Lana Del Rey | Born To Die (Deluxe) | lyrics

Video Games

lyrics:

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swinging in the backyard
pull up in your fast car
whistling my name
open up a beer and you say, "get over here"
and play your video games

I'm in his favourite sundress
watching me get undressed
take that body downtown
I see you the bestest
lean in for a big kiss
put his favourite perfume on
go play your video games

it's you, it's you, it's all for you
everything I do
I tell you all the time
heaven is a place on earth with you
tell me all the things you wanna do
I heard that you like the bad girls
honey, is that true?

it's better than I ever even knew
they say that the world was built for two
only worth living if somebody is loving you
and baby, now you do

singing in the old bars
swinging with the old stars
living for the fame
kissing in the blue dark
playing pool and wild darts
video games

he holds me in his big arms
drunk and I am seeing stars
this is all I think of
watching all our friends fall in and out of Old Paul's
this is my idea of fun
playing video games
—

analysis:

Lana Del Rey's thoughts

"The verse was about the way things were with one person, and the chorus was the way I wished things had really been with another person, who I thought about for a long time," she said.

She also told of the song's meaning: "It's a song about letting go of my musical ambitions and settling down into a simple life with a person I loved. We had a mutual love for the community of New York, art and hard work."

(an interview for NME)

"I was working with a composer named Justin Parker in London and he said that he had a couple of chords that reminded him of me. When I heard them, I just felt inspired to write about the same theme I had been writing for a while which was about this guy I had been seeing, and the way our relationship was at the time. You know - it was just a time in my life when I'd let go of my own personal career ambitions and just enjoyed being with him when he came home from work - I would write while I watched him."

"I think when I wrote that song I was just reflecting on the sweetness of it but also the fact that there was something else I was longing for at the same time."

"Thematically it feels personal to me so I wouldn't have thought that would be the song people responded to, although it's a gift for someone like me because melodically and thematically it is a perfect representation of me."

(Lana's answer with BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge when asked how the song was inspired)

"Well, it was a lot like all the other songs I had written which were just sort of piano and voice. Not too spectacular, just more about the everyday way that things are, which kind of - in the end is what made me nothing too fancy-based, just documenting the way things used to go. My songs are me, and this song felt a lot like me."

—

my thoughts

Video Games is Lana Del Rey's first ever hit and debut single off her first LP Born To Die. Once again, the song fits in to what Lana describes as a trilogy, with Born To Die and Blue Jeans fitting after all about the same man. Video Games begins with a chiming bell, and then a soft wave of violins flood in, tickled by a harp in the background and gentle piano playing. The string instrumental brings a delicate start to her discography, introducing one of Lana's most soothing, loving and pure ballads in her whole discography.

Del Rey is potentially writing about the beginning of a relationship, when everything is smooth and passionate and exciting. The music has no beat to back up the bluesy ballad, simply a booming drum placed throughout the chorus. She describes the song as very innocent and young; the parts in a relationship that are just so simply beautiful. When you are drinking in every bit of being in love with your partner. even the smaller things like watching him play video games or the lifting feeling of seeing his car pull in when he gets home from work. She says it will always be very close to her heart, not only because it was her first hit but because it was written from a very true perspective of herself and persona.

The "video games" could also symbolise their love for each other, feeling like a game in itself. The visuals for the song are also strikingly simplistic, with a montage of old clips of film from movies and other moving pictures she likes, cutting between them with shots of her mouthing serenely into the camera, proving an iconic piece of art all in all and a deeply moving performance to open up her musical career in fame.

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