so Lana feels the need for them to promise to each other. 

 

Lucky Ones

Get ready, 'cause this is where things start to get exciting.

 

Let's get out of this town, baby we're on fire

Everyone around here seems to be going down, down

 

The theme of leaving town is continued in this song, and the second line seems to connect to Kent School being a "teenage wasteland" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong).

 

If you stick with me, I can take you higher, and higher

It feels like all of our friends are lost

Nobody's found, found, found

 

I'm not sure what she means by "higher", but the rest of this is more teenage wasteland goodness.

 

I got so scared, I thought no one could save me

You came along scooped me up like a baby

 

She was sent to boarding school for a growing alcohol addiction, Mr. Campbell found her when she was at her lowest point.

 

Every now and then, the stars align

Boy and girl meet by the great design

Could it be that you and me are the lucky ones?

 

See what I meant about the stars? She's saying that their meeting was caused by fate and luck.

 

Everybody told me love was blind

Then I saw your face and you blew my mind

Finally, you and me are the lucky ones this time

 

She thinks he's hot stuff, and they can finally be together now.

 

Boy get into my car, got a bad desire

You know that we'll never leave if we don't get out, now, now

 

Because they're afraid they'll never make it out alive.

 

You're a careless con, and you're a crazy liar

But baby, nobody can compare to the way you get down, down, down

 

I'm not sure what Lana could mean by "careless con" and "crazy liar", but never mind. We know from Boarding School that she's quite knowledgeable on how he gets down. 

 

I tried so hard to act nice like a lady

You told me that it was good to be crazy

 

Possibly a reference to Puppy Love? Nevertheless, he didn't need her to act like that to be with him.

 

Feels like, feels like, you know, it feels like

Falling in love for the first time

Feels like, you know, it feels like

Falling in love

 

I think now we know what that "real thing" she was talking about. She's literally falling in love for the first time. 

 

Prom Song (Gone Wrong)

This is the most concrete of the Mr. Campbell songs, so most of what is said here can be used to validate the other theories.

 

Boy, it's late, walk me home, put your hand in mine

At the gate, stop and say, "Be my valentine"

You are, by far, the brightest star I've ever seen

And I never dreamed I'd be so happy that I could die

 

Saying goodnight as mentioned in Take Me To Paris. Being happy enough to die is also alluded to in Dynamite.

 

And even then I knew that we were something serious,

That you would dominate my thoughts like radio the Sirius

 

Their relationship has gotten much more serious than before.

 

Let me take you out of this town

Let me do it right now, baby

Dancing 'til the dark, staying forever young

Let's get out of this place, 'cause you're starting to waste

Within this teenage wasteland

 

Lana is now completely serious about leaving town, and wants to do it as soon as possible. Dancing at night and being young shows up again from Take Me To Paris, and Lana finally ups and calls the place a teenage wasteland, tying the song with Dynamite and Lucky Ones.

 

You will never see my face

If you don't get me out of this place, now, baby

I'm not crazy

I'm leaving, are you coming with me?

 

She's so serious about leaving that she's ready to go without him, and she doesn't need the boarding school any more, or maybe she feels like she never needed it in the first place.

 

If you're lonely, baby, hold me, you're my only one

Watching television, kissing 'til we see the sun

So far we are safe in the dark

And I never dreamed that I'd be the queen and I'd be so happy that I could die

 

These lyrics further imply that they spend most of their time at night, sometimes even staying up 'til morning. And again, she's so happy she could die. We get it, Lana.   

 

You play me Biggie Smalls and then my first Nirvana song

So even then when no one's friends were really serious

I knew you loved me by the way you looked in second period

 

The first lyric is crucially important since we know from early interviews that Mr. Campbell was the one who introduced Lana to Biggie Smalls. She also knows he loves her the way she loves him.

 

I know that they say that all I want is to have fun

And get away for rainy days

I know that they think I've come undone

But I'm in love... I wanna run, run, run away

I'm leaving, are you coming with me?

 

This is the first time she outright mentions running away, which is another important theme in these songs. She also says that others think she's crazy for being with Mr. Campbell, but she doesn't care, she's in love with him, and she's fully prepared to leave with him. 

 

Oh Say Can You See

This is a very vague song, but I really do think it's about Mr. Campbell.

 

Oh, say can you see my stars

 

Stars are mentioned again, they seem to play an important role in the storyline.

 

The night time is almost ours

To wander through alleys and look at the bars

Night time is almost ours

 

As I mentioned before, they are only able to spent most of their time together at night. Lana is anxiously waiting for the night, so they could be with each other again.

 

The headlights from passing cars

They illuminate my face then leave me the dark

The voice of Nirvana says, "Come as you are"

And I will

The night time is almost ours

 

Cars start getting a bigger role. The Nirvana reference is very important because, as far as I know, the only other song to reference Nirvana itself is Prom Song (Gone Wrong). Perhaps Come As You Are was the song Mr. Campbell played for Lana?

 

The sway of the hips and arms

Will cradle you from afar

They swing 'til you're tired and send you to Mars

Night time is almost ours

 

The swaying of hips is also mentioned in Every Man Gets His Wish. They're still waiting for the night to come, so they'll be able to go out and see each other again. 

 

Driving In Cars With Boys

I know, you're probably thinking "What?", but let me explain and hopefully it makes sense, lol.

 

They say I'm wasting time, they said that I'm no good

Summer of my life, not doing what I should

Call me poison ivy 'cause I'm far from good

Pretty from afar, like a dark star

 

 

These lyrics seem to tie in with "I know that they say that all I want is to have fun; I know that they think I've come undone" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong). The others, possibly other students, think she's no good for hooking up with a teacher. It also sets this song in summer, which becomes important later on (I've been saying that a lot, haven't I?).

 

They think I'm dangerous, they think I'm really bad

I'm just making up for what I never had

Go out every night whenever I feel sad

 

More about how Lana's a naughty girl.   This might also refer to Lana and Mr. Campbell spending nights together, maybe she arranges sort-of dates with him whenever all the talk about them gets to her? 

 

Oh, this drive by love got me crazy like a drug

 

"Drive by love" could refer to how Lana and Mr. Campbell's romance isn't meant to last. Either this lyric is written in hindsight, or Lana knows that it isn't going to work out between them.

 

I wear my red lipstick, got my make-up on

Stumble into trouble, siren with a sad song

 

She mentions in Prom Song (Gone Wrong) that she likes to put on make-up for Mr. Campbell. 

 

They all got girlfriends, but I'm the one that they want

Miss America with the blue mascara on

 

Yes, Lana, we know you're hot. Ties with "It's you that I adore, though I make the boys fall like dominoes" from Lolita.

 

I spend my whole life driving in cars with boys

Riding around town, drinking in the white noise

Used to talk about where we be and where we go

Now we know, baby, now we know

 

She's spent most of her time riding around with Mr. Campbell. They used to fantasize about leaving town and running away, but now they're actually serious about it.

 

I spent my whole life wasted in bars with boys

Playing rock 'n roll, dancing in the loud noise

 

More dancing. These are probably things she and Mr. Campbell did together.

 

Mommy's Mercedes or Billy's pick up truck

Comes out late at night and baby picks me up

Tell him just drive on and d-don't ever stop

Don't take me home again, take me to a new land

 

"Mommy's Mercedes" indicates that she's still young. Mr. Campbell comes over at night to pick her up so they could spend time together like they always do, but this time, Lana tells him to drive and not stop. She's ready to run away with him right at that moment. The "Billy" reference might seem a bit dodgy, but I'll explain it later.

 

I wear my red lipstick, grab my coat and gun

Wonder if this is it, it's darkest before dawn

Sometimes I wanna give in but I just have to go on

Miss America now I'm gone, baby, gone.

 

The lyrics could be her getting ready for her escape with Mr. Campbell. Something may have happened before that caused her to want to run away, given the second line. She believes that leaving town with him is the right thing for her, and she's already left.

 

I was born to live fast, die young

Leave a beautiful corpse, live my life on the run

I got my cash, my Louis Vuitton, diamonds and guns

Girls just wanna, just wanna have fun

 

"Life on the run", another reference to running away (and one that shows up in more Mr. Campbell songs). She has money, luggage, her diamonds, she's definitely leaving for good. "Girls just wanna, just wanna have fun" is related to "I know that they say that all I want is to have fun" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong). 

 

Every Man Gets His Wish

Only portions of this song are related to Mr. Campbell, so those are the only ones I'll list.

 

We're gonna party like it's 1949

We're in that Chevrolet from July to July

Gonna see it all before he says goodbye

Every man deserves to see the sun rise

 

1949, a possible reference to Puppy Love? The Chevrolet is first mentioned here, and it ends becoming important later on (as always). Lana possibly knows that they will have to say goodbye to each other in the end, but she doesn't care at the moment, she wants to spend as much time as she can now. 

 

You said I'd never make out outta here alive

With the rate I was going, I'd be lucky to die

I was born so bad, not naturally right

The brightest star on Hollywood and Vine

 

The first line directly ties with Take Me To Paris and This Is What Makes Us Girls. I'm not sure what the rest of this means, but maybe you guys could help with that? 

 

We're gonna party like were running outta time

We're getting drunk and driving fast on cherry wine

Never do belong to anyone I find

Leaving everything I ever knew behind

 

They're actually running out of time as we know it doesn't work out, but they're going to do all they can together before then. Driving fast and leaving is also mentioned, so this is definitely related to Mr. Campbell.

 

I learned how to make love from the movies

See, he found me waitressing at Ruby Tuesday

He said "I wanna buy you up, plus a white milk shake"

I said "I'll serve you up a special side of heartbreak"

(Special side of heartbreak)

 

I'm not certain if these lyrics are actually about Mr. Campbell or not, but if so, "special side of heartbreak" could possibly mean that she knew they would both end up heartbroken when their relationship ended.

 

I was working down at the corner cafe

You would drop by in a the Chevrolet

Whistle at me as my hips go sway

Lana Del Rey, how you get that way?

(How you get that way?)

 

Possibly about Mr. Campbell again, the Chevrolet is mentioned again, as well as Lana's swaying hips from Oh Say Can You See. 

 

Heartshaped Chevrolet

You’re bigger than Elvis and cooler than B.I.G.

You’re smashing my dishes, you’re Billy The Kid

 

These lyrics are important because they directly refer to Biggie Smalls, which we know Mr. Campbell introduced Lana to. That can't be a coincidence. She also calls him Billy The Kid, rather that saying he's like Billy The Kid, meaning it could very well have been a nickname she used for him, which explains the lyric in Driving In Cars With Boys.

 

You’re very American, sugar

Marry me, Dick, I love you

 

Here, she describes him as being very "American" which could turn out to be potentially useful. As for the second line, it's unclear whether she's calling him a dick or Dick as another nickname, so I'll skip that. 

 

We’re on the road to the Jersey Shore, one stop and then we’ll stop no more

 

So now we know where exactly they're running away to, the Jersey Shore! It also ties neatly together with "Tell him just drive on and d-don't ever stop" from Driving In Cars With Boys.

 

You say you love everything I am

Love my lips and my golden tan

 

Let's refer to "I know that I'm a mess with my long hair and my sun tan" from Lolita, shall we?

 

You love my heartshaped sunglasses

Love my heartshaped sunglasses

Love my heartshaped sunglasses

 

Direct lyrics in Every Man Gets His Wish.

 

Spin me around, kiss me in your Chevrolet

Top down, Heaven like crazy

You let me drive, I’ll let you go all the way

I’ll never ever, ever, ever let you get away, away

 

The Chevrolet shows up again. Lana makes it clear that she'll do whatever it takes to make sure he doesn't leave her. Which brings me to... 

 

On Our Way

You, you light my red fire babe

Hot, white, and blue

And I, I think that you

I think you’re so cool babe

Loving everything you do

 

We know from Dynamite that she thinks he's awesome, and now she's in love with him.

 

You say we’re gonna run away

Put on your sundress, summer day

Flying around on the highway

 

Running away = definite Mr. Campbell reference. We also know that this is during the summer from Driving In Cars With Boys as well.

 

Spin me ’round, kiss me in your Chevrolet

I love you more with each and every day

Top down, gonna make a getaway, top down

 

Lyrics from Heartshaped Chevrolet. Finally being alone with Mr. Campbell has Lana falling more and more in love with him.

 

You found me when I had lost my way

Foot down, we’re going all the way, touchdown

 

When he met her, she had been sent to boarding school for alcoholism. Ties to lyrics in Lucky Ones. "Going all the way" could be a reference to Heartshaped Chevrolet.

 

How, you get so hot

You’re making me crazy

Hoping you’ll never stop

 

Lana, you already told us this in Lucky Ones, sing something new.   Also, thank God Mr. Campbell told you it was good to be crazy, right?

 

You say that we were meant to be

We’ll be together finally

Flying around and I’m finally free, oh

 

Mr. Campbell seems to agree that they were meant for each other as well. Now that they're away from the boarding school, they can finally be together without any restrictions.

 

Why, do I think too much?

You tell me not to worry

Because you’re the boss

And you, you got a real good plan

My trouble’s all over now

Because you’re my man

 

He has a plan for both of them so they could be together.

 

You don’t know what you’ve done to me

You’re heavier than heavenly

Life on the run has set me free, me free now

 

She loves him as much as she does heaven now. Also, "life on the run" is mentioned again, further tying it to Driving In Cars With Boys. 

 

Damn You

I won't cry myself to sleep like a sucker

I won't cry myself to sleep

If I do I'll die

 

By this time, it's definitely over between her and Mr. Campbell, but she's not going to let her broken heart take over. Also, I run the risk of losing the little Lanalyst integrity I have by including yet another stretch, but "I won't cry myself to sleep" = "Don't cry about him, don't cry about him" from This Is What Makes Us Girls, maybe?

 

Now you fall asleep with another

Damn you

 

So, the downfall of their relationship was another woman. Maybe he had a wife and decided to go back to her? It seems the most likely, but whatever the case, he's left Lana for someone else, and she's pissed.

 

Remember how we used to escape for the summer

Fireworks and sparklers would light up the black skies

 

Tied to Driving In Cars With Boys and On Our Way, we know that they did escape during the summer at least once.

 

We'd hold on tight for our lives to each other

Hello, hello, where did you go?

 

They definitely loved each other and ran away to be with each other, so this makes this all the more painful for Lana. She's wonder where he went in their relationship, with references to Without You.

 

We were two kids living life on the run

Like the American dream

 

Yep, life on the run = Driving In Cars With Boys, On Our Way, and especially Without You. Also, remember Lana calling him very American? It seems to really come into play here.

 

Baby, nothing to lose

And we'd get messed up for fun

We went too fast, too young

 

This could be referring to their escape or their nights together. Regardless of his real age, Lana seems to think of him as young (Prom Song (Gone Wrong), Take Me To Paris), and their relationship went too fast and was over too soon, connecting it to "drive by love" from Driving In Cars With Boys.

 

Flowers in my hair and your breath smelled like whiskey

Promised anywhere that I go, take you with me

Dancing on your feet like a child to the radio

Hello, hello, where did you go?

 

Possibly related to "Promise we won't say goodbye" from Take Me To Paris. We know that Lana wanted badly for him to stay with her when they were on their way to the Jersey Shore. Dancing is referenced again as well.

 

Every once in a lifetime

Dreams can come true

Now and then when the stars shine

You meet somebody like you

 

"Every now and then, the stars align". They were perfect for each other and their meeting was fate, but sadly, their relationship wasn't meant to last.

 

I pray your life is sweet, you fucker

 

She wishes him all the best with his life and new relationship, but she's still hurt and angry at him for leaving her. 

 

Without You

Hello? Hello?

C-can you hear me?

I can be your china doll

If you want to see me fall

 

Related to Damn You. She's telling him that she's willing to do whatever he wants.

 

Boy, you're so dope

Your love is deadly

 

Even after all this time, she still thinks he's very cool.

 

Tell me life is beautiful

They all think I have it all

 

He knows what she's been through and that her life isn't as glamorous as people make it out to be.

 

I'm nothing without you

All my dreams and all the lights mean

Nothing without you

 

She loves him so much, that she believes all of her dreams and accomplishments are meaningless if she doesn't have him.

 

Summertime is nice and hot

And my life is sweet like vanilla is

 

She's referencing summertime, since that's when they left town and ran away together. Her life is great right now as well, but Lana, is it sweet like French vanilla? 

 

But burned into my brain are these stolen images

Stolen images, baby, stolen images

Can you picture it?

Babe, the life we could've lived?

 

Even though her life is pretty good, she can't stop thinking about what could have been between her and Mr. Campbell. They were close to living their lives together, which makes it hurt even more.

 

We were two kids, just tryin' to get out,

Live on the dark side of the American dream.

We would dance all night, play our music loud,

When we grew up, nothing was what it seemed.

 

Directly references Damn You, among others. They spent their time together at night, and tried to make it out of the town alive (i.e This Is What Makes Us Girls, Take Me To Paris, Lucky Ones, Every Man Gets His Wish), but were ultimately unable to. 

 

 

So, let me know what you think, and if you any more ideas of songs that I may have missed or any other theories. Thanks for reading! 

 

wow such hard work ! Like you've already said some theories are pretty vague but no matter what you also convinced me with some songs

[YouCanBeTheBoss 71]

wow such hard work ! Like you've already said some theories are pretty vague but no matter what you also convinced me with some songs

 

Thank you! I was afraid my theories would be torn to shreds, lol.

 

I've also been thinking after I posted (yes, I think about this a lot), and I believe

National Anthem may be about Mr. Campbell as well. Aside from the title directly relating to Oh Say Can You See, the chorus indicates that it's set during the summer, specifically July, considering "Red, white, blue is in the sky" could mean fireworks, also tying it to On Our Way and Damn You. Furthermore, "Dark and lonely, I need somebody to hold me" could be about how she felt when she was first sent to the boarding school. But the most prominent clue:

 

According to this interview: http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/entertainment/articles/2011-09/19/gq-music-lana-del-rey-video-games-interview/page/2 (I didn't know how to link it, sorry!), she didn't know what was cool until Mr. Campbell played Biggie Smalls for her. This could potentially explain "He says to 'be cool', but I don't know how yet". And we know from Boarding School, Dynamite, Heartshaped Chevrolet, On Our Way, and Without You (if they are all in fact Mr. Campbell songs) that she thought he was pretty awesome.

 

Now the ending monologue:

 

And I remember when I met him.

It was so clear that he was the only one for me.

We both knew right away.

 

Lucky Ones, On Our Way, and Damn You all mention how they thought they were meant to be together.

 

And as the years went on things got more difficult.

We were faced with more challenges.

I begged him to stay.

Tried to remember what we had in the beginning.

 

So we know it was someone who left her. Heartshaped Chevrolet tells us that she really didn't want him to leave her, but he eventually ended up doing so by the time of Damn You. Maybe some of these challenges were a wife? Or perhaps all the business that comes with a student dating a teacher?

 

He was charismatic, magnetic, electric, and everybody knew him.

 

Everyone from town said that he was so cool. 

 

When he walked in every woman's head turned.

Everyone stood up to talk to him.

 

He's a looker. Lucky Ones, On Our Way, and National Anthem itself all confirm this.

 

I always got the sense that he became torn between being a good person and missing out on all of the opportunities that life could offer a man as magnificent as him.

 

Possibly, he was torn between staying with his wife and living an otherwise normal life, and leaving town and running away with Lana?

 

And I loved him, I loved him, I loved him, I loved him.

And I still love him, I love him.

 

The only other past boyfriend who we know Lana clearly still loves is K, but he didn't leave her. We know she could have left Jimmy (or they never had a serious relationship at all), and she definitely left Mike and it wasn't amicable, so the only logical choice is Mr. Campbell. If Damn You is really about him, then he left her to be with another woman.

 

Also, Puppy Love mentions both Jackie O. and Marilyn Monroe, and Lana ends up playing both of them in the music video. That may not be as prominent as the other clues, but I just felt like saying it. 

 

This also extends to JFK. In Puppy Love, she likens him to JFK by referring to him as the president without his Jackie O, not to mention the entire music video for National Anthem. "He was the king of the town with a crown that would never fall" could refer to how everyone thought he was cool from Boarding School. Summer nights in July are directly mentioned in the bridge, which from Damn You, On Our Way, and National Anthem, we can infer that they spent at least the fourth of July together. The rest of the bridge also tells us that she still loves this person and wants them to return to her, which as I mentioned before, Mr. Campbell is the only one who could fit the bill, considering Without You.

 

Starry Eyed also goes quite well with JFK and National Anthem. "Heaven in your eyes" from National Anthem makes another appearance, and "Well, once you and I, we were the king and queen of this town" refers back to JFK how Mr. Campbell was the king of the town, only this time, Lana is the queen. "The sun's settin' on our love, bye baby" makes it clear that the song is set after their relationship was over, or at least close to ending. "It doesn't matter what they say" connects to Prom Song (Gone Wrong) and Driving In Cars With Boys, the others didn't approve of their relationship. "Life doesn't always work out like you planned it" could refer to how they planned to run away and spend the rest of their lives together, but it ended up not lasting. And again, "'Cause you and I have an undying kind of love" indicates that she's still very much in love.

 

Well, that's it I guess. I didn't mean for this post to be this long, I promise. 

[Lanakai 662]

50% of the things he did contradicted the other 50% of the things he did, bless the boi

Sounds like someone else we know... 

[MermaidTrailerHeaven 454]

Did nobody read the Nylon interview? Srsly?

[Lirazel 700]

Even though there's a huge chance that the theories probably are wrong, I absolutely love this thread.

It was a very compelling read and it made me think about the person hiding behind the image of Lana Del Rey. I'm really fascinated by her Lizzy Grant years.

Kudos to all the people who have shared their knowledge, interpretation of lyrics and ideas. This thread is the reason I joined this board and decided to stay on it(I know, haven't written at all till now - gonna change that!).

I love smart, insightful fans.

[Valentino 885]

Not sure if this thread is still going on, but I've been reading it for a while and it's really interesting, haha. My personal favorite Lana mystery is definitely her possible relationship with Mr. Campbell, and I've spent a while speculating and developing this theory that I'd like to share.

 

I'm going to categorize and try to explain and connect the lyrics from some songs. This is actually my first post here so I'm a bit nervous, so here goes nothing!

 

Note: Please remember that we have no reason to believe any of this actually happened. For all we know, Lana could be taking events that happened to others and incorporating them into her own fictional storyline.

 

Put Me In A Movie 

Lights, camera, action

If he likes me, takes me home

 

By my interpretation at least, this song seems to be about the early attraction she felt towards him. The lyric is pretty straightforward, she's hoping he'll like her and take her to his home. Not sure what the "lights, camera, action" could refer to, but that's another theory for another time.   

 

Come on, you know you like little girls

You can be my daddy

 

Do I really need to explain this one?

 

He didn't know he'd have this much fun

 

He didn't expect falling for her, definitely understandable given she's one of his students!

 

You're my little sparkle jump rope queen

 

Possibly something he may have said to her? This may be a stretch, but does this tie with "no more skipping rope" from Lolita?

 

You know I can't make it on my own

Put me in a movie

 

...I don't even want to think of the implications here tbh, haha. The "movie" in question could refer to a class project of some sort, or something else... but let's move on.

 

Overall, this may seem like a huge stretch associating this with Mr. Campbell, but the "little girls" line combined with the clip of the man in the suit being arrested that shows up often in the music video are definitely damning, not to mention how Lana seems to purposefully sing with a voice more childlike than usual. 

 

Lolita

Would you be mine, would you be my baby tonight?

 

She's trying to convince him to be with her, similar to Put Me In A Move.

 

It's you that I adore, though I make the boys fall like dominoes

 

She could get any boy she wanted, but she'd rather have him.

 

No more skipping rope, skipping heart beats with the boys downtown

Just you and me feeling the heat even when the sun goes down

 

She isn't going to be with anyone else as long as they're together.

 

Shining like a god, can't believe I got you inside

 

She can't believe she has him, maybe he's the "most gorgeous guy in school" Lana mentioned in an interview?   

 

Dynamite

I'm unsure about this one, the only reason I'm adding it here is because it seems to tie together with lyrics in other teacher songs, so it may be about Mr. Campbell, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

French vanilla ice cream, just the way I like

Dripping on your windscreen, I can't get a bite

 

Pay attention to these lyrics, cars seem to play an important role in Mr. Campbell's storyline (which really says something considering Lana's songwriting).   Also, this may be a serious stretch, but "French vanilla ice cream"? As in, the same type of ice cream Lana was seen eating in her Myspace profile image. The Myspace for Sparkle Jump Rope Queen? Hmm...

 

Guess we could be more than friends, 'cause this kiss won't end

And you got me trembling

 

We know that Lana considered Mr. Campbell her best friend during her time at Kent School, so it's quite possible that they were friends before they allegedly became a couple.

 

You’re dynamite, I’m ready to blow

Take me out tonight

 

She thinks he's cool and wants them to spend the night out together. Given the nature of their relationship, I'd think they spent the most time with each other during the night.

 

I can see the stars collide

 

Stars doing a bunch of crazy things seems to be a theme among songs about Mr. Campbell, so note this as well.

 

Speeding through the wasteland, sparkling in the lights

 

A teenage wasteland, perhaps? 

 

He’s not like other guys, I can’t apologize

For what my body wants and what my heart decides

 

Understatement of the century Lana. Also, notice how she seems to feel the need to defend her attraction to him.

 

‘Cause I’m so close to the real thing

Yeah, I’m so close to the real thing

I’m so close to the real thing I could almost die

 

That real thing being first love? Or something else?   The last lyric seems to connect to "And I never dreamed I'd be so happy that I could die" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong).

 

Say it isn’t over, say it’s not goodnight

Maybe we could go somewhere and start a pillow fight

 

She doesn't want the night to be over since it's the only time they get to really be together. The lyric "start a pillow fight" is very childish, which also reinforces my theory of this song being about her teenage years. 

 

Puppy Love

It's not puppy love, puppy-puppy-puppy love

 

It isn't a simple crush or an infatuation, she's trying to convince him that it's the "real thing" a la Dynamite.

 

You make me wanna be like one of those girls

From the 1950s wearing those big pearls

 

Maybe his age is a factor in her feeling like this?

 

I cook you breakfast, coffee on your desk, yes

I might burn your toast, but baby, I'm still the bestest

 

Teacher's usually have a desk big enough for a full breakfast.   I know it's far from concrete, but I think the school setting is definitely important here. Are there any other relationships she's had during her boarding school time that affected her enough for her to write songs about them???

 

You make me wanna be like one of those girls

On the color TV, it was a new world

The Dick van Dyke show, we're Cher and Bono

The way I sing "I Got You Babe", makes you say, "Oh, no."

 

More old stuffs!

 

'Cause you're the class president without Jackie O

And I'm singing "Happy birthday" like Marilyn Monroe

 

The "class president" line originally threw me for a loop when I was trying to analyze the song, but think of it this way, maybe she's not talking about a literal class president? Perhaps she meant it as in, he's the leader of the classroom, the "president", and she wants to be his Jackie O.

 

(One) This is not a school girl crush (no)

(Two) This is not puppy love (uh-uh)

 

Again, she's trying to convince him that she's serious about this. Also, where I come from at least, "school girl crush" is often used to refer to a female student developing a hormone-addled crush on an older faculty member, like a teacher for example? 

 

It's the real thing when you told me you loved me

Promise I'll never see Arthur or Bobby, baby

 

Here's the "real thing" she mentions again from Dynamite. The second line ties with "No more skipping rope, skipping heart beats with the boys downtown" from Lolita.

 

This is not a school girl thing (no, two)

What about the diamond ring? (uh-uh)

 

Diamond ring? Did he give it to her, or did she give it to him? Either way, this signifies that their relationship has gotten pretty serious.

 

You're everybody's hero and you're hitting it home

 

Given the comments on his Rate My Teachers page, he seems to have been a popular teacher. 

 

Take Me To Paris

Baby say goodnight

Text me when you get home safely

Like you always did

When we was first dating

 

By this time, they've been dating for a while. More references to saying goodnight as well.

 

You're sitting in your office dreaming of a different life

You say you wanna make me smile and see my wild side

If we don't leave town now

We're never gonna get out of here alive

 

He's been thinking about leaving with her and starting a life together. Leaving town is a very important theme in more Mr. Campbell songs, so watch out for that too. "We're never gonna get out of here alive" ties with "Teachers said we'd never make it out alive" from This Is What Makes Us Girls.

 

I'm walking home from school my thoughts are drifting into space

Why don't we leave tonight and take off to a different place

Don't tell my daddy why, gotta get on that plane and just fly

 

Given her wording, this seems to be the first time they've seriously began to think of leaving.

 

Take me to Paris

Let's go there and never look back

 

All the way to Paris? Girl is going all out.

 

I wanna be that fantasy that you got on your mind

Flying across the sea to somewhere that they'll never find

We should go out while we're young

 

Who she is exactly referring to as "they" is debatable, but the main point is that they don't seem to be allowed to be together, which reinforces the subject being Mr. Campbell. Also, she seems to see him as young as well, which is important for later.

 

We'll dance until we die

Wanna go out every night

Promise we won't say goodbye

 

References to dancing and going out at night. Saying goodbye seems to be a shadow cast over their relationship, so Lana feels the need for them to promise to each other. 

 

Lucky Ones

Get ready, 'cause this is where things start to get exciting.

 

Let's get out of this town, baby we're on fire

Everyone around here seems to be going down, down

 

The theme of leaving town is continued in this song, and the second line seems to connect to Kent School being a "teenage wasteland" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong).

 

If you stick with me, I can take you higher, and higher

It feels like all of our friends are lost

Nobody's found, found, found

 

I'm not sure what she means by "higher", but the rest of this is more teenage wasteland goodness.

 

I got so scared, I thought no one could save me

You came along scooped me up like a baby

 

She was sent to boarding school for a growing alcohol addiction, Mr. Campbell found her when she was at her lowest point.

 

Every now and then, the stars align

Boy and girl meet by the great design

Could it be that you and me are the lucky ones?

 

See what I meant about the stars? She's saying that their meeting was caused by fate and luck.

 

Everybody told me love was blind

Then I saw your face and you blew my mind

Finally, you and me are the lucky ones this time

 

She thinks he's hot stuff, and they can finally be together now.

 

Boy get into my car, got a bad desire

You know that we'll never leave if we don't get out, now, now

 

Because they're afraid they'll never make it out alive.

 

You're a careless con, and you're a crazy liar

But baby, nobody can compare to the way you get down, down, down

 

I'm not sure what Lana could mean by "careless con" and "crazy liar", but never mind. We know from Boarding School that she's quite knowledgeable on how he gets down. 

 

I tried so hard to act nice like a lady

You told me that it was good to be crazy

 

Possibly a reference to Puppy Love? Nevertheless, he didn't need her to act like that to be with him.

 

Feels like, feels like, you know, it feels like

Falling in love for the first time

Feels like, you know, it feels like

Falling in love

 

I think now we know what that "real thing" she was talking about. She's literally falling in love for the first time. 

 

Prom Song (Gone Wrong)

This is the most concrete of the Mr. Campbell songs, so most of what is said here can be used to validate the other theories.

 

Boy, it's late, walk me home, put your hand in mine

At the gate, stop and say, "Be my valentine"

You are, by far, the brightest star I've ever seen

And I never dreamed I'd be so happy that I could die

 

Saying goodnight as mentioned in Take Me To Paris. Being happy enough to die is also alluded to in Dynamite.

 

And even then I knew that we were something serious,

That you would dominate my thoughts like radio the Sirius

 

Their relationship has gotten much more serious than before.

 

Let me take you out of this town

Let me do it right now, baby

Dancing 'til the dark, staying forever young

Let's get out of this place, 'cause you're starting to waste

Within this teenage wasteland

 

Lana is now completely serious about leaving town, and wants to do it as soon as possible. Dancing at night and being young shows up again from Take Me To Paris, and Lana finally ups and calls the place a teenage wasteland, tying the song with Dynamite and Lucky Ones.

 

You will never see my face

If you don't get me out of this place, now, baby

I'm not crazy

I'm leaving, are you coming with me?

 

She's so serious about leaving that she's ready to go without him, and she doesn't need the boarding school any more, or maybe she feels like she never needed it in the first place.

 

If you're lonely, baby, hold me, you're my only one

Watching television, kissing 'til we see the sun

So far we are safe in the dark

And I never dreamed that I'd be the queen and I'd be so happy that I could die

 

These lyrics further imply that they spend most of their time at night, sometimes even staying up 'til morning. And again, she's so happy she could die. We get it, Lana.   

 

You play me Biggie Smalls and then my first Nirvana song

So even then when no one's friends were really serious

I knew you loved me by the way you looked in second period

 

The first lyric is crucially important since we know from early interviews that Mr. Campbell was the one who introduced Lana to Biggie Smalls. She also knows he loves her the way she loves him.

 

I know that they say that all I want is to have fun

And get away for rainy days

I know that they think I've come undone

But I'm in love... I wanna run, run, run away

I'm leaving, are you coming with me?

 

This is the first time she outright mentions running away, which is another important theme in these songs. She also says that others think she's crazy for being with Mr. Campbell, but she doesn't care, she's in love with him, and she's fully prepared to leave with him. 

 

Oh Say Can You See

This is a very vague song, but I really do think it's about Mr. Campbell.

 

Oh, say can you see my stars

 

Stars are mentioned again, they seem to play an important role in the storyline.

 

The night time is almost ours

To wander through alleys and look at the bars

Night time is almost ours

 

As I mentioned before, they are only able to spent most of their time together at night. Lana is anxiously waiting for the night, so they could be with each other again.

 

The headlights from passing cars

They illuminate my face then leave me the dark

The voice of Nirvana says, "Come as you are"

And I will

The night time is almost ours

 

Cars start getting a bigger role. The Nirvana reference is very important because, as far as I know, the only other song to reference Nirvana itself is Prom Song (Gone Wrong). Perhaps Come As You Are was the song Mr. Campbell played for Lana?

 

The sway of the hips and arms

Will cradle you from afar

They swing 'til you're tired and send you to Mars

Night time is almost ours

 

The swaying of hips is also mentioned in Every Man Gets His Wish. They're still waiting for the night to come, so they'll be able to go out and see each other again. 

 

Driving In Cars With Boys

I know, you're probably thinking "What?", but let me explain and hopefully it makes sense, lol.

 

They say I'm wasting time, they said that I'm no good

Summer of my life, not doing what I should

Call me poison ivy 'cause I'm far from good

Pretty from afar, like a dark star

 

 

These lyrics seem to tie in with "I know that they say that all I want is to have fun; I know that they think I've come undone" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong). The others, possibly other students, think she's no good for hooking up with a teacher. It also sets this song in summer, which becomes important later on (I've been saying that a lot, haven't I?).

 

They think I'm dangerous, they think I'm really bad

I'm just making up for what I never had

Go out every night whenever I feel sad

 

More about how Lana's a naughty girl.   This might also refer to Lana and Mr. Campbell spending nights together, maybe she arranges sort-of dates with him whenever all the talk about them gets to her? 

 

Oh, this drive by love got me crazy like a drug

 

"Drive by love" could refer to how Lana and Mr. Campbell's romance isn't meant to last. Either this lyric is written in hindsight, or Lana knows that it isn't going to work out between them.

 

I wear my red lipstick, got my make-up on

Stumble into trouble, siren with a sad song

 

She mentions in Prom Song (Gone Wrong) that she likes to put on make-up for Mr. Campbell. 

 

They all got girlfriends, but I'm the one that they want

Miss America with the blue mascara on

 

Yes, Lana, we know you're hot. Ties with "It's you that I adore, though I make the boys fall like dominoes" from Lolita.

 

I spend my whole life driving in cars with boys

Riding around town, drinking in the white noise

Used to talk about where we be and where we go

Now we know, baby, now we know

 

She's spent most of her time riding around with Mr. Campbell. They used to fantasize about leaving town and running away, but now they're actually serious about it.

 

I spent my whole life wasted in bars with boys

Playing rock 'n roll, dancing in the loud noise

 

More dancing. These are probably things she and Mr. Campbell did together.

 

Mommy's Mercedes or Billy's pick up truck

Comes out late at night and baby picks me up

Tell him just drive on and d-don't ever stop

Don't take me home again, take me to a new land

 

"Mommy's Mercedes" indicates that she's still young. Mr. Campbell comes over at night to pick her up so they could spend time together like they always do, but this time, Lana tells him to drive and not stop. She's ready to run away with him right at that moment. The "Billy" reference might seem a bit dodgy, but I'll explain it later.

 

I wear my red lipstick, grab my coat and gun

Wonder if this is it, it's darkest before dawn

Sometimes I wanna give in but I just have to go on

Miss America now I'm gone, baby, gone.

 

The lyrics could be her getting ready for her escape with Mr. Campbell. Something may have happened before that caused her to want to run away, given the second line. She believes that leaving town with him is the right thing for her, and she's already left.

 

I was born to live fast, die young

Leave a beautiful corpse, live my life on the run

I got my cash, my Louis Vuitton, diamonds and guns

Girls just wanna, just wanna have fun

 

"Life on the run", another reference to running away (and one that shows up in more Mr. Campbell songs). She has money, luggage, her diamonds, she's definitely leaving for good. "Girls just wanna, just wanna have fun" is related to "I know that they say that all I want is to have fun" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong). 

 

Every Man Gets His Wish

Only portions of this song are related to Mr. Campbell, so those are the only ones I'll list.

 

We're gonna party like it's 1949

We're in that Chevrolet from July to July

Gonna see it all before he says goodbye

Every man deserves to see the sun rise

 

1949, a possible reference to Puppy Love? The Chevrolet is first mentioned here, and it ends becoming important later on (as always). Lana possibly knows that they will have to say goodbye to each other in the end, but she doesn't care at the moment, she wants to spend as much time as she can now. 

 

You said I'd never make out outta here alive

With the rate I was going, I'd be lucky to die

I was born so bad, not naturally right

The brightest star on Hollywood and Vine

 

The first line directly ties with Take Me To Paris and This Is What Makes Us Girls. I'm not sure what the rest of this means, but maybe you guys could help with that? 

 

We're gonna party like were running outta time

We're getting drunk and driving fast on cherry wine

Never do belong to anyone I find

Leaving everything I ever knew behind

 

They're actually running out of time as we know it doesn't work out, but they're going to do all they can together before then. Driving fast and leaving is also mentioned, so this is definitely related to Mr. Campbell.

 

I learned how to make love from the movies

See, he found me waitressing at Ruby Tuesday

He said "I wanna buy you up, plus a white milk shake"

I said "I'll serve you up a special side of heartbreak"

(Special side of heartbreak)

 

I'm not certain if these lyrics are actually about Mr. Campbell or not, but if so, "special side of heartbreak" could possibly mean that she knew they would both end up heartbroken when their relationship ended.

 

I was working down at the corner cafe

You would drop by in a the Chevrolet

Whistle at me as my hips go sway

Lana Del Rey, how you get that way?

(How you get that way?)

 

Possibly about Mr. Campbell again, the Chevrolet is mentioned again, as well as Lana's swaying hips from Oh Say Can You See. 

 

Heartshaped Chevrolet

You’re bigger than Elvis and cooler than B.I.G.

You’re smashing my dishes, you’re Billy The Kid

 

These lyrics are important because they directly refer to Biggie Smalls, which we know Mr. Campbell introduced Lana to. That can't be a coincidence. She also calls him Billy The Kid, rather that saying he's like Billy The Kid, meaning it could very well have been a nickname she used for him, which explains the lyric in Driving In Cars With Boys.

 

You’re very American, sugar

Marry me, Dick, I love you

 

Here, she describes him as being very "American" which could turn out to be potentially useful. As for the second line, it's unclear whether she's calling him a dick or Dick as another nickname, so I'll skip that. 

 

We’re on the road to the Jersey Shore, one stop and then we’ll stop no more

 

So now we know where exactly they're running away to, the Jersey Shore! It also ties neatly together with "Tell him just drive on and d-don't ever stop" from Driving In Cars With Boys.

 

You say you love everything I am

Love my lips and my golden tan

 

Let's refer to "I know that I'm a mess with my long hair and my sun tan" from Lolita, shall we?

 

You love my heartshaped sunglasses

Love my heartshaped sunglasses

Love my heartshaped sunglasses

 

Direct lyrics in Every Man Gets His Wish.

 

Spin me around, kiss me in your Chevrolet

Top down, Heaven like crazy

You let me drive, I’ll let you go all the way

I’ll never ever, ever, ever let you get away, away

 

The Chevrolet shows up again. Lana makes it clear that she'll do whatever it takes to make sure he doesn't leave her. Which brings me to... 

 

On Our Way

You, you light my red fire babe

Hot, white, and blue

And I, I think that you

I think you’re so cool babe

Loving everything you do

 

We know from Dynamite that she thinks he's awesome, and now she's in love with him.

 

You say we’re gonna run away

Put on your sundress, summer day

Flying around on the highway

 

Running away = definite Mr. Campbell reference. We also know that this is during the summer from Driving In Cars With Boys as well.

 

Spin me ’round, kiss me in your Chevrolet

I love you more with each and every day

Top down, gonna make a getaway, top down

 

Lyrics from Heartshaped Chevrolet. Finally being alone with Mr. Campbell has Lana falling more and more in love with him.

 

You found me when I had lost my way

Foot down, we’re going all the way, touchdown

 

When he met her, she had been sent to boarding school for alcoholism. Ties to lyrics in Lucky Ones. "Going all the way" could be a reference to Heartshaped Chevrolet.

 

How, you get so hot

You’re making me crazy

Hoping you’ll never stop

 

Lana, you already told us this in Lucky Ones, sing something new.   Also, thank God Mr. Campbell told you it was good to be crazy, right?

 

You say that we were meant to be

We’ll be together finally

Flying around and I’m finally free, oh

 

Mr. Campbell seems to agree that they were meant for each other as well. Now that they're away from the boarding school, they can finally be together without any restrictions.

 

Why, do I think too much?

You tell me not to worry

Because you’re the boss

And you, you got a real good plan

My trouble’s all over now

Because you’re my man

 

He has a plan for both of them so they could be together.

 

You don’t know what you’ve done to me

You’re heavier than heavenly

Life on the run has set me free, me free now

 

She loves him as much as she does heaven now. Also, "life on the run" is mentioned again, further tying it to Driving In Cars With Boys. 

 

Damn You

I won't cry myself to sleep like a sucker

I won't cry myself to sleep

If I do I'll die

 

By this time, it's definitely over between her and Mr. Campbell, but she's not going to let her broken heart take over. Also, I run the risk of losing the little Lanalyst integrity I have by including yet another stretch, but "I won't cry myself to sleep" = "Don't cry about him, don't cry about him" from This Is What Makes Us Girls, maybe?

 

Now you fall asleep with another

Damn you

 

So, the downfall of their relationship was another woman. Maybe he had a wife and decided to go back to her? It seems the most likely, but whatever the case, he's left Lana for someone else, and she's pissed.

 

Remember how we used to escape for the summer

Fireworks and sparklers would light up the black skies

 

Tied to Driving In Cars With Boys and On Our Way, we know that they did escape during the summer at least once.

 

We'd hold on tight for our lives to each other

Hello, hello, where did you go?

 

They definitely loved each other and ran away to be with each other, so this makes this all the more painful for Lana. She's wonder where he went in their relationship, with references to Without You.

 

We were two kids living life on the run

Like the American dream

 

Yep, life on the run = Driving In Cars With Boys, On Our Way, and especially Without You. Also, remember Lana calling him very American? It seems to really come into play here.

 

Baby, nothing to lose

And we'd get messed up for fun

We went too fast, too young

 

This could be referring to their escape or their nights together. Regardless of his real age, Lana seems to think of him as young (Prom Song (Gone Wrong), Take Me To Paris), and their relationship went too fast and was over too soon, connecting it to "drive by love" from Driving In Cars With Boys.

 

Flowers in my hair and your breath smelled like whiskey

Promised anywhere that I go, take you with me

Dancing on your feet like a child to the radio

Hello, hello, where did you go?

 

Possibly related to "Promise we won't say goodbye" from Take Me To Paris. We know that Lana wanted badly for him to stay with her when they were on their way to the Jersey Shore. Dancing is referenced again as well.

 

Every once in a lifetime

Dreams can come true

Now and then when the stars shine

You meet somebody like you

 

"Every now and then, the stars align". They were perfect for each other and their meeting was fate, but sadly, their relationship wasn't meant to last.

 

I pray your life is sweet, you fucker

 

She wishes him all the best with his life and new relationship, but she's still hurt and angry at him for leaving her. 

 

Without You

Hello? Hello?

C-can you hear me?

I can be your china doll

If you want to see me fall

 

Related to Damn You. She's telling him that she's willing to do whatever he wants.

 

Boy, you're so dope

Your love is deadly

 

Even after all this time, she still thinks he's very cool.

 

Tell me life is beautiful

They all think I have it all

 

He knows what she's been through and that her life isn't as glamorous as people make it out to be.

 

I'm nothing without you

All my dreams and all the lights mean

Nothing without you

 

She loves him so much, that she believes all of her dreams and accomplishments are meaningless if she doesn't have him.

 

Summertime is nice and hot

And my life is sweet like vanilla is

 

She's referencing summertime, since that's when they left town and ran away together. Her life is great right now as well, but Lana, is it sweet like French vanilla? 

 

But burned into my brain are these stolen images

Stolen images, baby, stolen images

Can you picture it?

Babe, the life we could've lived?

 

Even though her life is pretty good, she can't stop thinking about what could have been between her and Mr. Campbell. They were close to living their lives together, which makes it hurt even more.

 

We were two kids, just tryin' to get out,

Live on the dark side of the American dream.

We would dance all night, play our music loud,

When we grew up, nothing was what it seemed.

 

Directly references Damn You, among others. They spent their time together at night, and tried to make it out of the town alive (i.e This Is What Makes Us Girls, Take Me To Paris, Lucky Ones, Every Man Gets His Wish), but were ultimately unable to. 

 

 

So, let me know what you think, and if you any more ideas of songs that I may have missed or any other theories. Thanks for reading! 

 

I like a lot of your analyses, but I'm not convinced on Lucky Ones. The "careless con and crazy liar" part pretty clearly describes K, whom we've established to be involved in illicit activities. The mentions to the great design and the stars are reminiscent of Born To Die (is it by mistake or design), which I believe to be a K song. A lot of K songs are related to heaven and things beyond (Dark Paradise, Bel Air, Y&B, OTTR) so I'm inclined to believe that this is more a reference to K than anyone else.

 

To be fair, a lot of her songs are ambiguous. Is K a punk rocker musician or a hip-hop styled gangster? Who the hell is Video Games about? What's up with all the "violent love" imagery (Smarty, Diet Mtn Dew demo, Bel Air)? And why does she only have one (red) party dress? As such, I've actually been thinking that it's possible a lot of her songs are amalgamations of various different characters (it's hard to believe K is a real person when we have no evidence he existed beyond her songs) and confirmed/rumored lovers.

 

Really enjoyed your work, by the way! Especially since you delved into songs I didn't really know too well.

[Philomene 928]

@@YouCanBeTheBoss

 

I think that Put Me In a Movie isn't related to Mr. Campbell, to me it speaks more about how she felt able to do such things, her struggling to become famous. Lana said she has a perverse side she is very comfortable with. 

I am not sure that we can automatically assume any Lolita reference is linked to Mr. Campbell, Off to the Races has heavy ones and Lana said she always liked older men. She might have felt like a ~Lolita even a little bit older and we don't know every man she has been in a relationship with.

 

Boarding School obviously involves Mr. Campbell "let's do drugs, make love with our teachers"

1949 is strongly linked to Lolita, in that case it involves a Pontiac. Tbh 1949 sounds more childish, I get K vibes from Every Man Gets His Wish, "every man deserves to see the sunrise" sounds like they travel before the guy has to leave for prison.

 

Without you isn't a Mr. Campbell song imo, "living on the dark side of the American dream" sounds K like. He was involved in illicit activities and had a lot of money, it really matches this line. "Can you picture it, babe the life we could have lived" is easy, it could be her imagining the happy life she would have right now with her fame, money and the love of her life by her side and not in prison. K has left her mark on her forever (TV in Black and White, Blue Jeans, ...)

 

Lucky Ones, well I start to see it differently after reading you but the line "It feels like falling in love for the first time" could be still accurate, Lana could consider the love she has for K as her first "real" love. But yeah it could be a Mr. Campbell song, even by its sound it reminds me of Prom Song.

 

National Anthem is a K song to me, it has huge references to wealth and I doubt Mr. Campbell could afford that. The subject of this song is "the dark side of the American dream", idk it is pretty clear it's not about Mr. Campbell.

 

Making assumptions that summer=Mr. Campbell seems wrong too, it's a time Lana loves not a real link to this relationship, unlike the ocean=K

 

Do you think Dum Dum could be about Mr. Campbell ? "I'm a bright child, wild child" ; "You can't go to school today" ; "I just wanna drink" seem to be big mentions to her teenage days

[YouCanBeTheBoss 71]

Thanks for your replies guys. 

 

PMIAM was one of the few I wasn't entirely sure about, admittedly. It is a very vague song and there aren't enough clues/references in the lyrics to be able to really pinpoint who it's about. I do think the clip in the music video of the man in the suit being arrested is pretty important in regards to the meaning of the song, but still that may not be enough to go on.

 

Boarding School is definitely about Mr. Campbell (I refer to it in my analyses but I decided not to do a full analysis to it since it doesn't really do much to progress the ~storyline~ lol). The song notably makes a lot of references to drugs, which a quick Google search tells me that Kent School was infamous for its drug problems. I don't want to be too accusatory, but that could be something we might want to remember.

 

While developing my theory and posting it, I thought about adding 1949. It would be perfect as a Mr. Campbell song if it weren't for that pesky Pontiac, which we know Lana associates with Arthur Lynn. But I do like your theory, Lana does include a lot of non-literal references in her songs, so maybe it could still be related to Mr. Campbell?

 

At least part of EMGHW is inspired by Mr. Campbell, considering the lyric "You said I'd never make out outta here alive", which shows up in other forms in TIWMUG and Take Me To Paris, and of course the allusions to running away ("Leaving everything I ever knew behind"). Since we know that Lana may have taken some or even all of its lyrics from other songs, maybe it's about all of her most important loves at the time? Hawaiian Tropic and Daytona Meth are definite K songs imo, and 1949 could possibly be a Mr. Campbell song, as well as Heartshaped Chevrolet. "Every man deserves to see the sun rise" is also reminiscent of Velvet Crowbar, which ties to the famous unnamed addict/Jimmy Gnecco. Who knows tbh? 

 

I thought my interpretations of Without You and Lucky Ones would cause a bit of issue, since they're widely considered to be K songs. In the case of Without You, there are tons of parallels to Damn You. "Hello? Hello? C-can you hear me?" versus "Hello, hello? Where did you go?" and "We were two kids, just tryin' to get out. Lived on the dark side of the American dream." versus "We were two kids living life on the run, like the American dream." The bridge also ties to the themes of getting out of the town/getting out alive which is prevalent in other Mr. Campbell songs. With that being said, Without You and Damn You are far too similar lyrically for me to believe that they're about two different people, and we know part of the conflict in Damn You is that her lover left her for another woman, which doesn't seem to have been a problem in her relationship with K, and Without You was written as late as 2008, long before her relationship with Mike fell through. The two songs being about Mr. Campbell is the best bet imo.

 

As for Lucky Ones, I included it in my theory/analysis mainly because of the strong themes of leaving town/running away, which appear in other Mr. Campbell songs, such as Prom Song (Gone Wrong) and Take Me To Paris, as well as DICWB, EMGHW, Heartshaped Chevrolet, On Our Way, and Damn You. Based on that, running away, leaving town, making it out alive, life on the run, etc. are all definite Mr. Campbell themes. The lyric "I got so scared, I thought no one could save me, you came along scooped me up like a baby." also makes the most sense when you relate it to Lana's teenage years at Kent School. She was sent there for her alcohol issues and she was at her lowest point at the time, Mr. Campbell was there and he 'saved' her. "Every now and then, the stars align, boy and girl meet by the great design." also ties to the bridge in Damn You, with "Now and then when the stars shine, uou meet somebody like you." I explained above why Damn You is most likely about Mr. Campbell, and this also further ties all the songs together. All in all, I think the rest of the lyrics that tie to other Mr. Campbell-related songs outweigh the one "You're a careless con, and you're a crazy liar." lyric. And who knows, maybe she is referring to Mr. Campbell in that lyric? She certainly knows more about him than we do. 

 

Anyway, yeah, I pretty much only included National Anthem due to the interview where Lana said she didn't know "what cool was" until Mr. Campbell played her Biggie Smalls, which could explain "He says to 'be cool' but, I don't know how yet". The "Red, white, blue's in the sky" could also allude to fireworks which are mentioned in Damn You, "Hot, white, and blue" from On Our Way may also refer to it. The music video monologue also implies that the man left her ("I begged him to stay, tried to remember what we had in the beginning.), which we know the downfall of her and K's relationship was prison, not growing apart/leaving each other. The contents of the song may not be completely literal, but yeah, other than that, the rest of the lyrics are pretty vague so, meh, oh well. 

 

I must admit I got a bit carried away with all the associating songs with Mr. Campbell, lol. Maybe though, the reason Lana loves the summer is because it reminds her of her trips and escapes with Mr. Campbell? I mean, we wouldn't have known that Coney Island was a reference to K if it weren't for TV In Black & White (or even why the ocean was related to K, for that matter), we would just know it as a place that Lana loves. I don't think, however, that simple mentions of summer itself are enough to go on for determining whether or not a song is related to Mr. Campbell, but if the song contains other clues besides that, then why not?

 

I did look at Dum Dum while I was developing my analysis. The "I’m a wild child, bright child" and "You can't go to school today" are very teenage Lana-ish. The "You thought that you were done" also narrows it down to people who left her, meaning Mr. Campbell and Mike (at least I think). The "Living in L.A." lyric has me wondering though. Did she live in L.A. when she was on vacation from Kent School possibly? (I'm not sure how we could know that, but we somehow know that Mr. Campbell has a 1967 Red Chevy so.  ) The references to being a singer are a bit strange as well. She didn't really become a singer until she left the school when she was 18, did she? I guess the song could be about after she left the school and her desire to see him again, but that's a bit too stretchy for my tastes. But I'll keep my eyes and ears out, you might be on to something here. 

 

</rambles>

[Valentino 885]

 

I thought my interpretations of Without You and Lucky Ones would cause a bit of issue, since they're widely considered to be K songs. In the case of Without You, there are tons of parallels to Damn You. "Hello? Hello? C-can you hear me?"

Personally this reminded me of K because of "Blue Jeans:" "baby, can you see through the tears?" I will say the "Damn You" reference is close; I'll look at the song later (I'm not too familiar with her unreleased stuff).

 

"We were two kids, just tryin' to get out. Lived on the dark side of the American dream." versus "We were two kids living life on the run, like the American dream." The bridge also ties to the themes of getting out of the town/getting out alive which is prevalent in other Mr. Campbell songs. With that being said, Without You and Damn You are far too similar lyrically for me to believe that they're about two different people, and we know part of the conflict in Damn You is that her lover left her for another woman, which doesn't seem to have been a problem in her relationship with K, and Without You was written as late as 2008, long before her relationship with Mike fell through. The two songs being about Mr. Campbell is the best bet imo.

I feel it's very strange to refer to Mr. Campbell as a "kid," though, especially when she enjoys being infantilized and he's definitely older than her. In addition, how can you say he "grew up?" Lana can say that because she's young and immature; can we really say the same about Campbell? "Dark side of the American dream" definitely points to the theme in "National Anthem" about the new, perverted version of the American Dream. "We would dance all night, play our music loud" is generic (we know Campbell liked hip-hop) but it's worth noting that K can be linked to dancing all night as well ("Blue Jeans:" "we were dancing all night," Body Electric: "we get down every Friday night, dancing and grinding in the pale moonlight").

 

As for Lucky Ones, I included it in my theory/analysis mainly because of the strong themes of leaving town/running away, which appear in other Mr. Campbell songs, such as Prom Song (Gone Wrong) and Take Me To Paris, as well as DICWB, EMGHW, Heartshaped Chevrolet, On Our Way, and Damn You. Based on that, running away, leaving town, making it out alive, life on the run, etc. are all definite Mr. Campbell themes. The lyric "I got so scared, I thought no one could save me, you came along scooped me up like a baby." also makes the most sense when you relate it to Lana's teenage years at Kent School. She was sent there for her alcohol issues and she was at her lowest point at the time, Mr. Campbell was there and he 'saved' her.

 

"Every now and then, the stars align, boy and girl meet by the great design." also ties to the bridge in Damn You, with "Now and then when the stars shine, uou meet somebody like you." I explained above why Damn You is most likely about Mr. Campbell, and this also further ties all the songs together.

Divinity seems pretty strongly associated with K, though. "Is it by mistake or design?" in Born To Die, "got my bad baby by my heavenly side" in Summertime Sadness, "but I trust in the decision of the Lord," pretty much all of Bel Air. She believes God took K from her for a reason, probably the same reason He put him into her life.

 

In addition, "Lucky Ones" throws some lyrical references to Video Games: "everyone around here seems to be going down," "it feels like all of our friends are lost, nobody's found". Compare to "watchin' all our friends fall in and out of Old Paul's." The use of "fall" and the association with a bar (alcoholic friends?) definitely suggests her friends are engaged in some sort of harmful activity. She's worried about the same thing in "Lucky Ones." While it's hard to conclusively say anything about Video Games, remember that it was included in a trilogy with Blue Jeans (if this isn't a K song I will eat my hat) and Born To Die (less conclusively K but I believe there's enough evidence to point it towards K).

 

"Scooped me up like a baby" is a lyrical theme that can be found in American ("spin me round like a child") and Young & Beautiful ("the way you'd play with me like a child"), referring to her desire to be infantilized and protected. Although American is ambiguous, with many people placing it as a Barrie song, I feel that the bridge is very telling: "Everybody wants to go fast but they can't compare, I don't really want the rest, only you can take me there, I don't even know what I'm saying but I'm praying for you." Clearly she's worried about this guy who "goes fast." Who else would she be worried about? Remember Blue Jeans: "I said no please, stay here, we don't need no money we can make it all work." "Young & Beautiful" was written for Gatsby but still tosses in some old Lanaisms, like the aforementioned infantilism, summer (mid-July, to be precise), a musician (if the K in For K/Sirens is the same guy as in For K Part 2, we can assume he's a musician. Blue Jeans also mentions "you were sorta punk rock"), incredible physical beauty (compare "oh that grace, oh that body, oh that face, makes me wanna party" and "then I saw your face and you blew my mind"), and the idea of death and meeting your lover in heaven ("dear Lord, when I get to heaven, please let me bring my man. When he comes, tell me that you'll let him in, Father, tell me if you can." Compare to "Born To Die:" "I'm hoping at the gates, they'll tell me that you're mine" and "Bel Air:" "gargoyles standing at the front of your gates, trying to tell me to wait but I can't wait to see you").

 

I don't believe all infantile references point to K, of course - Lolita is probably not about K and idk what Smarty ("tell me that I'm just a baby" + "who has a face like Smarty does?") is about. But I think it's pretty interesting that this "verb me like a infantile noun" formula is repeated in certain contexts. The other infantile references (Lolita, Smarty, I'm guessing a bunch in her unreleased catalog) don't fit into this pattern so easily.

 

All in all, I think the rest of the lyrics that tie to other Mr. Campbell-related songs outweigh the one "You're a careless con, and you're a crazy liar." lyric. And who knows, maybe she is referring to Mr. Campbell in that lyric? She certainly knows more about him than we do. 

A bunch of ambiguous lyrical similarities vs. traits that are definitely K (he was involved in illicit activities and definitely very charming, see Million Dollar Man). We know this line fits K well and assuming it fits Mr. Campbell is speculation, especially when none of the other songs link him to being involved in deceiving people for money or lying often.

 

Anyway, yeah, I pretty much only included National Anthem due to the interview where Lana said she didn't know "what cool was" until Mr. Campbell played her Biggie Smalls, which could explain "He says to 'be cool' but, I don't know how yet". The "Red, white, blue's in the sky" could also allude to fireworks which are mentioned in Damn You, "Hot, white, and blue" from On Our Way may also refer to it. The music video monologue also implies that the man left her ("I begged him to stay, tried to remember what we had in the beginning.), which we know the downfall of her and K's relationship was prison, not growing apart/leaving each other. The contents of the song may not be completely literal, but yeah, other than that, the rest of the lyrics are pretty vague so, meh, oh well. 

We don't know precisely what happened with K and I'm starting to think who we call K may well be two different people (a punk rock musician vs. a more hip-hop oriented guy?). Look at Kill Kill: "tell me about Ray and his girl." Why does she ask to know about some other guy's girlfriend? That's not relevant... unless they were involved somehow? "I am going to leave you. [...] I have done everything I can." We know K was taken away to prison and ended with a death sentence (For K/Sirens is pretty clear that we can associate the name K with murder/death), so why does Lana say she's going to leave him and then drop mentions to someone else's girlfriend? I wonder if K was, at one point, unfaithful and that's why Lana refers to leaving as opposed to being taken away in "Blue Jeans" and "For K/Sirens." We don't know precisely what ended their relationship, so we can't say for certain it was prison because "Kill Kill" suggests she's leaving him after learning about his death sentence (so post "For K/Sirens").

 

In addition, Lana talks about the "new American dream" being gangsters and drugs and all that. "It's a love story for the new age, For the six page, We're on a quick sick rampage, Wining and dining, Drinking and driving, Excessive buying, Overdose and dyin' on our drugs and our love and our dreams and our rage blurring the lines between real and the fake." I think K pretty much personifies this "new American dream" more than anyone - someone who got to the top through illicit means. "National Anthem" is a pastiche of that, hence why she name drops these expensive places and things and says "money is the anthem of success." It doesn't matter how you get the money as long as you get it.

 

I must admit I got a bit carried away with all the associating songs with Mr. Campbell, lol. Maybe though, the reason Lana loves the summer is because it reminds her of her trips and escapes with Mr. Campbell? I mean, we wouldn't have known that Coney Island was a reference to K if it weren't for TV In Black & White (or even why the ocean was related to K, for that matter), we would just know it as a place that Lana loves. I don't think, however, that simple mentions of summer itself are enough to go on for determining whether or not a song is related to Mr. Campbell, but if the song contains other clues besides that, then why not?

Don't worry; my own instinct is to link every song to K and there have been a couple of people who were most interested in Jimmy Gnecco. Everyone has their favorite Lana Lover . I think you bring up a lot of interesting points and provide new perspectives to these songs, which is good!

 

How do you deal with Summertime Sadness, then? "Got my bad baby by my heavenly side," the references to the divine and death, and then the bridge: "think I'll miss you forever." There's only one guy we know is gone forever. This coupled with "I know if I go, I'll die happy tonight." She'd be happy because she wouldn't have to deal with K's death and missing him forever. If we assume the relationship started in December ("Blue Jeans:" "I still remember that day we met in December"), it's not too hard to say it lasted till the summer. Plus "Young & Beautiful:" "hot summer nights mid-July."

[TrailerParkDarling 5,691]

so is this actually edward gallapagos or w/e analysis?

[YouCanBeTheBoss 71]

I feel it's very strange to refer to Mr. Campbell as a "kid," though, especially when she enjoys being infantilized and he's definitely older than her. In addition, how can you say he "grew up?" Lana can say that because she's young and immature; can we really say the same about Campbell? "Dark side of the American dream" definitely points to the theme in "National Anthem" about the new, perverted version of the American Dream. "We would dance all night, play our music loud" is generic (we know Campbell liked hip-hop) but it's worth noting that K can be linked to dancing all night as well ("Blue Jeans:" "we were dancing all night," Body Electric: "we get down every Friday night, dancing and grinding in the pale moonlight").

 

It would be weird for her to call most of her exes "kid", honestly. We know that K, Jimmy, Michael, and Mr. Campbell (i.e. her most important lovers) are all very much older than her. I think it's safe to say it's just Lana's strange brand of symbolism we've all come to know, lol. In Afraid, which we know is a definite Michael song, she goes even further and says "We were just teenagers when we fell in love." when they didn't even know each other until 2008. By calling Campbell a "kid" and saying they both grew up, maybe she's saying she saw him more as a peer than as an actual teacher, and at one point, they realized that they couldn't be together any more, as in, they matured? That's all I can really make sense of it, lol. The lyric "Remember how we used to escape for the summer" is definitely tied to Mr. Campbell, though. Apart from the obvious allusion to running away, it's also connected to the summer road trip(s) mentioned in On Our Way, 1949, EMGHW, and DICWB.

 

"Dark side of the American dream" is very puzzling. It ties with the pre-chorus of Damn You, but I do see what you're saying about it. We know the demo was recorded in 2008, maybe at that time she thought the dark side was "life on the run"? The lyrics of Damn You seem to define the American dream as being true freedom, for example, freedom from boarding school. Aside from that. there's also the "We were two kids just tryin' to get out", which makes me think of "We're never gonna get out of here alive" from Take Me To Paris. I don't think "getting out" was ever a theme in other K songs, but correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't analyzed or even really listened to her full catalogue yet, haha). And yeah, what makes things really difficult is that dancing is associated most with both K and Mr. Campbell ("Dancing 'til the dawn" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong) and "We'll dance until we die" from Take Me To Paris). Plot twist: K and Mr. Campbell are the same person. 

 

Divinity seems pretty strongly associated with K, though. "Is it by mistake or design?" in Born To Die, "got my bad baby by my heavenly side" in Summertime Sadness, "but I trust in the decision of the Lord," pretty much all of Bel Air. She believes God took K from her for a reason, probably the same reason He put him into her life.

 

I do agree that themes of divinity are related to K, but in most K songs, it's mainly limited to literal references to heaven and God, not so much the whole "we were meant to meet and be together", which shows up in On Our Way, Damn You, and Lucky Ones. Also, I wouldn't be so quick to associate "Is it by mistake or design?" with divinity, it's just a common phrase used to mean whether something was intended to be a certain way or not. And also because lately I've been starting to think that BTD might be a Mr. Campbell song... don't kill me please. 

 

In addition, "Lucky Ones" throws some lyrical references to Video Games: "everyone around here seems to be going down," "it feels like all of our friends are lost, nobody's found". Compare to "watchin' all our friends fall in and out of Old Paul's." The use of "fall" and the association with a bar (alcoholic friends?) definitely suggests her friends are engaged in some sort of harmful activity. She's worried about the same thing in "Lucky Ones." While it's hard to conclusively say anything about Video Games, remember that it was included in a trilogy with Blue Jeans (if this isn't a K song I will eat my hat) and Born To Die (less conclusively K but I believe there's enough evidence to point it towards K).

 

I actually hadn't noticed that about Lucky Ones (shows how could I am at analyzing, lol). I pretty much associated it with Kent being a teenage wasteland, but it's really interesting that the only other song to directly mention "our friends" is Video Games. I'll have to keep that in mind. I still go by the theory that each song in the Born To Die trilogy is about a different relationship, though. I can't exactly imagine either K or Mr. Campbell being the boyfriend who plays video games. 

 

"Scooped me up like a baby" is a lyrical theme that can be found in American ("spin me round like a child") and Young & Beautiful ("the way you'd play with me like a child"), referring to her desire to be infantilized and protected. Although American is ambiguous, with many people placing it as a Barrie song, I feel that the bridge is very telling: "Everybody wants to go fast but they can't compare, I don't really want the rest, only you can take me there, I don't even know what I'm saying but I'm praying for you." Clearly she's worried about this guy who "goes fast." Who else would she be worried about? Remember Blue Jeans: "I said no please, stay here, we don't need no money we can make it all work." "Young & Beautiful" was written for Gatsby but still tosses in some old Lanaisms, like the aforementioned infantilism, summer (mid-July, to be precise), a musician (if the K in For K/Sirens is the same guy as in For K Part 2, we can assume he's a musician. Blue Jeans also mentions "you were sorta punk rock"), incredible physical beauty (compare "oh that grace, oh that body, oh that face, makes me wanna party" and "then I saw your face and you blew my mind"), and the idea of death and meeting your lover in heaven ("dear Lord, when I get to heaven, please let me bring my man. When he comes, tell me that you'll let him in, Father, tell me if you can." Compare to "Born To Die:" "I'm hoping at the gates, they'll tell me that you're mine" and "Bel Air:" "gargoyles standing at the front of your gates, trying to tell me to wait but I can't wait to see you").

 

The infantile themes could really be about anyone, we know Lana gots a taste for men who are older.  The "I got so scared, I thought no one could save me, you came along, scooped me up like a baby" also ties together with "You found me when I had lost my way" from On Our Way. Is there anything that K could have saved her from? And yeah, American is a very ambiguous song (I gave up trying to analyze it a long time ago, lol), I honestly can't make much sense of the bridge ("I don't even know what I'm saying" is right tbh), so I'm no help here, haha. Physical beauty seems more like a generic reference than anything imo. On Our Way has "How you get so hot? You’re making me crazy, hoping you'll never stop." and I definitely don't see it as a K song.

 

A bunch of ambiguous lyrical similarities vs. traits that are definitely K (he was involved in illicit activities and definitely very charming, see Million Dollar Man). We know this line fits K well and assuming it fits Mr. Campbell is speculation, especially when none of the other songs link him to being involved in deceiving people for money or lying often.

 

I don't really think lyrics like "Let's get out of this town, baby we're on fire" and "You know that we'll never leave if we don't get out, now" are all that ambiguous. The entirety of the song is about leaving town, something that never comes up in K songs. The only other times getting out of town is referenced directly such as this are in Prom Song (Gone Wrong) and Take Me To Paris, both 100% Mr. Campbell songs. That's way too important a detail to ignore imo, add in the fact that the chorus ties to Damn You ("Every now and then, the stars align" to "Now and then when the stars shine"), the pre-chorus ties to On Our Way, there's just too much evidence that points to it being about Mr. Campbell than about K, especially since Lana refers to Mr. Campbell as a "bad guy" and a "dangerous man" in Daddy Issues and Baby Blue Love (I've only fairly recently discovered both were Mr. Campbell songs, which is why I haven't brought them up before).

 

We don't know precisely what happened with K and I'm starting to think who we call K may well be two different people (a punk rock musician vs. a more hip-hop oriented guy?). Look at Kill Kill: "tell me about Ray and his girl." Why does she ask to know about some other guy's girlfriend? That's not relevant... unless they were involved somehow? "I am going to leave you. [...] I have done everything I can." We know K was taken away to prison and ended with a death sentence (For K/Sirens is pretty clear that we can associate the name K with murder/death), so why does Lana say she's going to leave him and then drop mentions to someone else's girlfriend? I wonder if K was, at one point, unfaithful and that's why Lana refers to leaving as opposed to being taken away in "Blue Jeans" and "For K/Sirens." We don't know precisely what ended their relationship, so we can't say for certain it was prison because "Kill Kill" suggests she's leaving him after learning about his death sentence (so post "For K/Sirens").

 

I've always interpreted Kill Kill as Lana telling K that she's "leaving [him]" in the sense that she's seeing other people after his imprisonment/death. In Bel Air, she seems to associate this with cheating ("I don't wanna be bad, I won't cheat you no more"). And by doing this, she's asking him if he knows about Ray (whoever the hell this is lol) and his girlfriend. She's Ray's girlfriend! That could also explain why she says "Do I know Ray is going to meet you?". She's either expressing her fear that Ray could be taken from her the same way K was, or she's afraid that her one true love is going to meet and find out about her current boyfriend, possibly even both. I'm not sure if she and K were broken up when he was arrested, but I guess it's possible. In TV in Black & White, she refers to herself as his "ex-girl", but it's unknown if she's talking about that moment in time or she's reminiscing (she could have already been dating at that point).

 

Don't worry; my own instinct is to link every song to K and there have been a couple of people who were most interested in Jimmy Gnecco. Everyone has their favorite Lana Lover . I think you bring up a lot of interesting points and provide new perspectives to these songs, which is good!

 

How do you deal with Summertime Sadness, then? "Got my bad baby by my heavenly side," the references to the divine and death, and then the bridge: "think I'll miss you forever." There's only one guy we know is gone forever. This coupled with "I know if I go, I'll die happy tonight." She'd be happy because she wouldn't have to deal with K's death and missing him forever. If we assume the relationship started in December ("Blue Jeans:" "I still remember that day we met in December"), it's not too hard to say it lasted till the summer. Plus "Young & Beautiful:" "hot summer nights mid-July."

 

Oh God, sure says a lot about me when my favorite Lana lover is her damn TEACHER! 

Summertime Sadness is actually one of the times where just the mention of summer isn't enough to call it a Mr. Campbell song. Summertime Sadness is a very hard song to place imo, because it contains so many themes and references associated to various lovers. The "red dress" and "pale moonlight" are very K imo, but then there's also "beauty queen", which is usually related to Jimmy. The only time her lover is really mentioned in the song is during the bridge, which is frustratingly nonspecific, lol.

 

Young and Beautiful could possibly be about both Mr. Campbell and K, at least imo. I'd like to think that they're Lana's two most important loves of her life, with Mr. Campbell being her first love and K being her one true love. The first verse of the song, I think, could be referring to Mr. Campbell. "I've seen the world, done it all, had my cake now" is reminiscent of "I want my cake and I want to eat it too" from Lolita. "Hot summer nights, mid-July" makes me think of Mr. Campbell, as he seems to be commonly associated with the night, and summer/July which is mentioned and alluded to in songs like 1949, EMGHW, Damn You, etc. "When you and I were forever wild" is also pretty Campbell-ish, their escape(s) during the summer immediately come to mind. I only think though that the first verse and maybe the first chorus could be directed at him, the rest of the song seems very K.

[Valentino 885]

First of all, I want to say thanks for responding. I think it's great that you're shedding light on Mr. C who truly is an ignored Lana love (if a lover at all; I still want to think it's one-sided because the implications otherwise... and it could jeopardize his career if even a whiff of it got out). You did some great investigative work!
 

It would be weird for her to call most of her exes "kid", honestly. We know that K, Jimmy, Michael, and Mr. Campbell (i.e. her most important lovers) are all very much older than her. I think it's safe to say it's just Lana's strange brand of symbolism we've all come to know, lol. In Afraid, which we know is a definite Michael song, she goes even further and says "We were just teenagers when we fell in love." when they didn't even know each other until 2008. By calling Campbell a "kid" and saying they both grew up, maybe she's saying she saw him more as a peer than as an actual teacher, and at one point, they realized that they couldn't be together any more, as in, they matured? That's all I can really make sense of it, lol. The lyric "Remember how we used to escape for the summer" is definitely tied to Mr. Campbell, though. Apart from the obvious allusion to running away, it's also connected to the summer road trip(s) mentioned in On Our Way, 1949, EMGHW, and DICWB.

Are there any songs that place K's age? In "For K Part 2" she says "the way your hair come down and make you look older," which suggests she liked him because he seemed older than he really was. Other than that, it's hard to tell anything. "Off To The Races" calls her lover her "old man," but that feeds into the whole "daddy" dynamic (old man is another way to refer to one's father) and her desire to be infantilized. However, I see your point that she sees his true youth and she doesn't see age or whatever. She seems like one of those types.
 

"Dark side of the American dream" is very puzzling. It ties with the pre-chorus of Damn You, but I do see what you're saying about it. We know the demo was recorded in 2008, maybe at that time she thought the dark side was "life on the run"? The lyrics of Damn You seem to define the American dream as being true freedom, for example, freedom from boarding school. Aside from that. there's also the "We were two kids just tryin' to get out", which makes me think of "We're never gonna get out of here alive" from Take Me To Paris. I don't think "getting out" was ever a theme in other K songs, but correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't analyzed or even really listened to her full catalogue yet, haha). And yeah, what makes things really difficult is that dancing is associated most with both K and Mr. Campbell ("Dancing 'til the dawn" from Prom Song (Gone Wrong) and "We'll dance until we die" from Take Me To Paris). Plot twist: K and Mr. Campbell are the same person. 

Dear lord! Mr. Kampbell! D: Real life Walter White! But he's not dead, and I'm gonna refrain from making allegations of drug dealing on top of the implied inappropriate relationship.

I haven't looked at her whole discography either. 100 songs is far too much for my poor mind. 1949 and EMGHW are tentatively K songs ("we're forever young in paradise," the golden grill to match his gold chain, "before he says goodbye") and they're about seeing it all before some kind of deadline (whereas Damn You implies the relationship was broken off due to Mr. C going back to his wife). However, you make a good point for EMGHW being Mr. C ("you said I'd never make it out alive," "you'll never grow old in my eyes"). And both mention two different cars, a Chevrolet and a Pontiac. Pontiac = Arthur Lynn (from Diet Mountain Dew? Maybe? idek). Chevrolet = ??? I think Mr. C had one? Honestly I don't keep track of her cars. It is a tricky song but it could be relevant in explaining the inconsistency in themes.
  

I do agree that themes of divinity are related to K, but in most K songs, it's mainly limited to literal references to heaven and God, not so much the whole "we were meant to meet and be together", which shows up in On Our Way, Damn You, and Lucky Ones. Also, I wouldn't be so quick to associate "Is it by mistake or design?" with divinity, it's just a common phrase used to mean whether something was intended to be a certain way or not. And also because lately I've been starting to think that BTD might be a Mr. Campbell song... don't kill me please. 

Although "mistake or design" is a common phrase, I wouldn't underestimate the importance of it in the context of Born To Die which makes the important 'when I die I'll be reunited with you' (continued in Bel Air). It's also important when you consider "Off To The Races:" "But I trust in the decision of the Lord to watch over us, take him when he might if he may." Was K's getting caught by the police a mistake or the decision of the Lord? She clearly believes very strongly in a divine plan and has talked about it in reference to K before.

Further complicating the matter is the choice of Bradley in the video which "reminded her of a former boyfriend." I think it was discovered she never really dated Gnecco as much as stalked him, so that further complicates things (unless she believes they were really dating and omg creepy factor at level 5).
 

I actually hadn't noticed that about Lucky Ones (shows how could I am at analyzing, lol). I pretty much associated it with Kent being a teenage wasteland, but it's really interesting that the only other song to directly mention "our friends" is Video Games. I'll have to keep that in mind. I still go by the theory that each song in the Born To Die trilogy is about a different relationship, though. I can't exactly imagine either K or Mr. Campbell being the boyfriend who plays video games. 

Reviewing the thread, I saw that theory about each member of the trilogy being a different lover and am on the edge about it. "Blue Jeans" is probably the most obvious, with the gangsta punk rock reference as well as lining up with the timeline in "For K" ("drive by Sunday night," "headed out on Sunday"). The theme of reuniting with a dead lover in heaven is repeated in Dark Paradise and Bel Air, and the only lover associated with death (besides being dead) is K. Born To Die should is therefore definitely a contender for K. Video Games is a hot mess because Lana is so contradictory about it. She says it's about a relationship where both she and her lover are sober, then says it's about how things are in one relationship while fantasizing about another. She also said in the Brazil concert it was "one of the first songs she wrote" so I don't know what to believe anymore. :v By extrapolation, I'd very tentatively link VG to BTD and BJ (but maybe that trilogy thing was BS, too). Then again, she said Yayo was the "prequel" to VG, and Yayo is probably about Gnecco what with his blue drag- I mean snake. Then again, Gnecco never reciprocated Lana's affections and she talks about getting engaged and running away and being saved from a trailer park. So we see the return of the "got to get out" theme seen in some of the Mr. C songs, maaaaybe K, but linked to... Gnecco?

wat

While I think the link to Lucky Ones is significant, the fact that we really can't link Video Games to anyone or anything (or rather the opposite: you can argue for it being three different people and they'd all have the same amount of evidence, that is to say very little) means it's hard to use as evidence in any direction. Which is frustrating; I feel it would be enlightening to know who Video Games was about.  We know the guy has a "fast car" (American: "drive fast," hell this dude is so fast that "they can't compare") and we know she puts his "favorite perfume on" (Off To The Races: "Glass film, perfume, cognac, lilac fumes, says it feels like heaven to him"). He has "big arms" and he also has a favorite "sundress" (contrast American: "honey put on that party dress," Smarty: "put me in a party dress"). Clearly this guy is super important to her. But who? Drinks beer and plays video games is an accurate descriptor for most young males.
 

The infantile themes could really be about anyone, we know Lana gots a taste for men who are older.  The "I got so scared, I thought no one could save me, you came along, scooped me up like a baby" also ties together with "You found me when I had lost my way" from On Our Way. Is there anything that K could have saved her from? And yeah, American is a very ambiguous song (I gave up trying to analyze it a long time ago, lol), I honestly can't make much sense of the bridge ("I don't even know what I'm saying" is right tbh), so I'm no help here, haha. Physical beauty seems more like a generic reference than anything imo. On Our Way has "How you get so hot? You’re making me crazy, hoping you'll never stop." and I definitely don't see it as a K song.

I don't know, but she has something in mind: "Because I'm crazy, baby, I need you to come here and save me" in Off To The Races. She says at the end "who else is gonna put up with me this way?" Save her from loneliness? Maybe the "crazy" that she mentions in Lucky Ones: "You told me that it was good to be crazy."

I think the nearly identical syntax makes it significant. She uses the baby theme in Put Me In A Movie/Little Girls, Lolita, Yayo (although "like a baby" shows up here, the syntax and context is not the same; "I need you like a baby," she is being active whereas she is passive in American, Y&B, LO), Smarty, probably a ton more I don't even know, but she uses this same syntax for three different songs. That's a deliberate choice, much like coloring her party dress red (Smarty also puts her in a party dress! And he "beats her and tells her she's just a baby"! And get this: American guy says "Honey put on that party dress." AMERICAN = SMARTY?!?!?!?!?!??!? Not even joking, wat).

Physical beauty is a generic refrain, I agree. But it has been associated with K (just remembered "For K Part 2:" "how'd you get so handsome, my boy? [...] the way your face is shaped, I wonder if you know?"). idk if any, say, Mike or Arthur or Gnecco songs are associated with beauty. It would eliminate a lot of the contenders.
  

I don't really think lyrics like "Let's get out of this town, baby we're on fire" and "You know that we'll never leave if we don't get out, now" are all that ambiguous. The entirety of the song is about leaving town, something that never comes up in K songs. The only other times getting out of town is referenced directly such as this are in Prom Song (Gone Wrong) and Take Me To Paris, both 100% Mr. Campbell songs. That's way too important a detail to ignore imo, add in the fact that the chorus ties to Damn You ("Every now and then, the stars align" to "Now and then when the stars align"), the pre-chorus ties to On Our Way, there's just too much evidence that points to it being about Mr. Campbell than about K, especially since Lana refers to Mr. Campbell as a "bad guy" and a "dangerous man" in Daddy Issues and Baby Blue Love (I've only fairly recently discovered both were Mr. Campbell songs, which is why I haven't brought them up before).

1949 and the debatable EMGHW mention getting out of town one last time, and there's evidence to point to K being at the very least an inspiration for these songs. I do believe the divinity is significant because she's clearly set on the idea of a divine plan. She "trusts in the decision of the Lord," so why wouldn't they meet by that same decision, by "the grand design?" "Save me" has been used in OTTR in relation to crazy ("because I'm crazy, baby, I need you to come here and save me" and "I thought no one could save me [...] you told me that it was good to be crazy"). I am certain the choice of syntax in "scooped me up like a baby" is significant when you consider that the other songs it occurs in point to K ("Young & Beautiful") or at least would not be nonsensical if interpreted in the context of K ("American"). None of the other baby songs really make sense when you look at them in the context of K except maybe Smarty due to the violence, party dress, "who has a face like Smarty."

As for the careless con and careless liar, "bad guy" and "dangerous man" don't really compare to "double homicide," do they? Plus he's a "thief," "gangsta," has a "cocaine heart," is clearly manipulative and charming ("I don't know how you convince them and get them, I don't know what you do, it's unbelievable," plus in MDM Lana appears let down by how his appearance doesn't match his emotional availability "you look like a million dollar man, so why is my heart broke?" which fits pretty well with "careless liar" as well as her amazement at how easy it is to charm people... suggesting she may have been one of many), and, by Lana's words, is just screwed up ("someone as dangerous, tainted, and flawed as you," "you're screwed up and brilliant." Brilliant, compare with "he was a nice guy, really bright." Possibly abusive, as demonstrated in Bel Air: "You've got a flair for the violentest kind of love anywhere").

 

However, I will say that the "we'll never leave if we don't get out now" line is important when you consider Prom Song Gone Wrong. There's Cola with "I gots a taste for men who are older," "I know your wife and she wouldn't mind" and "we made it out to the other side." Escape from the teenage wasteland, I assume. She repeats it a lot in the verses, so I do think you have a point there.

 

"Feels like falling in love for the first time" could be useful if it didn't suffer from the same ambiguity "like an American does." It could be that she thinks she is falling in love, and this is the first time (which points to Mr. Campbell as an early love) or that this is "like" falling in love for the first time because it's so intense, but not the first time (which points to K as probably a later love). 
 

I've always interpreted Kill Kill as Lana telling K that she's "leaving [him]" in the sense that she's seeing other people after his imprisonment/death. In Bel Air, she seems to associate this with cheating ("I don't wanna be bad, I won't cheat you no more"). And by doing this, she's asking him if he knows about Ray (whoever the hell this is lol) and his girlfriend. She's Ray's girlfriend! That could also explain why she says "Do I know Ray is going to meet you?". She's either expressing her fear that Ray could be taken from her the same way K was, or she's afraid that her one true love is going to meet and find out about her current boyfriend, possibly even both. I'm not sure if she and K were broken up when he was arrested, but I guess it's possible. In TV in Black & White, she refers to herself as his "ex-girl", but it's unknown if she's talking about that moment in time or she's reminiscing (she could have already been dating at that point).

Kill Kill is, personally, one of the most frustrating songs for me to look at. Ray is mentioned in "Raise Me Up," originally "Rayse," so there's some credence to Ray being some kind of important figure unlike the throwaway boys names she can come up with. I tend to be wary of "this pronoun doesn't refer to whom you think it refers" theories (very wordy but idk how to explain...). Like that first theory about Video Games being about a hooker who's thinking of her son. That one was convoluted and could be explained much better by a simpler theory (Occam's Razor is helpful in analysis, too). It is true that she appears to have some sort of relationship (platonic or romantic?) with Ray, or at least desiring one (she uses the imperative when talking to "you" in the last verse: pick me up in a pickup trick, roll down, let me talk on your CV, let me play with your new shotgun). She's also a homewrecker or fantasizes about being one (Cola, Next To Him, Brite Lites), so maybe she was cheating on K with Ray and he was cheating on her with Ray's girl. Unfortunately the lack of information about Ray makes it hard to decipher and Kill Kill is just so damn cryptic hdfaiuonhdsuifnhvadiu.

Just looked at TV In Black & White, super cool! I need to check all her stuff out. Okay, here's the line:

"Though you can't hold me, pick up and phone me
Use your one phone call on your ex girl, boo"

I parse this as "though you can't hold me, pick up and phone me, [you can] use your one phone call on your ex girl." She does say "no one has to know our love's alive," suggesting it's current. Someone on rapgenius suggests "ex girl" could be a way to distract the authorities; give them a red herring so they think K's into his ex when he's really into Lana. Perhaps Ray's girl was K's ex, and Ray is helping Lana by... potentially putting his girlfriend in a sticky situation. uh. So whether K was involved in infidelity or not is unknown.

Curious that she talks about Coney Island in such specific relation to K. I wondered if Mermaid Motel might be about K due to that last "God bless the ocean" line, but dismissed it because "you call me lavender" is linked to some other guy. "Maybe we could go to Coney Island," "maybe I could sing the national anthem," and "you salute me, Miss America, because I am" are starting to make more sense now... although there's that pesky chorus.
 

Oh God, sure says a lot about me when my favorite Lana lover is her damn TEACHER! 
Summertime Sadness is actually one of the times where just the mention of summer isn't enough to call it a Mr. Campbell song. Summertime Sadness is a very hard song to place imo, because it contains so many themes and references associated to various lovers. The "red dress" and "pale moonlight" are very K imo, but then there's also "beauty queen", which is usually related to Jimmy. The only time her lover is really mentioned in the song is during the bridge, which is frustratingly nonspecific, lol.

Let's face it, Lana's exes are all pretty... interesting characters. What does it say about me that I want to know about Lana's MURDEROUS ex? Thankfully Barrie doesn't seem to be so... colorful.

Summertime Sadness is quite hard to place. All we know is this guy is leaving in the summer "kiss me hard before you go" and she'll "miss [him] forever." And she's going to "drive," i.e. keep moving forward? So his loss is important. This is a huge stretch, but "I'm on fire" links to Body Electric "I'm on fire," although that one is not a surefire K song. idk if her beauty queen hairstyle means anything either, perhaps she associates it with a certain lover (Yayo: "fifty baby doll dress for my I do").
 

Young and Beautiful could possibly be about both Mr. Campbell and K, at least imo. I'd like to think that they're Lana's two most important loves of her life, with Mr. Campbell being her first love and K being her one true love. The first verse of the song, I think, could be referring to Mr. Campbell. "I've seen the world, done it all, had my cake now" is reminiscent of "I want my cake and I want to eat it too" from Lolita. "Hot summer nights, mid-July" makes me think of Mr. Campbell, as he seems to be commonly associated with the night, and summer/July which is mentioned and alluded to in songs like 1949, EMGHW, Damn You, etc. "When you and I were forever wild" is also pretty Campbell-ish, their escape(s) during the summer immediately come to mind. I only think though that the first verse and maybe the first chorus could be directed at him, the rest of the song seems very K.

"They way you play for me at your show" definitely invokes the musician from "For K Part 2." "Pretty face" could maaaybe be a reference to her interest in his face in FKP2 and "pretty baby." The bridge is super K. The chorus, though... much like Summertime Sadness, it doesn't help at all. "Diamonds, billions, and Bel Air now" are suggestive of K because he's clearly got "them gold coins," is a "million dollar man" (dammit k, gotta step up your game and be a BILLION dollar man), and Bel Air appears to be heaven for her for some reason and that's where K's gonna be? She speaks about her lover here in past tense. You make a good case for summer being linked to Mr. Campbell, so it's interesting to note that she specifies mid-July nights (Summertime Sadness might have a time frame, but might not too)...

I'm actually thinking of organizing the songs in a way that makes it clear which ones are "obvious" K songs and which are not. You have first degree, which is mentions K by name: For K, For K Part 2. 2nd degree is basically has some unique feature of K (went to jail, is dead, involved in illicit activities) so you get songs like Blue Jeans, Dark Paradise. 3rd degree is starting to rely on circumstantial evidence quite a bit, things that could apply to other lovers, ex. his face is hot, infantilism, so you get songs American and Body Electric. 4th degree would be total speculation based on the 3rd degree speculation, lol. And this system could apply to any other lover too! Prom Song would be a 1st degree Mr. C song (incontrovertibly referring to him), Jimmy Gnecco a 1st degree Gnecco song. It could make it easier to see what songs we're arguing about and what the consensus is referring to her huge back catalog. I wanted to do a web for each one but I can't find any good diagramming software *tears*.

[onetruelove 53]

Dunno if you were being serious or not, but nah, she says "He was a white English teacher... He played Biggie Smalls for me in his car" in one interview and "I heard Biggie Smalls... My best friend was my teacher, she’s still my best friend now, and she played all that stuff to me" in an interview just days later. She just lyin'.

Oh I was joking. 

[YouCanBeTheBoss 71]

First of all, I want to say thanks for responding. I think it's great that you're shedding light on Mr. C who truly is an ignored Lana love (if a lover at all; I still want to think it's one-sided because the implications otherwise... and it could jeopardize his career if even a whiff of it got out). You did some great investigative work!

 

Oh, thank you! It's no problem, it's fun debating the meaning of the songs with someone else. Yeah, I'm starting to think that Mr. C is more important in Lana's music than people think (it's usually all about K and Jimmy most of the time).

 

I like to think that their supposed relationship was more of a fantasy on Lana's part, or that Lana just took themes and such to craft a fictional storyline carried through her music (if that's true then she sure did a good job, given the fact that we're sitting here trying to analyze it all, haha). I mean, we did get confirmation that Lana and Jimmy never dated and she was just infatuated with him, maybe everything she's told us is a lie. But yeah, I definitely don't want to ruin his life or career or anything serious like that.

 

Are there any songs that place K's age? In "For K Part 2" she says "the way your hair come down and make you look older," which suggests she liked him because he seemed older than he really was. Other than that, it's hard to tell anything. "Off To The Races" calls her lover her "old man," but that feeds into the whole "daddy" dynamic (old man is another way to refer to one's father) and her desire to be infantilized. However, I see your point that she sees his true youth and she doesn't see age or whatever. She seems like one of those types.

 

I'm not sure, I pretty much went by the lyrics you mentioned from OTTR. If anything, he was definitely older than her based on that, but by how much is up for speculation. I'm pretty sure My Momma is about him and she says "you're under forty and you have a job", so that could mean he's somewhere in his 30s (otherwise she would have said he's under thirty or something like that). The rest of the lyrics seem very K-ish, "But you're making money and you're working hard so" and the long hair.

 

Dear lord! Mr. Kampbell! D: Real life Walter White! But he's not dead, and I'm gonna refrain from making allegations of drug dealing on top of the implied inappropriate relationship.

I haven't looked at her whole discography either. 100 songs is far too much for my poor mind. 1949 and EMGHW are tentatively K songs ("we're forever young in paradise," the golden grill to match his gold chain, "before he says goodbye") and they're about seeing it all before some kind of deadline (whereas Damn You implies the relationship was broken off due to Mr. C going back to his wife). However, you make a good point for EMGHW being Mr. C ("you said I'd never make it out alive," "you'll never grow old in my eyes"). And both mention two different cars, a Chevrolet and a Pontiac. Pontiac = Arthur Lynn (from Diet Mountain Dew? Maybe? idek). Chevrolet = ??? I think Mr. C had one? Honestly I don't keep track of her cars. It is a tricky song but it could be relevant in explaining the inconsistency in themes.

 

Yeah, it was a bad joke. The real explanation for the overlap in themes is probably just that a lot of the themes Lana uses in her lyrics aren't necessarily limited to one person, especially the non-specific ones like dancing, which I think she might have used in some Jimmy songs as well.

 

1949 and On Our Way go hand-in-hand imo. They both describe a grand road trip romance, they both mention stopping at K-Mart to buy lip gloss (very specific). They're also both clearly set in the summer ("July to July", "Put on your sundress, summer day"), based on that, the lyric "Day and night on our last vacation" could possibly mean summer vacation. "Before he says goodbye" and "last vacation" possibly means that she knew their relationship wouldn't last. Aside from that, the rest of the lyrics are also very childish ("lollipops", "hop scotch"). The Pontiac is still really frustrating though, since the song seems to fit perfectly otherwise, lol.

 

EMGHW is one of the songs that I think was inspired by various relationships rather than just one. As I mentioned before, it takes most of its lyrics from four different songs, Hawaiian Tropic, 1949, Daytona Meth, and Heartshaped Chevrolet. Hawaiian Tropic and Daytona Meth are K songs, in my opinion, while 1949 and Heartshaped Chevrolet could possibly be Mr. C. The Chevrolet definitely = Mr. C most of the time (someone found out earlier in the thread that he owns a Chevy, though I'm not sure how, haha), but Daytona Meth mentions a Chevrolet and it's definitely not a Mr. C song, so the car-relationship associations may not always be reliable.

 

Although "mistake or design" is a common phrase, I wouldn't underestimate the importance of it in the context of Born To Die which makes the important 'when I die I'll be reunited with you' (continued in Bel Air). It's also important when you consider "Off To The Races:" "But I trust in the decision of the Lord to watch over us, take him when he might if he may." Was K's getting caught by the police a mistake or the decision of the Lord? She clearly believes very strongly in a divine plan and has talked about it in reference to K before.

Further complicating the matter is the choice of Bradley in the video which "reminded her of a former boyfriend." I think it was discovered she never really dated Gnecco as much as stalked him, so that further complicates things (unless she believes they were really dating and omg creepy factor at level 5).

 

BTD may not really be all that symbolic (this is actually my BTD = Mr. C theory so cover your eyes if you want, lol). Your theory about the first verse being about wanting to see K in heaven does have a lot of weight to it, I actually remember believing it for a long time before I started re-listening to a bunch of songs looking for Mr. C clues, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the song that much, at least in my opinion. The way the rest of the lyrics are phrased makes it seem like she's talking to someone at that moment. For example, how would K be able to "keep making [her] laugh" and "walk on the wild side" if he's gone (if the gates line is about K, then he'd be dead at the time the song is set)? As for the gates, maybe she's not necessarily talking about heaven? I mean, in Bel Air, she outright calls it "heaven's door", which is pretty irrefutable evidence for it being a K song. In Prom Song (Gone Wrong), however, she also mentions gates in the lyric "At the gates, stop and say, 'Be my valentine.'" In BTD, she never really specifies what type of gates they are (I know it seems like a huge stretch, but it's all I have, haha).

 

The rest of the song also reminds me a bit of her boarding school days. "Can you make it feel like home, if I tell you you’re mine" makes it clear that she's away from home, and it can't be New York or anywhere else because we know she went there on her own, whereas she was sent to Kent School outside of her control. "Come on take a walk on the wild side" doesn't really seem like something she'd say to K imo. By what we know, he's much more "wild" than she is. "You like your girls insane" made me think of the fact that she was sent away for an alcohol addiction (in Prom Song (Gone Wrong), the lyric "I'm not crazy" shows up repeatedly throughout the song), it also ties with "You taught me that it was good to be crazy" from Lucky Ones (though it may not be a definite Mr. C song, the two songs seem to go well together). Now for "Choose your last words, this is the last time, 'cause you and I, we were born to die", I don't think she's talking about dying in the literal sense. I'm not sure if it's been posted here before, but I really like the theory that the song is about a relationship where they both knew it wouldn't work out, but they decided to try it anyway. The relationship was born, to die. It really fits with Mr. C in that respect imo, not to mention the fact that "Lost but now I am found" is almost identical to "You found me when I had lost my way" from On Our Way. Also, considering the whole trilogy concept, the order of the songs on the album may be important. If it's chronological (which would be the most logical), then maybe BTD = Mr. Campbell, Blue Jeans = K, and Video Games = Jimmy/Michael/whoever.

 

All in all, I'm still not completely sure about this one. I can definitely see the arguments about it being about K, and then there's the weird factors like Bradley in the music video like you mentioned (I'mma take a wild guess and say that Mr. C doesn't look anything like that). I do wonder about her and Jimmy, I remember a theory that Midnight Dancer Girlfriend is about him, since we seem to know that the whatever it was that happened between them coincided with Lana's go-go dancing days. Maybe something did happen between them, but Jimmy had a girlfriend and Lana was the other woman, so they had to keep it quiet? I don't even know, but whatever the case, I think Lana could have just hired Bradley based on the fact that he resembled a past love of hers alone, the decision may have been a more stylistic choice based on the music video, rather than the actual contents of the song.

 

Reviewing the thread, I saw that theory about each member of the trilogy being a different lover and am on the edge about it. "Blue Jeans" is probably the most obvious, with the gangsta punk rock reference as well as lining up with the timeline in "For K" ("drive by Sunday night," "headed out on Sunday"). The theme of reuniting with a dead lover in heaven is repeated in Dark Paradise and Bel Air, and the only lover associated with death (besides being dead) is K. Born To Die should is therefore definitely a contender for K. Video Games is a hot mess because Lana is so contradictory about it. She says it's about a relationship where both she and her lover are sober, then says it's about how things are in one relationship while fantasizing about another. She also said in the Brazil concert it was "one of the first songs she wrote" so I don't know what to believe anymore. :v By extrapolation, I'd very tentatively link VG to BTD and BJ (but maybe that trilogy thing was BS, too). Then again, she said Yayo was the "prequel" to VG, and Yayo is probably about Gnecco what with his blue drag- I mean snake. Then again, Gnecco never reciprocated Lana's affections and she talks about getting engaged and running away and being saved from a trailer park. So we see the return of the "got to get out" theme seen in some of the Mr. C songs, maaaaybe K, but linked to... Gnecco?

 

wat

 

Blue Jeans is definitely a K song, that much is for sure. And I hadn't noticed all of that about Video Games, haha. I think I remember her mentioning something about the verses being about one relationship and the chorus being how she wished another relationship was (how helpful, lol). I think the verses are definitely about Michael, they tie very well both lyrically and melodically with Afraid, which is another Michael song imo. The chorus is definitely more vague, but I think given the fact that it's based on a fantasy, Jimmy fits the bill. We know from various songs that their relationship, if they even had one, wasn't all that glamorous. From Yayo, the lyrics "Hello, heaven, you are tunnel lined with yellow lights, on a dark night" give us the image Lana/Lizzy and Jimmy riding on a motorcycle through a dark tunnel with lights along the walls, i.e. her idea of heaven, at least at the time. This fits with "Heaven is a place on Earth with you". If part of Video Games is in fact about Jimmy, then that could explain Yayo being the prequel.

 

And that's very weird what Lana said about the song, lol. Maybe she meant that it was the first song written for BTD? It was written with Justin Parker, who also co-wrote the unreleased songs On Our Way and Velvet Crowbar around 2010, so maybe it was written then? I somehow doubt it being one of the first songs she ever wrote, it doesn't sound similar lyrically to the stuff from Sirens at all.

 

I don't know, but she has something in mind: "Because I'm crazy, baby, I need you to come here and save me" in Off To The Races. She says at the end "who else is gonna put up with me this way?" Save her from loneliness? Maybe the "crazy" that she mentions in Lucky Ones: "You told me that it was good to be crazy."

I think the nearly identical syntax makes it significant. She uses the baby theme in Put Me In A Movie/Little Girls, Lolita, Yayo (although "like a baby" shows up here, the syntax and context is not the same; "I need you like a baby," she is being active whereas she is passive in American, Y&B, LO), Smarty, probably a ton more I don't even know, but she uses this same syntax for three different songs. That's a deliberate choice, much like coloring her party dress red (Smarty also puts her in a party dress! And he "beats her and tells her she's just a baby"! And get this: American guy says "Honey put on that party dress." AMERICAN = SMARTY?!?!?!?!?!??!? Not even joking, wat).

 

I thought about that lyric after I posted before. In there though, she's asking him to save her, rather than saying that he actually did save her. I'm not sure if there's a song about K where she explicitly states that he did save her from something, unlike On Our Way for Mr. C (I know I keep bringing this song up, but the two lyrics just go together so well imo).

 

Hmm, you make a good point about the syntax. I'm not sure if she uses the same wording in multiple songs, so that could be pretty important. Party dress seems more like a standard theme imo (as in, more about Lana herself than any of her exes). If it is important though, then Smarty would probably be about Jimmy. Hundred Dollar Bill is a definite Jimmy song (it outright says his name throughout the lyrics), and according to the lyrics "Jimmy pulls up in his blue Chevy Nova, I have been dying for him to come over, I’m in my party dress", she put the party dress on precisely because she knew she was seeing Jimmy. And also from Smarty, "Say I make you feel like when you were the dirty heavy metal king" seems to equal "I said 'Hey, Jimmy Gnecco. Hey, I like your heavy metal. Do you like mine?'" from Jimmy Gnecco, so "heavy metal" could possibly be a Jimmy theme (or at least in songs written around that era, since I'm pretty sure AFFA isn't about him).

 

Also, I used to think American was about Mr. C (not joking about associating any song I can find, lol). "You were like so sick, everybody said it. You were way ahead of the trend, get get it." made me think of what she's said about him in other songs. According to Lana's POV, his defining trait seems to be that he was cool and well-liked ("everyone from town says that you're so cool", "I think you’re so cool, babe", "You're everybody's hero", "You’re dynamite", etc. not to mention the fact that she's even gone on record saying he was cool in interviews), but then again, Lana described K in a very similar way ("You were fresh to death and sick as cancer") so it's anyone's guess really.

 

Physical beauty is a generic refrain, I agree. But it has been associated with K (just remembered "For K Part 2:" "how'd you get so handsome, my boy? [...] the way your face is shaped, I wonder if you know?"). idk if any, say, Mike or Arthur or Gnecco songs are associated with beauty. It would eliminate a lot of the contenders.

 

1949 and the debatable EMGHW mention getting out of town one last time, and there's evidence to point to K being at the very least an inspiration for these songs. I do believe the divinity is significant because she's clearly set on the idea of a divine plan. She "trusts in the decision of the Lord," so why wouldn't they meet by that same decision, by "the grand design?" "Save me" has been used in OTTR in relation to crazy ("because I'm crazy, baby, I need you to come here and save me" and "I thought no one could save me [...] you told me that it was good to be crazy"). I am certain the choice of syntax in "scooped me up like a baby" is significant when you consider that the other songs it occurs in point to K ("Young & Beautiful") or at least would not be nonsensical if interpreted in the context of K ("American"). None of the other baby songs really make sense when you look at them in the context of K except maybe Smarty due to the violence, party dress, "who has a face like Smarty."

As for the careless con and careless liar, "bad guy" and "dangerous man" don't really compare to "double homicide," do they? Plus he's a "thief," "gangsta," has a "cocaine heart," is clearly manipulative and charming ("I don't know how you convince them and get them, I don't know what you do, it's unbelievable," plus in MDM Lana appears let down by how his appearance doesn't match his emotional availability "you look like a million dollar man, so why is my heart broke?" which fits pretty well with "careless liar" as well as her amazement at how easy it is to charm people... suggesting she may have been one of many), and, by Lana's words, is just screwed up ("someone as dangerous, tainted, and flawed as you," "you're screwed up and brilliant." Brilliant, compare with "he was a nice guy, really bright." Possibly abusive, as demonstrated in Bel Air: "You've got a flair for the violentest kind of love anywhere").

 

However, I will say that the "we'll never leave if we don't get out now" line is important when you consider Prom Song Gone Wrong. There's Cola with "I gots a taste for men who are older," "I know your wife and she wouldn't mind" and "we made it out to the other side." Escape from the teenage wasteland, I assume. She repeats it a lot in the verses, so I do think you have a point there.

 

"Feels like falling in love for the first time" could be useful if it didn't suffer from the same ambiguity "like an American does." It could be that she thinks she is falling in love, and this is the first time (which points to Mr. Campbell as an early love) or that this is "like" falling in love for the first time because it's so intense, but not the first time (which points to K as probably a later love). 

 

I see what you mean about divinity and K, but I'm still not completely sold on Lucky Ones. I'm not sure if Lana ever said anything about the subject in an interview (if it's the case, then I'm just making a fool out of myself at this point tbh), but maybe she thinks that she and K weren't meant to meet and be together? As I said before, if we go by the lyrics we know from 100% K songs, all that she's really sure of is that God took him away for a reason, she never says that they met for that same reason. Think about it, every other major relationship we know of ended due to the actions of one of the two. Mr. Campbell possibly left Lana for another woman, Lana ended up leaving the famous addict/Jimmy, and she and Michael seem to have both agreed that it wasn't working out. In K's case, he was taken right out of her life and it was out of either of their control, we know Lana equates this as God taking him away. If he took K away, while Lana and her other love interests were able to decide for themselves whether to be together or not, then maybe Lana thinks that she and K weren't meant to be at all? I know this is probably all more speculation and interpretation than actual analysis, but I've been thinking about it for a while and I really wanted to share it, lol.

 

Kill Kill is, personally, one of the most frustrating songs for me to look at. Ray is mentioned in "Raise Me Up," originally "Rayse," so there's some credence to Ray being some kind of important figure unlike the throwaway boys names she can come up with. I tend to be wary of "this pronoun doesn't refer to whom you think it refers" theories (very wordy but idk how to explain...). Like that first theory about Video Games being about a hooker who's thinking of her son. That one was convoluted and could be explained much better by a simpler theory (Occam's Razor is helpful in analysis, too). It is true that she appears to have some sort of relationship (platonic or romantic?) with Ray, or at least desiring one (she uses the imperative when talking to "you" in the last verse: pick me up in a pickup trick, roll down, let me talk on your CV, let me play with your new shotgun). She's also a homewrecker or fantasizes about being one (Cola, Next To Him, Brite Lites), so maybe she was cheating on K with Ray and he was cheating on her with Ray's girl. Unfortunately the lack of information about Ray makes it hard to decipher and Kill Kill is just so damn cryptic hdfaiuonhdsuifnhvadiu.

Just looked at TV In Black & White, super cool! I need to check all her stuff out. Okay, here's the line:

 

"Though you can't hold me, pick up and phone me

Use your one phone call on your ex girl, boo"

 

I parse this as "though you can't hold me, pick up and phone me, [you can] use your one phone call on your ex girl." She does say "no one has to know our love's alive," suggesting it's current. Someone on rapgenius suggests "ex girl" could be a way to distract the authorities; give them a red herring so they think K's into his ex when he's really into Lana. Perhaps Ray's girl was K's ex, and Ray is helping Lana by... potentially putting his girlfriend in a sticky situation. uh. So whether K was involved in infidelity or not is unknown.

 

Curious that she talks about Coney Island in such specific relation to K. I wondered if Mermaid Motel might be about K due to that last "God bless the ocean" line, but dismissed it because "you call me lavender" is linked to some other guy. "Maybe we could go to Coney Island," "maybe I could sing the national anthem," and "you salute me, Miss America, because I am" are starting to make more sense now... although there's that pesky chorus.

 

Yeah, Ray (and Bill) are definitely the most ambiguous of Lana's ex-lovers (we at least know quite a bit about K thanks to Lana's lyrics). I thought Lana being "Ray's girl" would have some precedence, based on Raise Me Up. It does seem to be the easy way of interpreting the lyrics and that's not always reliable.

 

I immediately thought Lana was referring to herself in that lyric from TV in Black & White (again, the easy way of thinking). The little information we have on Ray makes it very difficult to develop a full theory on him/his involvement in Lana's life and music, so I think it's better to just leave it tbh. It doesn't seem to help us tie things together any more than we already have. Besides, it'll probably just end up being one of the many unsolvable Lana mysteries we all know by now.

 

Coney Island is a definite K theme, the way you mentioned she's so specific about it in TV in Black & White is pretty serious evidence (I think that might be why the ocean seems to be related to K as well, "we'd wade into the water 'til the waves turned blue"). The chorus of Mermaid Motel is very weird, however, I'd be inclined to consider it a K song based on the mentions of Coney Island and the ocean alone. I can't remember the validation for linking "you call me lavender" with the other person (Was it Reeve Carney? I can't remember), maybe the chorus is about him and the verses are about K? idk, the K references are still too important to ignore, definitely.

 

Let's face it, Lana's exes are all pretty... interesting characters. What does it say about me that I want to know about Lana's MURDEROUS ex? Thankfully Barrie doesn't seem to be so... colorful.

Summertime Sadness is quite hard to place. All we know is this guy is leaving in the summer "kiss me hard before you go" and she'll "miss [him] forever." And she's going to "drive," i.e. keep moving forward? So his loss is important. This is a huge stretch, but "I'm on fire" links to Body Electric "I'm on fire," although that one is not a surefire K song. idk if her beauty queen hairstyle means anything either, perhaps she associates it with a certain lover (Yayo: "fifty baby doll dress for my I do").

 

Haha, that's for sure. Lana's has a much more ~interesting~ life than any of us it seems.

 

Alright, you've convinced me, I definitely see Summertime Sadness as a K song. The "miss you forever" line, like you mentioned, can be most easily associated with K since he's the only one who's gone forever. Perhaps the "Later's better than never" could refer to her hoping she'll see him in heaven? (A running theme throughout the entire BTD/Paradise era.) I've started to think of Body Electric as a Mr. C song (I know, I know, lol). The "I'm on fire" from the song sounds practically identical sonically to the same line from Baby Blue Love, which is very much a Mr. C song "I'm singing in the choir, but I'm lookin' at you, I'll be outside pick me up after school", "Cuttin' school, listenin' to techno music"). It also definitely ties to Born To Die ("We get down every Friday night", "I feel so alone on a Friday night"), so they're probably about the same person imo, if that helps anything.

 

"They way you play for me at your show" definitely invokes the musician from "For K Part 2." "Pretty face" could maaaybe be a reference to her interest in his face in FKP2 and "pretty baby." The bridge is super K. The chorus, though... much like Summertime Sadness, it doesn't help at all. "Diamonds, billions, and Bel Air now" are suggestive of K because he's clearly got "them gold coins," is a "million dollar man" (dammit k, gotta step up your game and be a BILLION dollar man), and Bel Air appears to be heaven for her for some reason and that's where K's gonna be? She speaks about her lover here in past tense. You make a good case for summer being linked to Mr. Campbell, so it's interesting to note that she specifies mid-July nights (Summertime Sadness might have a time frame, but might not too)...

I'm actually thinking of organizing the songs in a way that makes it clear which ones are "obvious" K songs and which are not. You have first degree, which is mentions K by name: For K, For K Part 2. 2nd degree is basically has some unique feature of K (went to jail, is dead, involved in illicit activities) so you get songs like Blue Jeans, Dark Paradise. 3rd degree is starting to rely on circumstantial evidence quite a bit, things that could apply to other lovers, ex. his face is hot, infantilism, so you get songs American and Body Electric. 4th degree would be total speculation based on the 3rd degree speculation, lol. And this system could apply to any other lover too! Prom Song would be a 1st degree Mr. C song (incontrovertibly referring to him), Jimmy Gnecco a 1st degree Gnecco song. It could make it easier to see what songs we're arguing about and what the consensus is referring to her huge back catalog. I wanted to do a web for each one but I can't find any good diagramming software *tears*.

 

Young & Beautiful definitely has a lot of K qualities. I do think though that it's important that she mentions summer nights in the first verse, since nights seem to be most associated with Mr. C. Baby Blue Love is the most direct on the matter with "Laughing at nothin', be alone together; Where your night ends, ours starts." Young and Beautiful is still a hard song to place, at this point I'm beginning to think it was inspired by multiple people.

 

That's actually a really good idea! It would definitely make keeping track of things easier, though I'm not sure how we could grade the rest of the Mr. C songs I mentioned in my grand theory lol. Prom Song is definitely a 1st degree like you said, Boarding School as well, maybe Take Me To Paris? We'd probably only be able to get to 2nd degree songs before giving up, lol. If anything, I'll try to list the Mr. C songs I have so far (and ones that I'm beginning to suspect) and maybe that'll lead us somewhere? Here we go (I leave a question mark where I'm not sure):

 

1949 (?)

Are You Ready (?)

Baby Blue Love

Boarding School

Body Electric (?)

Born To Die (?)

Daddy Issues

Damn You

Driving In Cars With Boys

Dynamite

Every Man Gets His Wish

Heartshaped Chevrolet

JFK

Lolita

Lucky Ones (?)

Oh Say Can You See

On Our Way

Next To Me (?)

Prom Song (Gone Wrong)

Puppy Love

Push Me Down

Put Me In A Movie

Scarface (?)

Starry Eyed

Take Me To Paris

Television Heaven

This Is What Makes Us Girls

Without You

You Can Be The Boss (?)

[vanillaiceys 221]

I don't think that body electric and born to die are for mr.c, I mean, the songs with lolita references are probably to him, but idk if there's a lot of songs for him

[mermadness 32]

I don't think that body electric and born to die are for mr.c, I mean, the songs with lolita references are probably to him, but idk if there's a lot of songs for him

 

i have to agree with you...a lot of this is reaching.

[lauradelxx 1,082]

k actually stands for king as in jaime king

[fruitpunchlips 820]

k actually stands for king as in jaime king

for k, taylor swift's next single

 

[lauradelxx 1,082]

for k, taylor swift's next single

 

 

lol ikr 

[DUKE 2,530]

The protagonist in Franz Kafka's The Castle is called K. Just realised that the other day and felt the urge to say this.