Lana Del Rey | Paradise - EP | lyrics

Ride

lyrics:

—
I've been out on that open road
but you can be my full-time daddy
white and gold
singin' blues has been getting old
but you can be my full-time baby
hot or cold

don't break me down
I've been travelling too long
I've been trying to hard
with one pretty song...

I hear the birds on a summer breeze
I drive fast
I am alone at midnight
been tryin' hard not to get into trouble but I
I got a war in my mind

I just ride
I just ride
I just ride
I just ride...

dying young and playing hard
that's the way my father made his life an art
drink all day and we talk 'til dark
that's the way the road dogs do it
light 'til dark

don't leave me now
don't say goodbye
don't turn around
leave me high and dry

I'm tired of feeling like I'm fucking crazy
I'm tired of driving 'til I see stars in my eyes
all I've got to keep myself sane, baby
so I just ride
I just ride!
—

analysis:

—
Ride MV monologue - written by Lana Del Rey

I was in the winter of my life
and the men I met along the road were my only summer
at night I fell asleep with visions of myself dancing and laughing and crying with them
three years down the line of being on an endless world tour, my memories of them were the only things that sustained me
and my only real happy times

I was a singer, not a very popular one
I once had dreams of becoming a beautiful poet
but upon an unfortunate series of events, saw those dreams dashed undivided like a million stars in the night sky
that I wished on over and over again, sparkling and broken
because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted and then losing it to know what true freedom is

when the people I used to know found out what I had been doing, how I had been living they asked me why
but there's no use in talking to people who have a home
they have no idea what it's like to seek safety in other people
for home to be wherever you lie your head

I was always an unusual girl
my mother told me I had a chameleon soul
no moral compass pointing to the north
no fixed personality
just an inner indecisiveness that was as wide and as wavering as the ocean
and if I said I didn't plan for it to turn out this way, I'd be lying

because I was born to be the other woman
I belonged to no one, who belonged to everyone
who had nothing, who wanted everything
with a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn't even talk about it
and pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me

•

every night I used to pray that I'd find my people
and finally I did on the open road
we had nothing to lose, nothing to gain
nothing we desired anymore
except to make our lives into a work of art
live fast, die young, be wild and have fun

I believe in the country America used to be
I believe in the person I want to become
I believe in the freedom of the open road
and that motto is the same as ever
I believe in the kindness of strangers
and when I'm at war with myself
I ride, I just ride

who are you?
are you in touch with all of your darkest fantasies?
have you created a life for yourself where you can experience them?
I have
I am fucking crazy
but I am free.

—

my thoughts

Ride is the first track off Lana Del Rey's second studio release and extended play Paradise. The record was released on November 13th 2012 in America, and serves as an edition to her debut album Born To Die. Both the song and the EP feature Lana's signature, 60s style pop.

The song opens with possibly one of Lana's most iconic and memorably tremendous introductions. A striking melody in choruses of harmonies opens the gates to this paradise, like a glittering, golden sun on an open road at sunset. Lana begins to sing in her low, raspy baritone, soulfully and smoothly.

As reflected in the music video by the monologue, Lana Del Rey is reflecting on her past years before fame, when she was known only by people who knew her as her birth name "Lizzy Grant". The story she tells almost explains the meaning of the song completely for you. We know in This Is What Makes Us Girls she is also reflecting on her teenage years as a rebelling, alcoholic young girl, prior to being sent away to boarding school. But Ride is even more personal, with Lana telling of her life as a young adult, struggling for support and security as an aspiring musician.

Through glorious cinematography, the Ride music video has Lana swinging on a tire swing hanging from thin air, gliding through American dessert alone. There are cuts to shots of her with older men, some of which are middle-aged bikers. It's unsurprising she is romantically involved with the older men, as Lana sings a lot in her songs about them anyway. She seeks comfort and safety in their arms as then she didn't have a home to go to. Possibly she was outcast by her family or she ran away herself after her boarding school time.

The true meaning of the song is Lana feeling alive and comfortable in her own skin when she is around these men, because they are wild too, and free on the open roads of America. She is making her life into a work of art, and by using the motto "I just ride" in her song, she's saying she will just go with the flow of life and wherever it takes her, not caring for what happens next or how she should behave. It's another nostalgic song that seeps into your soul and catches your voice to the glorious melody that fills the track.

A song about being young, reckless, free and in love.

—