Born to Die : Three Way Interpretation

Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

Feet don't fail me now

Take me to the finish line

All my heart, it breaks every step that I take

But I'm hoping that the gates,

They'll tell me that you're mine

Walking through the city streets

Is it by mistake or design?

I feel so alone on a Friday night

Can you make it feel like home, if I tell you you're mine

It's like I told you honey

Don't make me sad, don't make me cry

Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough

I don't know why

Keep making me laugh,

Let's go get high

The road is long, we carry on

Try to have fun in the meantime

Come and take a walk on the wild side

Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain

You like your girls insane

Choose your last words

This is the last time

Cause you and I, we were born to die

Lost but now I am found

I can see but once I was blind

I was so confused as a little child

Tried to take what I could get

Scared that I couldn't find

All the answers, honey

Don't make me sad, don't make me cry

Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough

I don't know why

Keep making me laugh,

Let's go get high

The road is long, we carry on

Try to have fun in the meantime

Come and take a walk on the wild side

Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain

You like your girls insane

Choose your last words,

This is the last time

Cause you and I

We were born to die

We were born to die

We were born to die

Come and take a walk on the wild side

Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain

You like your girls insane

Don't make me sad, don't make me cry

Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough

I don't know why

Keep making me laugh,

Let's go get high

The road is long, we carry on

Try to have fun in the meantime

Come and take a walk on the wild side

Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain

You like your girls insane

Choose your last words

This is the last time

Cause You and I

We were born to die

We were born to die

________________________________________________________________________

                The song “Born to Die” is sang by Lana Del Rey, and was chosen for this blog because of the way the lyrics could be wildly interpreted, especially if we take it out of its music video context. Later in the blog I will reveal the true intention behind this song, and its meaning. However, aside from its intended meaning, this song can be interpreted in many different views. We imagine different contexts because; “we construe song lyrics by filling in vaguely implied information as a way of creating intelligible situations and stories of our own” (Durant, 2009, p. 138).  It is important to understand that a song can essentially be interpreted in countless ways, since every listener will construct the lyrics differently. There will not be a single listener who will have the exact same thoughts, same as the situation in which we listen to the song. Listening to a song for enjoyment produces different responses as opposed to listening to the song for an assignment. Originally I thought the song was about a ‘wild’ relationship, since Lana sang “let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain, you like your girls insane.” From that sentence, I interpreted an physically intimate relationship, this context was once again transformed when I allocated all my attention to the song lyrics, in which different contexts arose.

From the lyrics, I can imagine three different situations these lyrics would invoke in listeners; a relationship doomed to fail, religious enlightenment, and life. Amusing enough, the three contexts brought up were not relevant to the original meaning of the song; which Lana said was about an ill boyfriend who died.

First Verse:

Feet don’t fail me now

Take me to the finish line

Oh my heart, it breaks with every step that I take

From the first context of a relationship doomed to fail, these lyrics could be interpreted as Lana struggling to persevere through this relationship. “Oh my heart, it breaks with every step that I take” can be understood of how the relationship is riddled with conflicts, with arguments being a very common part of her relationship. Another context can interpret this verse as an analogy to life, and our search for the significance and our purpose in life. Speaking from my own experiences, I am still lost when I think about the meaning of my life. I constantly struggle to justify what I do in my day-to-day routine, and this continually creates pain for me knowing of my own futile attempts. The “finish line” in the verse could be used to address a goal of sorts, or the desirable final product that Lana is seeking.

                Lana goes on to sing “But I’m hoping at the gates, they’ll tell me that you’re mine.” This line can be interpreted from a religious point of view, as it could be a possible reference to the ‘gates’ of heaven, in which not all can enter. In the context of struggling to find a true purpose in life, the words “at the” seeks to pinpoint a specific thing, the gate. The wording in this line and all throughout the song is what makes this song so relatable to different context. The language chosen within the lyrics is not very specific, just like the use of “they’ll tell me that you’re.”  Who is “they” and who is “you.” This form of language is what allows listeners to construct different contexts throughout the song. A common theme along this song’s lyrics is the way Lana chooses to use reification and fixation to reproduce the lyrics into something permanent and reproducible. Reification means turning a process/set of things into something fixed, resulting in a product. Instead of listening to verbal lyrics, reading the song also results in different contexts and understandings. Alan Durant (2009) wrote that “speech can be captured as writing, for example… Writing can be turned into printed text. Both formats convert the evanescent character of speaking into something permanent and reproducible” (p. 18). In Lana’s case, she is transforming the vocal lyrics of her song and converting it into written lyrics, which can be much better analyzed than it, would be if it were just heard once.

The next excerpt from the song really sums up our life in a verse:

Don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry

Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough

I don’t know why

Keep making me laugh

Let’s go get high

The road is long, we carry on

Try to have fun in the meantime

After further research, Lana was referring to her boyfriend in this verse. However, when I listened to the song, my own experiences formed a different context; an analogy to life. To me, she is almost begging life to not crush her. I connected to this song with my experiences as the verse foreshadows that not everything will always be fun and games, and all rosy in life.  What really constructs the whole “life can’t always be fun and games” meaning for me is the last two lines, where she sings “The road is long, we carry on. Try to have fun in the meantime.”

Lost but now I am found

I can see but once I was blind

I was so confused as a little child

Tried to take what I could get

Scared that I couldn’t find

All the answers, honey

This verse is very important from an analytic point of view because it is directly related to another song. The song goes “lost but now I am found, I can see but once I was blind” which is an exact copy as the classic Christian song “Amazing Grace” by John Newton. Just as how I can identify the song as an analogy to life, Lana could also identify her own experiences as she compares her life to the Christian hymn. This line is also very powerful in the sense of how relatable it can be in many different contexts. For example; “lost but now I am found, I can see but once I was blind” can simultaneously reference relationships, god, love, or even finding a purpose of life.

“Born to Die” is a strongly relatable song because of its register; the language is designed to adhere to certain contexts. Songs like Lana Del Rey’s “Born to Die” are highly relatable because of the words chosen in the lyrics. She never specifically states someone or something; many contexts are not excluded. Her constant use of “I” puts listeners in her shoes, and thus allows them to take any route they want in their musical journey. The reason why register within a song is important is because of the discourse it produces. The discourse group created by a common clubbing song or today’s pop hits is vastly different from the discourse group created by people who listened to Lana Del Ray. In a way, it is a much more ‘fulfilling’ discourse. Songs about alcohol and clubbing, or even about promiscuity and sex are in many ways much more explicit, leaving no room for imagination. However, a song like “Born to Die” contains many analogies, and has room for interpretation.

Overall “Born to Die” is a great song for both its sentimental value, but also for its analytic value. The song allows room for many different interpretation and its register and style allows it to do so. The discourse it creates is widespread, purely due to the first person perspective of the song, making it highly relatable. If this song was played on YouTube with a picture of the cross, or a figure of Christian importance, the discourse community could immediately shift to religious, along with its genre. Out of all the possible contexts imagined, I personally like to think of this song as an analogy to life, even with its title; “Born to Die.” The message I got from this song is that, life has its up and downs, and although sometimes things get rough, it is important to try to have fun in the meantime.