The best of Lana Del Rey

I've loved Lana Del Rey since a friend sent me a link to the "Video Games" music video. The dreamy melody with the poetic lyrics sung by the hauntingly beautiful voice had me mesmerized. The following is a list of my 22 favorite Lana songs because I couldn't manage to shorten my list to 20. I've decided to exclude songs from Blue Bannisters, her latest.

22. "The Greatest."

"The Greatest" was the second single from Norman Fucking Rockwell. It's psychedelic while feeling classic and has a delicate melody with heavy lyrics.

Favorite Lyrics: I'm wasted

Don't leave, I just need a wake-up call

I'm facin' the greatest

The greatest loss of them all

The culture is lit and I had a ball

I guess that I'm burned out after all

21. "Gods and Monsters."

From the Paradise edition is this sultry and eerie song. I had a phase where I played this daily. She is singing for her desire for change in the music industry.

Favorite Lyrics: In the land of Gods and Monsters

I was an angel

Livin' in the garden of evil

Screwed up, scared, doing anything that I needed

Shinin' like a fiery beacon

20. "Lust for Life" featuring The Weeknd

Only Lana could take a bubblegum pop song and make it feel like a grander production. I love hearing her collaborate with The Weeknd and celebrate her sexuality.

Favorite Lyrics: 'Cause we're the masters of our own fate

We're the captains of our own souls

There's no way for us to come away

'Cause boy we're gold, boy we're gold

19. "High by the beach."

The first single from her Honeymoon album was this power-pop ballad. It mixes jazzy beats with hip hop over an orchestral-aced background. The song is straightforward with its message of disenchantment with the press and frustration with the world of celebrity.

Favorite Lyrics: The truth is I never bought into your bullshit

When you would pay tribute to me

*********

Anyone can start again

Not through love but through revenge

Through the fire, we're born again

Peace by vengeance brings the end

18. "White Dress."

"White dress" is the album opener to Chemtrails over the country Club. Her voice is airy and filled with her truth over this piano ballad. Does she love being famous, or does she wish she could go back and make new choices? Either way, it’s a great song to get lost in and inspires one to think of their own life choices and what makes them happy and proud.

Favorite lyrics: When I was a waitress wearing a tight dress, handling the heat

I wasn't famous, just listening to Kings of Leon to the beat

Like, look at how I got this

Look how I got this, just singing in the street

Down at the Men in Music Business Conference

I felt free 'cause I was only 19

Such a scene

17. "13 beaches"

This song is a glorious production from Lust for Life and my anthem when I feel sad or lonely. After hunting for a beach to be alone and away from the paparazzi's prying eyes, she wrote this song.

Favorite Lyrics: I don't belong in the world, that's what it is

Something separates me from other people

Everywhere I turn, there's something blocking my escape

It took thirteen beaches to find one empty

But finally, it's mine

With drippin' peaches, I'm camera ready

Almost all the time

But I still get lonely

And, baby, only then do I let myself recline

Can I let go? And let your memory dance

In the ballroom of my mind

Across the county line

16. "West Coast"

From her sophomore album, Ultraviolence, this pop song sways away from the mainstream. Her vocals mesmerize over this California melody. How can you listen to this song and not think of the golden state? She breathlessly sings this melancholy love song.

Favorite Lyrics: Down on the West Coast, they love their movies

Their golden gods and rock and roll groupies

And you've got the music, you've got the music

In you, don't you?

15. "Ultraviolence"

This chilling song is about a woman trying to rationalize her domestic violence relationship. Another somber ballad, her opinion on violent relationships wavers between positive and negative.

Favorite lyrics: He used to call me poison

Like I was poison ivy

I could've died right then

'Cause he was right beside me

Jim raised me up

He hurt me but it felt like true love

Jim taught me that

Loving him was never enough

14. "Blue Jeans"

Blue Jeans is a single from Born to die that reminds me of falling in love with a bad boy who you know you can have no future with but you decide to dream of forever anyway. It’s a hip- hop infused ballad with poetic lyrics.

Favorite Lyrics: Blue jeans, white shirt

Walked into the room you know you made my eyes burn

It was like, James Dean, for sure

You're so fresh to death and sick as c-cancer

You were sorta punk rock, I grew up on hip hop

But you fit me better than my favorite sweater and I know

That love is mean (uh oh), and love hurts (uh oh)

But I still remember that day we met in December, oh baby

13. "Love"

To quote billboard’s review of this song: no darkness, no contradictions, just love. The first time I heard this song, I wasn’t moved. Lana strayed from her normal moody side to make a song that makes me smile instead of cry or think deeply. I have since come to love this for what it is, a sweet song. It’s a sweet pop tune that reminds me of the chords of a 1960’s song. Instead, of being a reminder of the past, she’s speaking to the future generations in this hopeful tune.

Favorite lyrics: Look at you kids with your vintage music

Comin' through satellites while cruisin'

You're part of the past, but now you're the future

Signals crossing can get confusing

It's enough just to make you feel

Crazy, crazy, crazy

12. "Norman Fucking Rockwell"

Piano, brass, and strings accompany this song that shares a name with Lana’s fifth album. Lana sounds cool and confident over these lyrics that are tinged with sadness. It’s about loving someone who is immature and has faults she chooses to overlook.

Favorite Lyrics: Godamn, man child

You fucked me so good that I almost said, "I love you"

You're fun and you're wild

But you don't know the half of the shit that you put me through

Your poetry's bad and you blame the news

But I can't change that and I can't change your mood

11. "Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have."

Billboard called this song “emotionally devastating.” It’s the closing track on her Norman Fucking Rockwell album and this somber ballad feels confessional with its poetic lyrics.

Favorite Lyrics: I've been tearing around in my fucking nightgown

24/7 Sylvia Plath

Writing in blood on the walls

'Cause the ink in my pen don't work in my notepad

Don't ask if I'm happy, you know that I'm not

But, at best, I can say I'm not sad

'Cause hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have

Hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have

10. "Born to die"

The second single from her debut studio album is a beautiful song. It’s romantic fatalism at its finest.

Favorite Lyrics: Why, who me, why?

Feet don't fail me now

Take me to your finish line

Oh 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

9. "Brooklyn Baby"

From the album Ultraviolence I love her breathy vocals over this dreamy song scape that seems to conjure up images from the past. Littered with cliches and satires, I may not want to be shoved back in the 1960s or 1970’s Brooklyn but I enjoy the journey the lyrics send me on.

Favorite Lyrics: They say I'm too young to love you

I don't know what I need

They think I don't understand

The freedom land of the seventies

I think I'm too cool to know ya

You say I'm like the ice, I freeze

I'm churnin' out novels like

Beat poetry on Amphetamines

8. "National Anthem"

The music video stunningly portrays Lana as Jackie Kennedy. Some find Lana’s taste for Americana and proclaiming her love for America as irritating or grating. I find it to be an interesting thing to mix: your love of wealth with your patriotism over a hip-hop foundation.

Favorite Lyrics: I sing the national anthem while I'm standin'

Over your body, hold you like a python

And you can't keep your hands off me, or your pants on

See what you've done to me, King of Chevron

He said to be cool but, I'm already coolest

I said to get real, "Don't you know who you're dealing with?"

"Um, do you think you'll buy me lots of diamonds?"

7. "Shades of Cool"

What a soulful song with Lana’s voice soaring somberly. She sounds passionate over this morose ballad. Billboard described it as “a slow-burning waltz that pays tribute to her two muses: money and men.” The message is simple, it’s about being in love with a man who can’t be fixed.

Favorite Lyrics: My baby lives in shades of cool

Cold heart and hands and aptitude

He lives for love, for women too

I'm one of many, Bonnie's blue

And when he calls, he calls for me and not for you

He prays for love, he prays for peace, and maybe someone new

But I can't help him, can't make him better

And I can't do nothing about his strange weather

'Cause you are unfixable

I can't break through your world

'Cause you live in shades of cool

Your heart is unbreakable

6. "Chemtrails over the country club"

Billboard called this title track of her 6th studio album “an enigma wrapped in mystery” and I agree. This song is happiness iced over a gloomy core. Country clubs evoke pleasantries while chemtrails hover overhead making you think something foreboding is on its way. It’s a serene melody that makes me think she loves living lavishly but what is most important to her is her family and friends.

Favorite Lyrics: You're in the wind, I'm in the water

Nobody's son, nobody's daughter

Watching the chemtrails over the country club

Suburbia, The Brentwood Market

What to do next? Maybe we'll love it

White picket chemtrails over the country club

5. "Ride"

Lana’s haunting lyrics sang with her soulful voice over a 60’s style melody is another masterpiece by Del Rey. The music video for this is a phenomenal affair as well. It’s a dreamy piano-driven ballad that conjures images of loneliness to me. Her pain is raw and exposed as it explores her daddy issues and drinking. For me, this song reminds me of someone searching for their place in this world.

Favorite Lyrics: I'm tired of feeling like I'm fucking crazy

I'm tired of driving 'till I see stars in my eyes

I look up to hear myself saying, baby

Too much I strive, I just ride

I hear the birds on the summer breeze, I drive fast

I am alone in the night

Been tryin' hard not to get in trouble, but I

I've got a war in my mind

I just ride

Just ride, I just ride, I just ride

4. "Summertime Sadness"

This song is about desire and young love. The original is fantastic and the remix is just ok. This was my most listened-to song from the Born to Die album. It’s a romantic song with a faint touch of melancholy. The perfect song to think about the summer romance that you think of with a bittersweet smile.

Favorite Lyrics: Kiss me hard before you go

Summertime sadness

I just wanted you to know

That baby, you the best

******

Think I'll miss you forever

Like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky

Later's better than never

Even if you're gone, I'm gonna drive (drive), drive

3. "Mariner's Apartment Complex"

The first single from Lana’s album Norman Fucking Rockwell is a somber affair. It’s a rock ballad with pianos and acoustic guitars. She wrote this after the man she was with told her he liked being with her because she’s sad and messed up like him and she disagreed. How I feel when I listen to this song is a woman realzing the man loves her for something she is not and she’s trying to bring her true nature to light.

Favorite Lyrics: You took my sadness out of context

At the Mariners Apartment Complex

I ain't no candle in the wind

I'm the bolt, the lightning, the thunder

Kind of girl who's gonna make you wonder

Who you are and who you've been

And who I've been is with you on these beaches

Your Venice bitch, your die-hard, your weakness

Maybe I could save you from your sins

So, kiss the sky and whisper to Jesus

My, my, my, you found this, you need this

Take a deep breath, baby, let me in

You lose your way, just take my hand

You're lost at sea, then I'll command your boat to me again

Don't look too far, right where you are, that's where I am

I'm your man

2. "Video Games"

Lana’s fantastic debut song, which I played on replay for over a year. It’s enthralling over a dreamy beat and clash of piano and strings. The emotions it evokes, is this a love song or a song about losing someone you love? This song is pure Lana to me and iconic. It reminds me of being in a romance that you know is most likely to end but for the time being, you will enjoy this magical time.

Favorite Lyrics: 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

1. "Venice Bitch"

What starts as a sweet recount of a relationship morphs into a psychedelic affair. Listening to this nine-and-a-half-minute song is like zipping through the four seasons, and to me, this song is a masterpiece of production. It calls to mind a romance that’s faded but they still have an odd hold on one another, one of those affairs that doesn’t die out.

Favorite Lyrics: Fear fun, fear love, fresh out of fucks forever

*********

You're in the yard, I light the fire

And as the summer fades away

Nothing gold can stay

You write, I tour, we make it work

You're beautiful and I'm insane

We're American-made

***********

If you weren't mine, I'd be

Jealous of your love

Sources:

Billboard

Genius Lyrics