May Jailer Appreciation Thread

[Lad 8,795]

We do have real names of most Siren tracks. The only non-confirmed titles are:

 

My Momma, Next to Me (most likely "River Road"), Pretty Baby (most likely "For K", you can tell me whatever you want...there are enough receipts I can serve you with that support this) and Birds of a Feather.

I think Birds of a Feather is confirmed tho? I remember a MySpace screenshot with it but idk

[Guest Dot]

I think Birds of a Feather is confirmed tho? I remember a MySpace screenshot with it but idk

Possibly, but I don't remember. I think I missed another unconfirmed track tbh.

[Atom Heart 1,928]

The reason I think it really IS Lana is because of For K. On the AKA album, there's 'For K Part 2'...and K seems to have influenced a lot of Lana's songs.

I think that's the joke...

[Valentino 884]

I love her May Jailer period. I group the 'new' albums as bonus tracks on Sirens because I hate overlap in albums... but I still keep the original orders in separate folders because I can't stand to mess around with them.

 

What is the evidence for Pretty Baby being For K Part 1? I imagine it has to do with the "Pretty Baby" refrain in For K Part 2, but is there anything more? Lyrically I don't see much of a relationship to any other K song. While For K Part 2 is confusing titled Rehab as a demo, there are still references to K being a musician in other songs (Blue Jeans, anyone?) so I theorize it's a hybrid Jimmy/K song. Drive By/Sirens/For K Part 1 has the distinction of being the only song to actually name drop K in the lyrics and is very explicit about who K was and what he did; For K Part 2 is only a mysterious title.

 

I love all the mystery surrounding Sirens. The fact that we're still debating the song titles is evidence of how much is still unknown. I think K was definitely an influence, but maybe some other romances or incidents we don't know about. "A Star For Nick," "Dear Elliott," and "In Wendy" are really interesting because they mention people that don't show up anywhere else. Kind of like how LDR mentions Ray in Kill Kill and Raise Me Up.

 

Here's some quick Lanalysis on Sirens. The other two albums/EPs will have to come another day because I'm tired. Please other people talk about May Jailer songs! There's a lot in them and they're barely ever talked about.

 

Drive By/Sirens/For K Pt 1: One of my favorite songs by her, period. Also a pivotal work if you intend to Lanalyze her works. You can really hear the emotion at the end when she's desperately asking "did you wanna die?" There's a lyric in one of the verses that I don't understand. "K's a friend of mine/I think about him as he does time/misses why and whine???" None of the interpretations I've seen really satisfy me. What in the world is that?

 

Next To Me: Lana flirting with a married man while she's waiting for the sun. In "Oh Say Can You See" she talks about waiting for the night to come. And "Cola" is about running off with a married man. I feel like this song focuses more on the man than the singer. We don't know much about anything about why this girl is propositioning this man!

 

A Star For Nick: Who is Nick? Why won't he get her very far? My headcanon is that Nick is a friend or family member who doesn't think her dreams of stardom are very realistic. He would rather live "in the countryside." Lana likes cities, so she's not into that. In addition, "Don't say hello, it's time to go" is kind of a strange phrase. This guy is someone she doesn't know very well?

 

My Momma: Keep giving us those Electra Complex anthems, Lana. What's interesting for me is that her mom thinks she lied to land this long-haired guy who's under 40 and has a job (I also love the implication that Lana has brought jobless guys over 40 home to momma before), and Lana justifies it by saying she wouldn't have met this guy otherwise. "We're all of a sudden." I also love her painfully bad fake Southern accent.

 

Bad Disease: It's notable that the first verse is relatively 'happy.' She sees this guy commits a crime and it makes her want to 'go out.' The first chorus is lower than the rest of the choruses, too. I wonder if the second verse is about K's death. The third chorus changes 'to fall into' to 'it's got me down on my knees.' Clearly this disease has progressed. 'They' make her believe the answer is drinking (her alcoholism?) and then asks for help, incapable of believing this person won't help her. If we believe this song is about one person, then she is switching between second and third person. She's done that in recent UV songs, but it's possible these are two different people.

Oh, and it's cute when she makes a mistake in the 2nd(?) verse.

 

Out With A Bang: Yet another Florida city (Sarasota) gets mentioned. Pensacola in Aviation and Miami in Florida Kilos say hi, as does the former title of Kill Kill, Florida Dark. Is there a link to Alabama...? I don't have much to say about this song; it seems pretty indecipherable to me so far. Recently I noticed that "Smiles from a stranger, seem to change a day when You were just about to go and throw your towel in" reminds me of the "relying on the kindness of strangers."

 

Dear Elliot: She's annoyed at this guy. She outright calls him a space-filler and annoying, after all. She and Elliot have been in trouble before but they were "on the mend." He's a bad guy who's interfering with her new ways of living and recovery. Saying he's not "approved" recalls My Momma. Despite all this, she's sad at his leaving, apparently without telling her where he was going. OH and he's a musician! He likes to write about all of his problems and he has a "melody." How many troublesome musician figures is she gonna be involved with?

 

Try Tonight: She wants a guy who's troublesome. "Cliches find a home inside of him" and "when he enters all of the lights go dim." He's a self-professed tragic figure, but she's willing to "try another way." This guy spends all of his time alone in a dark room, probably getting high. He struggles against substance abuse, but he always gives in. She wants to "make him smile," but he doesn't have "strength to muster." Pretty sad...

 

Peace/All You Need: The most important verses imo...

"I had a dream when I was young/I dreamt our lives were going to be fun/We were always waiting to live

All you need is some peace while you are here/Just let go of it all, dear

You have a choice to hear the noise/Or hear the sweet sound of your sweet voice./I know I've heard it, I heard it in my sleep"

 

She's talking to a person who's experiencing troubles. She explains that she's been through it too, the dreams and being overwhelmed by sensation (the noise). She learned to "let go" and hear a "sweet voice" in her sleep. I'm pretty sure when she says "while you are here," she is referring to being alive. "This is life, this tonight." A lot of people talk about Lana being a sensitive person; this song is testament to that.

 

How do you know me so well/I'm indebted to you: Curiously, this is someone else's story. A redheaded woman who believes she knows a man from just one night together. She's got her secrets, "people who keep her alone" (gorgeous phrasing) and he has a "sensitive side" that she didn't know about. Apparently this is the "demise" of their love. They marry despite this, he doesn't understand her, she's been a loving fool, and she realizes that she didn't know this guy. What is her debt to him? Or is the phrase "I'm indebted to you" spoken from the narrator's point of view as opposed to the redhead's? Being that Lana says she mostly writes about her own experiences, she must have seen a striking situation for her to report someone else's story.

 

Pretty Baby/For K Part 1: She's pissed at some guy because she thinks he's leading her on. At the same time, she can't believe he'd actually want to leave her. So that first part is probably something she's saying out of spite and frustration. Oh, and the 1st time we hear "daddy" in this album. Could this be the same guy "Dear Elliot" is about?

 

Aviation: This song is so cute and out of left field. She says she's got a "big degree in philosophy" so dismissively... She has "no money," nothing to do, and "nobody" despite being "committed to you." She leaves to Florida for the apparent lulz, and also because nobody knows her and she can "start over." Perhaps something stained her reputation and she considered fleeing, either for real or as a fantasy. Flying and freedom are commonly linked together, and after all, she may be crazy but she is free.

 

Move/Find My Own Way: The only strummed song in her May Jailer collection. I interpret it as being about her worrying about her bad baby/mean daddy experiencing an overdose (you can say what make you high, I can see you be lying, be abused). He survives this time, but fretting about his life is taking its toll on her. She basically says "you're not Jesus" and begs him to realize the effect he's having on the people he loves. This is another song, along with Peace, that mentions the weather. The drug abuse seems to connect this song to "Try Tonight," also about a druggie. Her saying she's leaving and she doesn't care what he thinks recalls "Kill Kill." "Do you know I am going to leave you [...] I'm in love with a dying man [...] I have done everything I can." K is suspected to be a drug dealer or otherwise involved in drugs, so that's speculation fodder. Maybe he's the guy who ran the "illegal electronics" business. Was hooked on drugs (cocaine heart?), saw her as this glamorous, exotic chick (million dollar man/ottr), a musician, probably punk rocker. That's a lot of stuff, but until here I think it's possible. The gangsta/mafia connections is when it starts getting weird, as well as location. But I've gotten way off track.

 

Junky Pride: Besides being a song I like musically, this song is also pretty rich lyrically. She feels disconnected from this guy, and she felt bad when she realized he didn't like her (Pretty Baby?). She "really tried" because she wanted this relationship, even though it came at a bad time (Try Tonight). Nevertheless, she says she can't live like that forever and declares that her dreams and aspirations are more important than his "junky pride" (also Try Tonight, Move). Perhaps related to the sentiment in "A Star For Nick" and later "Afraid." For all she talks about true love, she clearly values her career and dreams very much.

 

Birds of a feather: The infamous awful vocal effect really adds something ~special~ to this song. This one has a lot of detail: the guy has blue hair (punk rocker from Blue Jeans? And therefore possibly musician in For K Pt 2?), was from LA, had a cool mom with green shoes (in contrast with her own lame-o mom who's competing for her daughter's boyfriends. also didn't lana mention she kept in touch with one of her ex's moms?), he has a collection of pictures including a nun named Katie who played the drums and was crazy (my favorite LDR imagery fo sho), wears purple socks and "still" likes Purple Haze, and he's nice. The thing that I'm not sure about is the chorus. "So many people think that they have it together but I think you're a nice guy." What does that mean? 'But' implies contrast. How is blue-hair being nice in contrast to other people having it together? Maybe the idea is that these people think they know it all and are the other people who lay judgment on her boyfriends (her momma, people in some other song I can't be arsed to check now). Still, it's pretty strange. I like to imagine this is a K song because then the album would start with K's end and end with K's beginning.

 

 

[HEARTCORE 18,833]

I think Pretty Baby is Part 1 firstly because if the obvious lyrical repetition - both songs reuse the phrase 'pretty baby'. As well as this, the subject matter is kinda similar - in Part 2, she's saying 'I love everything about you, I love you a lot', whilst in Pretty Baby, she says 'I love you lots but you don't love me at all'. I believe that Pretty Baby serves as the dark, flipside track to Part 2, which is why I believe it to be Part 1.

[longtimeman 8,081]

I've loved Sirens ever since I heard it at the right speed.

[Limelight 4,697]

I wouldn't mind another acoustic album if the songs were as good as You, Mister

[Sitar 22,173]

Quiet Now/Rock Me Stable is randomly her most consistent body of work in terms of quality. No bad songs!

[Creyk 11,497]

I wouldn't mind another acoustic album if the songs were as good as You, Mister

I was just thinking the other day how most of these songs (For you ) could even be chart-toppers with UV kind of production. Can you imagine what these songs would sound like with Lana's deep vocal delivery and better instrumentals?

[Limelight 4,697]

I was just thinking the other day how most of these songs (For you ) could even be chart-toppers with UV kind of production. Can you imagine what these songs would sound like with Lana's deep vocal delivery and better instrumentals?

 I don't think that they'd be chart-toppers even with a new production xd. I think they are special just the way they are rn. I came home listening to her acoustic songs and I just love their simplicity.

[Creyk 11,497]

 I don't think that they'd be chart-toppers even with a new production xd. I think they are special just the way they are rn. I came home listening to her acoustic songs and I just love their simplicity.

You don't know what it sounded like in my head.

It slayed so hard