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

This Is What Makes Us Girls

lyrics:
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remember how we used to party up all night?
sneaking out and looking for a taste of real life
drinking in the small town firelight
Pabst blue ribbon on ice.

sweet sixteen and we had arrived
walkin' down the streets as they whistle, "hi, hi!"
stealing police cars with the senior guys
teachers said we'd never make it out alive

there she was, my new best friend
high heels in her hands
swaying in the wind
then she starts to cry
mascara runnin' down her little Bambi eyes
"Lana, how I hate those guys!"

this is what makes us girls
we all look for heaven and we put love first
something that we'd die for, it's a curse
don't cry about it
don't cry about it

this is what makes us girls
we don't stick together 'cause we put love first
don't cry about him
don't cry about him
it's all gonna happen...

and that's where the beginning of the end began
everybody knew that we had too much fun
we were skipping school and drinkin' on the job
with the boss

sweet sixteen and we had arrived
baby's table dancin' at the local dive
cheering our names in the pink spotlight
drinking cherry schnapps in the velvet night

yo, we used to go break into the hotel
pool glimmering we'd swim
running from the cops in our black bikini tops
screaming, "get us while we're hot,
get us while we're hot!"
(cm'on, take a shot)

the prettiest in-crowd that you had ever seen
ribbons in our hair and our eyes gleamed mean
a freshman generation of degenerate beauty queens
and you know something?

they were the only friends I ever had
we got into trouble and when stuff got bad
I got sent away
I was waving on a train platform
crying 'cause I know I'm never going back...
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analysis:

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my thoughts

This Is What Makes Us Girls is the twelfth and final track off the standard edition of Lana Del Rey's debut LP Born To Die. The song was written from her own personal experience as is many, but is probably one of her most honest tracks, told like a story from when she was a girl. The track begins with some wavering violins, the continuous theme of the album, and an echoing, tapping offbeat. As the song continues, an electronically edited sound of shouts behind the beat begins to play, calling to mind kids like the kind she mentions in the song, similar to the start of Off To The Races.

The song recalls her troubled, teenage past in Lake Placid, New York where she fell to be a victim of drug addiction and an alcoholic at an early age. Her underage drinking she did excessively with her friends as a rebellious teenager, and at only sixteen, her parents shipped her off to an exclusive boarding school in Connecticut. Given all Lana's broken relationships heard through the album, the last song acts as a sort of flashback as she reminisces about a time when she was young and wild. She was excited and thrill-seeking. The song seems quite nostalgic for Lana, as she wishes she was still that young spirit with fire inside and when love still seemed ethereal romantic, like the movies, instead of the reality of heartbreak and pain.

Their naïvety at the time is what makes the song so authentic. Similar to Carmen, they are all young girls who are rich in innocence and new to the big, wide world, but like many youths, are so desperate to lose that. Teenagers can constantly feel like they need more freedom, and with Lana and her friends, they were taking it to the extreme by rebelling in the night, breaking into pools for fun and stealing police cars. They all knew it would come with consequence and that they were bad things, but they were reckless and young and didn't care.

The song is probably very close to heart and meaningful for fans because her main audience are young, teenage girls. It's nostalgic for her, and relatable for them, and through the lyrics, brings out just the right amount of pop cultural scandal, rebellion and youth in a bopping last banger to close out a truly magnificent record.

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