Terrence Loves You

[Capaldi 269]

I found this analysis on Genius.com in the comment section. It sheds a lot of light on who Terrence might be potentially?

 

"Terrence may be Terry Burns, Bowie’s step brother who committed suicide and suffered from mental illness. Bowie written many songs about his brother such as ‘Jump they say’ as well as introducing him to jazz. Hence, the lyrics ‘I’ve still got jazz when I’ve got those blues’. The line ‘I still get trashed baby when I hear your tunes’ could also relate to Bowie listening back on the songs he written about his step-brother. The song in all may be a tribute to Bowie and his brother, as well as being vague enough to capture grief and lament whilst still enjoying and holding on to memories, creating a song that can be universally understood and related to.".

But yeah, this is easilyyy the best song we've gotten from Honeymoon so far and it actually reignited my interest in the album. Not to mention that this is probably her most well written song since Old Money, at least to me.

[BlueJeans 2,606]

Very interesting ! It would explain the "Major Tom" part and fit with the description of Lana "observing" people ...

[Velours 1,318]

This song is my favourite thus far, not a big fan of HBTB, but dang it, I thought that it was about Barrie! amazing info though

[Just Cherry 3,766]

I put the radio on hold you tight in my mind

Isn't strange that you're not here with me

But I know the lights on in the television

Trying to transmit can you hear me

 

I'm hearing that third line as I'm putting all the lights on and the television. Anyone else hear it? It makes a little more sense as well.

[Solar Fields 4,163]

I'm hearing that third line as I'm putting all the lights on and the television. Anyone else hear it? It makes a little more sense as well.

I can hear that too but I also hear "But I know the light's on in the television" so idk

[DeadAgainst 1,515]

I'm hearing that third line as I'm putting all the lights on and the television. Anyone else hear it? It makes a little more sense as well.

 

I was thinking this is another Bowie reference, maybe? Like, she is actually transmitting "in" the television: https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/tvc-15/

 

“TVC 15” is an avant-garde novelty song, a joke delivered in a series of abrasions. Bowie’s mordant sense of humor hasn’t been this visible since Hunky Dory. Inspired by Iggy Pop’s dream of a TV devouring his girlfriend, “TVC 15” also likely came out of Bowie’s work on The Man Who Fell to Earth, in which Bowie’s extraterrestrial character fills rooms with televisions, sometimes a dozen, and sits watching them all, each on a different channel (an image lifted by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons for Watchmen a decade later).

 

Despite the references to quadraphonic sound and hologramic televisions, “TVC 15” is at heart a parody of the ’50s-’60s teenage death ballad, with the same scenario as “Teen Angel,” “Endless Sleep” or “Last Kiss”: the narrator recalls how his girl perished, usually in some horrible, inexplicable way, and now he’s all alone, wondering whether or not to join her in death.

 

So in “TVC 15” the singer brings his girlfriend over to watch his new TV set, which at first bores her, then transfixes her, then consumes her: she crawls in through the screen, and he’s left with the choice of mourning her forever or “jump[ing] down that rainbow way” himself. The teen death song usually offers some reassurance from the afterlife—the dead girlfriend calling the boy’s name, etc.—but here the TVC 15 “just stares back unblinking.” “My baby’s in there someplace,” is the singer’s meager hope.

 

also http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/ccManager/clips/david-bowie-watches-12-tv-screens-at-once-in-the-man-who-fell-to-earth/view

[GodBlessMe 2,141]

She's definitely saying "I'm putting all the light on in the television" like how can you even hear anything else. It doesn't sound like "know" at all and that lyric wouldn't even make sense.

[AngelHeadedHipster 2,818]

Along with David Bowie's "SPACE ODDITY" Lana has also sampled Nancy Sinatra's  James Bond theme song "YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE" in "TERRENCE LOVES YOU" 

 

"You Only Live Twice"
 

You only live twice or so it seems
One life for yourself and one for your dreams
You drift through the years and life seems tame
Till one dream appears and love is it's name

And love is a stranger who'll beckon you on
Don't think of the danger or the stranger is gone

This dream is for you, so pay the price
Make one dream come true, you only live twice

And love is a stranger who'll beckon you on
Don't think of the danger or the stranger is gone

This dream is for you, so pay the price
Make one dream come true, you only live twice

 

 

Lana is really a genius in combining two songs that are as different as chalk and cheese and creating a brilliant new masterpiece. Take note Taylor Swift, this is how you sample other artists without losing your integrity.

[evilentity 13,341]

 

Along with David Bowie's "SPACE ODDITY" Lana has also sampled Nancy Sinatra's  James Bond theme song "YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE" in "TERRENCE LOVES YOU" 

 

I hate to be a PEDANT but neither the "CARELESS WHISPER" thing nor these are samples. In one case she quotes a lyric, in the others she copies a few lines of the melody, intentionally or not, but she doesn't sample any of these songs. Also, what's up with the random boldface, centering, and capitalization?

[AngelHeadedHipster 2,818]

 

I hate to be a PEDANT but neither the "CARELESS WHISPER" thing nor these are samples. In one case she quotes a lyric, in the others she copies a few lines of the melody, intentionally or not, but she doesn't sample any of these songs. Also, what's up with the random boldface, centering, and capitalization?

YOU'RE SO ART DECO

[rdp 1,241]

I still don't hear "all of that's hidden" or "though our love was hidden". Help me (with an hearing aid maybe

[Valentino 884]

I'm hearing that third line as I'm putting all the lights on and the television. Anyone else hear it? It makes a little more sense as well.

Yeah. She's trying to "transmit" to him in space by turning on the lights and the TV (radio waves). Also increasing her energy usage to create a more intense signal. That's why she asks "can you hear me? Ground control to Major Tom, can you hear me all night long?" But like in Space Oddity, Major Tom has slipped away, and she cannot reach him now. She lost him in "space."

[Mind Melt 10,095]

The song was about Kim Kardashian this whole time...

[PARADIXO 32,925]

This song really has gained a place in my heart... I just can't ignore the fact that it reminds me so fucking much of my ex best friend. "You are who you are..." no one will ever be better than him. The atmosphere of this song really captures how I felt when I lost him. I felt empty, fucking depressed... I thought I was the worst piece of bullshit in the whole world. "Isn't it strange that you're not here with me?" we suddenly stopped being friends... I suddently stopped talking to him. The Ground Control part gets me every fucking time... Trying to transmit... can you hear me?

[strange weather 1,951]

This song is my favourite thus far, not a big fan of HBTB, but dang it, I thought that it was about Barrie! amazing info though

 

it probably is, tbh. she keeps calling it a "personal" song & singles it out any time someone asks about things like that. there's obvious bowie references but she's using them to convey something specifically meaningful to her. 

[cheaptrailertrashglm 3,416]

I like the idea that this could be a bowie referenced song, but I also think this could be a K song....just because of the part of her saying "Trying to transmit, can you hear me?". It's not uncommon for people to believe they can speak to the dead via white noise, which i think she's trying to explain here.

 

but I also hope she's not actually getting trashed...I hope she's still sober.

 

This song is so emotional and I don't even know why because I can't relate to it at all, but it makes me want to fucking cry every time I hear it. I guess that's why it's one of my favorite songs off this record.

[SlowGinFizzzz 15,354]

I can't relate to it at all, but it makes me want to fucking cry every time I hear it.

This!

[AKASAKA SAWAYAMA 7,882]

Her voice, lyrics and spiritual instrumentation, BRIDGE. the best

"And though our love was hidden

Well, it will never grow cold"

oh shit my heart is broken

[bummersummer 2,218]

i was never convinced about the Terry Burns theory re: who is Terrence, and lately it occurred to me - could the Terrence in the title refer to Terence McKenna?
 
he was the guy who did the most to popularize hallucinogens in mainstream culture, only 2nd to Timothy Leary, and described as "an American ethnobotanist, mystic, psychonaut, lecturer, author, and an advocate for the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants". he had several theories/thoughts about psychedelics ofc, artists & creativity, but also about time and frequently cited TS Eliot in his lectures (cue Burnt Norton). other topics included:
 

 

in addition to psychedelic drugs, McKenna spoke on a wide array of subjects including; shamanism; metaphysics; alchemy; language; culture; self-empowerment; environmentalism, techno-paganism; artificial intelligence; evolution; extraterrestrials; science and scientism; the Web; virtual reality (which he saw as a way to artistically communicate the experience of psychedelics); and aesthetic theory, specifically about art/visual experience as information representing the significance of hallucinatory visions experienced under the influence of psychedelics.

 

several of those themes match Lana's self-professed interests. he frequented Grateful Dead type circles and was kind of a guru-like figure, revered by the west coast psychedelic music crowd, so there's some overlap there too. and this "Terrence" mention happens in a pretty psych drugs-influenced phase of Lana's career, right after UV & in an album that also features a song called High By The Beach and a pretty literal video for Freak.

 

also, some of his more popular quotes are:
 

 

You are a divine being. You matter, you count. You come from realms of unimaginable power and light, and you will return to those realms.”

 

“We tend to disempower ourselves. We tend to believe that we don’t matter. And in the act of taking that idea to ourselves we give everything away to somebody else, to something else.”

 

Lana in TLY:

 

 

You are what you are
I don't matter to anyone

 

i have no idea if this is anywhere near what she was thinking when she wrote the song, but given her interest in metaphysics & psychedelics it's certain that she knows him. there's also the misspelling of the name to account for - tho Terry Burns was also Terence, not Terrence, so. but anyway, it's just a thought. (where is @@evilentity when you need him!)

[ivy 1,693]

Wow, awesome work! I think you're onto something @bummersummer

 

I like to think that the one Terrence (or Terence) does not necessarily rule out the other, which makes the song even more interesting in my opinion. I think Lana is very much capable of writing such complex lyrics, especially with Honeymoon (the album)