Music
11 Of Lana Del Rey’s Most Haunting Lyrics
We should all be afraid of her pen.
No modern pop star makes audiences clutch their pearls quite like Lana Del Rey. For 13 years, the singer has been documenting her romances with much, much older men and glamorizing the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle with disturbing tales from her childhood, past relationships, and her inner world.
Now that she’s happily married, we can only hope her next album will be filled with sappy sentiments and dreamy declarations of love. But even if our wishes come true, it’s not farfetched to assume Lana’s stirring, evocative lyricism isn’t going anywhere, considering her most recent single managed to secure a spot on our list of Lana Del Rey’s most haunting lyrics.
1. Taking all my medicine to take my thoughts away — “Heroin”
To throw a line like this in a song called “Heroin”... what else is there to say, really?
2. The power of youth is on my mind / Sunsets, small town, I'm out of time / Will you still love me when I shine? / From words but not from beauty — “Old Money”
Yes, this lyric is very “Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful”-coded, but it will never not be heartbreaking to hear Lana claim her good looks and youth as her only forms of currency.
3. I paint the house black / My wedding dress black leather, too / You have no room for light / Love is lost on you — “Black Beauty”
Showing up to your wedding dressed like it’s a funeral, exchanging vows with a man who is clearly incapable of love... Girl, run.
4. You like to rage, don't do that / You want your way, you make me so mad / Got your gun, I've got my dad — “Is This Happiness”
A message to anyone reading this: If your relationship makes you wonder, “Is this happiness?” at every turn, the answer will always be a resounding “No.”
5. It turns out everywhere you go‚ you take yourself‚ that's not a lie — “F*ck It I Love You”
File this one under: Lyrics That Keep Me Up At Night.
6. There's things I wanna say to you / But I'll just let you live / Like if you hold me without hurting me / You'll be the first who ever did — “Cinnamon Girl”
Whether the pain she sings of on “Cinnamon Girl” is emotional or physical, it’s clear Lana’s been through the relationship ringer.
7. Happiness is a butterfly / Try to catch it, like, every night / It escapes from my hands into moonlight — “Happiness Is A Butterfly”
If you think yearning is painful, try yearning for happiness. The more you want it, the sadder you feel, and the sadder you feel, the harder it becomes to... be happy. It’s basically a snake eating its own tail.
8. There's a certain point the body can't come back from / In one year, we've learned the turn of the mouth / The depth that the chest cavity takes — “Kintsugi”
As a song about grief, “Kintsugi” was bound to make an appearance on this list. And while this spot could’ve been filled with a number of lyrics from this track, this part feels particularly deserving because it makes the subject matter instantly recognizable to a person who has also experienced loss.
9. Caroline, what kind of mother was she to say I'd end up in institutions? — “Fingertips”
Reading more like a diary entry than a song, “Fingertips” is one of Lana’s most personal songs to date. Here, the singer confides in her sister about their mother, who seemed to think Lana’s teenage troubles were self-inflicted, as she ruminates on the tragic loss of her uncle and recounts a traumatic encounter with her childhood neighbors.
10. I hear the door slam, but the window's wide open / We both shouldn't be dealing with him — “Bluebird”
In this song, Lana befriends a bluebird who has found its way into her unhappy home, and warns the creature to leave before her abusive partner returns. She doesn’t disclose much about his behavior in the lyrics, but with a line like “We both shouldn’t be dealing with him,” she doesn’t need to.
11. A modern day woman with a weak constitution, 'cause I've got / Monsters still under my bed that I could never fight off / A gatekeeper carelessly dropping the keys on my nights off — “Hope Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me To Have, But I Have It”
The imagery of Lana being held in a prison cell of her own making, desperately waiting for her gatekeeper to slip up so she can finally escape, knowing full well she’ll never be truly free from her demons — whew.
