Best American Record

[Constantine 4,074]

THIS! "He was cool as heck" might be a connection to the thousands of girls loving him and his guitar that she kind of makes fun of. Like she says it half ironically, half with love.

I love that line cos she's obviously secretly bitter, mad as fuck.

[Veinsineon 76,863]

i made this bc i feel like this pic fits the song

[Sitar 22,210]

I don't think the person she's speaking to is necessarily famous. They just did it all for fame and seemed to have actually failed, hence "how does that taste coming out?" I also kinda like the idea that its a self-critique of her hunger for fame, like Noir's "I'm glamorous, famous, notorious, dangerous, but I'm crazy." If you believe that, perhaps she's singing more generally about how her desire to write the next best American record and be famous has kind of ruined all her relationships, from the early days down to Barrie and perhaps Francesco (who knows how she looks at that).

[Mafiosa 1,089]

makes me think of jim morrison for some reason

[daytonadeath 3,596]

My baby used to dance underneath my architecture = sex?

[Wryta Thinkpiece 3,344]

The hook always fucks me up.

[Ultra Violet 18,984]

I don't think this song is about whoever "bill" is. Because why would you go from using direct speech (i.e. you) to using indirect speech (i.e. Bill), and then go back to using direct speech? It doesn't make any sense grammatically. Why not simply say, "thousands of girls like, the way you play guitar....." Bill doesn't serve any rhyming purpose that you cannot replace.

Maybe she's singing it about all the artists who have ruined their life through their music or something. Lots more ppl have done it than we realise

 

And lana, who wont sell herself out, is going to be the last one to do that

[Whorerick 207]

I personally think that it's about Barrie, first of all BARrie. He is a singer too that's why she say "You were trying to write the next Best American Record." Maybe he didn't love her, he faked his love towards her to build his name by using her fame. He did it all for fame. He even proposed to her to get more buzz around them."There was nothing left by the time we got to bed" Once he realized that the outcome wasn't as expected he pulled off the wedding, she found out what he was doing so she left him. Now that he's not even heard about anymore and she knows it she says "Now that you lost the game honey, how's life treating you now that it's over?". Shes sorta laughing at him with this. Like I can imagine them hanging out in the backyard smoking cigarettes while Barrie tries to write the next Best American Record while Lana Dances under her architecture (because it was her house). Bill may not be about a guy name Bill but a metaphor for all the guys she's been with.

[Hundred Dollar Bill 21,804]

I just don't understand why she'd still be writing about Barrie. UV was pretty much entirely about him, and she distanced herself from that album almost immediately.

[evilentity 13,344]

tl;dr The grammatical shift from second person pronoun to third person proper noun here does not alone tell us anything about whether "Bill", whoever that refers to, is or is not the main subject of the song.

 

 

With apologies in advance for for my pedantic and somewhat combative style of argument...

 

Ad hominem arguments are definitely cues that you have a solid argument to support your own beliefs.  Also most times she makes grammatical errors it's for a lyrical purpose.  E.g. when she says baby you're the bestest she needs it to rhyme with big kiss.  What she does here, like I said, serves no lyrical purpose.

My rhetorical question wasn't an ad hominem attack, in either the incorrect but common colloquial sense of making a personal attack (I've incorrectly used the phrase this way on the forum myself), or the correct sense of marshalling a specific type of logical fallacy grounded in a personal attack in place of an actual argument. Ironically, your argument ("Ad hominem arguments are definitely cues that you have a solid argument to support your own beliefs") is itself a logical fallacy. An opponent's resort to ad hominems might speak to their debating abilities (or lack thereof), not to the soundness of your ideas. Further ironically, your argument itself is implicitly an actual argumentum ad hominem, i.e. that a position is wrong and should be discounted without considering the substance of it because the person holding it supposedly made an ad hominem attack.

 

But let's consider the substance. Your original post was primarily about grammar, which I addressed generally, and only touched on rhyming. What you call direct vs. indirect speech-- btw those terms usually refer to something completely different in English grammar (e.g. as referenced in my previous post whether the VG lyrics are properly rendered as I say, "You the bestest" vs. I say you the bestest)-- is actually just a specific case of a more general case of her switching between second and third person, something she does in many of her songs, and in many cases seemingly without changing referents. The specific case here is just that she employs a third person proper noun rather than a pronoun. That's it. Obviously it's not always possible to know for sure she doesn't intend a change in referent with the change in person, but "Salvatore", "Ultraviolence", "Cola", "Gramma", "For K", "Elvis", "Hundred Dollar Bill", "Trash Magic" are all examples of the specific case, all or most do not appear to change their referent, and few if any seem to do so for rhyming purposes. There are many counterexamples to your argument. The point I was making with the rhetorical question, "Are you familiar with any of Lana's discography?" still stands.

 

#evilenglishteacher

 

 

 

I just don't understand why she'd still be writing about Barrie. UV was pretty much entirely about him, and she distanced herself from that album almost immediately.

Why not? It was a pretty long-term relationship, one of the lengthiest that we can actually document, and relatively recent.

 

The counter narrative is what, that it's about someone even longer ago, that she probably dated for a shorter time?

[Hundred Dollar Bill 21,804]

Why not? It was a pretty long-term relationship, probably the lengthiest that we can actually document, and relatively recent.

 

The counter narrative is what, that it's about someone even longer ago, that she probably dated for a shorter time?

 

Yes! She's said in various interviews that most of her love songs are written about 1 of 3 men, right? 

 

It just doesn't make sense to me why she'd write about him again (at least on the title track) when she's made an effort to distance herself from that relationship, that album, etc. She was done with UV by the time we got it & she hardly performs many songs from it. Lana is the kind of person who continues writing new material all the time. I just don't feel she'd go back to that subject matter again. I can't rationalize it, I guess. 

 

[kitschesque 9,882]

I just don't understand why she'd still be writing about Barrie. UV was pretty much entirely about him, and she distanced herself from that album almost immediately.

 

I've always perveived UV as Lana-esque storytelling at its finest that has no (or little) connection to reality and/or her own relationships whatsoever. And IF it describes any of her past lovers it's definetly Arthur Lynn and the whole Local Rockstar scene as we call it. And EVEN that idea is an exaggeration imo

[cherryblossoms 10,420]

I wasn't too fond of BAR as the title but after hearing it in context I'm actually loving it.

"You were so obsessed with writing the next best American record."

It's like a bitter ode to their relationship

[Thunder Revenant 20,943]

I really LOVE that track, I will be so mad if it gets scrapped or if the final version is not as great. Her vocals during the chorus are so heartbreaking and the bridge is perfect! Her vocals are great in general, the delivery even makes up for the weak lyrics of the verses

[evilentity 13,344]

Yes! She's said in various interviews that most of her love songs are written about 1 of 3 men, right?

Yeah, but like, how long has it been now since she's said that? Might have been true at the time, might not be now.

 

Again, I refer you back to this point:

You know, back in 2011, 2012 when she was saying stuff to that effect in interviews she wasn't consistent. One interview she'd say they were mostly about one guy, the next she'd say two guys. Taken with other interview comments she's made about songs written about past lovers becoming about the person you're with now, I think Lanalysis is inherently a fool's game (that I nonetheless enjoy playing).

Lana is the kind of person who continues writing new material all the time. I just don't feel she'd go back to that subject matter again.

... he says, in defense of the idea that she goes even further back to perhaps more well-trod subject matter again.

[Thunder Revenant 20,943]

Maybe Bill, K and Jim are just imaginary archetypes of men Lana keeps using again in order to have a person to form a fantasy around.

[Deleted User 1,353]

I don't get this, when did this song leak and why isn't  there a thread anywhere??

[Hundred Dollar Bill 21,804]

... he says, in defense of the idea that she goes even further back to perhaps more well-trod subject matter again.

 

 

stefani u suck 

[firecracker 60]

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[Say Yes to Heaven 27,515]

Can someone PM me a download? Everything Im finding is taken down.  

You can't ask for download links...