The iconic musicians Lana Del Rey has referenced in her songs
You could argue that Lana Del Rey‘s career is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you boast one of music’s nuanced and complex singing voices, it seems almost inevitable that you will harbour an ability to be a deeply profound storyteller.
Ever since her debut album, Born To Die, Del Rey has been humanising grandiose images of drama, heartache, and hedonism with quiet melancholy and dark humour. The myriad tales woven into the fabric of her songwriting have created a mythology in the wake of her music, with various rumours of her life running rife due to her deep fascination with the mind’s inner workings.
Many believe Del Rey is an old-money American socialite living off daddy’s wealth. Others tell tales of rags to drug-addled riches about the ‘songbird’, while still others suspect she’s a conservative woman with a real dedication to old-school, misogynistic beliefs that women should be submissive. In many ways, finding the truth about her personal life has captured the imagination of the audience due to the sheer depth of her storytelling ability.
This ability has been widely built on an eclectic bed of influence that ranges from Russian Literature and Shakespeare to contemporary pop culture. Feasting on all things literary and creative, she’s crafted a songwriting style that often reads like an artistic thesaurus, carefully injecting references that range from the biblical to the musical. The latter, in particular, is a lyrical trope commonly leaned on by Del Rey.
While in the contemporary landscape she occupies, Del Rey is very much a singular artist rarely judged in comparison to anyone else. Nevertheless, so much of her potential lies within her deep sense of American heritage and ability to convey something artistically classic. In doing so, her songs have regularly referenced great musicians of the past.
Given her penchant for poetic storytelling, it’s unsurprising that Bob Dylan is a commonly invoked reference for Del Rey, who nods to the folk legend in several of her songs. She’s referred to him twice on her debut Born To Die with the lyrics “The way I roll like a rolling stone” from ‘Off To The Races’, and “So I run like I’m mad to heaven’s door” from ‘Bel Air’, subtly referencing two of his most famous songs. However, there is one particular track of his that Lana loves so much that she’s referenced it twice.
In ‘Religion’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Came’, Del Rey signals to what must be her favourite Dylan song, ‘Lay, Lady, Lay’. We find her singing “All I hear is music, like Lay, Lady, Lay” on the former and “Lay, Lady, Lay, on that side of Paradise” on the latter.
While Dylan’s presence traverses several Del Rey albums, it’s on Born To Die that she’s in good company, for she pulls upon the greats of music in multiple songs. Singing “Come and take a walk on the wild side,” the chorus of the album’s titled tracks centring the iconic Lou Reed lyric, while Springsteen gets a nod on her breakout hit ‘Summertime Sadness’ with “Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight.”
Such is the frenzy with which Del Rey makes these references that this article could extend to a multi-page essay, for Dylan, Reed and Springsteen are all joined by Belinda Carlisle, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Tom Petty and Snoop Dogg on that album. The rest of her discography follows suit, with Amy Winehouse, Cher, and Bowie making appearances in her narrative world.
Despite the myriad of influences she clearly draws upon, the inclusion of legends does nothing to reduce the value of her music. Instead, it reaffirms her place in the lineage of greats, and we will no doubt see her name heralded as a touchstone of influence for future generations.
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