Today, Lana Del Rey is seen as an icon of West Coast elegance and mystery, waxing poetic about her California home in tracks such as “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd” and the aptly named “California” and “West Coast.” Before the West Coast swept her up, though, Lana Del Rey spent the first 28 years of her life on the East Coast, and she is always sure to pay homage to her roots. This is done no better than in 2014’s “Brooklyn Baby,” a smooth, melodic, and almost sultry tune that invites listeners to put on their rose-tinted glasses and romanticize Brooklyn.
Lana Del Rey’s history with New York traces all the way back to 1985, when she was born Elizabeth Grant in Manhattan. When she was still an infant, her family moved north for a quieter life in the Adirondacks, and she spent her childhood and early teen years in Lake Placid. After beginning to struggle with heavy drinking, though, her parents chose for her to attend a boarding school in Connecticut.
Once she achieved sobriety and graduated, she took a gap year to spend time with her aunt and uncle in Long Island, who first fostered her passions for music. Around this time, she began writing songs and performing at clubs throughout the five boroughs under the name Lizzy Grant, and at the end of her gap year, she decided to attend Fordham University in the Bronx, where she graduated from in 2008.
“Brooklyn Baby” was released in June 2014 as the fourth single from Lana Del Rey’s sophomore album, Ultraviolence, which is now revered as one of her most critically acclaimed bodies of work. Riding off the success of 2012’s Born to Die and its hit single “Summertime Sadness,” Ultraviolence helped refine Del Rey’s style and solidify her as a serious player in the pop music industry. With her sophomore album, Del Rey traded catchy pop hooks for a smoother sound profile that is as sultry as it is melancholic. Lyrically and sonically, she calls back to the soft rock sound of the 1960s and 70s, romanticizing the era at its best in “Brooklyn Baby” (“They think I don’t understand // The freedom land of the seventies”).
From the first few guitar strums and delicate hums of Del Rey’s ethereal voice, listeners are immediately overcome with nostalgia for a 1970s world that many of them (Del Rey included) were not even alive for. The addictive melody immediately draws you in and transports you to a bustling, culture-filled, 1970s Brooklyn. Though the song is just shy of six minutes long (on the longer side for a 2010s pop track), it never drags on or bores you. The closing guitar strums, a reiteration of the ones that opened the track, leave you yearning for more, inspiring you to maybe just let the song loop so you never leave this unbeatable feeling of warm nostalgia.
This 1970s energy was no accident. In an interview shortly after the song’s release, Del Rey revealed that the song was meant to be recorded with Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, who unfortunately passed away the day of recording.
On first listen, “Brooklyn Baby” may read as a love letter to life as a young adult in Brooklyn, but most critics agree that Del Rey fact satirically playing at the self-righteous city ingénue, or a “hipster” as some would put it, that is so prevalent around Brooklyn. The lyrics, much like many of Lana Del Rey’s other songs, idealize the narrator’s relationship with a much older man (“They say I’m too young to love you // I don’t know what I need”). She even acknowledges others’ criticisms of such a relationship, to which she responds with insistence and naivete (“They say I’m too young to love you // They say I’m too dumb to see // They judge me like a picture book // By the colors, like they forgot to read”). The narrator frequently references their ego and self-importance with lines like “I think I’m too cool to know ya” and “Yeah my boyfriend’s pretty cool // But he’s not as cool as me.”
The chorus is perhaps the clearest example of Lana Del Rey portraying this somewhat insufferable hipster character who “get[s] down to Beat poetry,” boasts about how her “jazz collection’s rare,” and “get[s] high on hydroponic weed.” The bridge calls back to that same naive insistence explored previously, claiming that if others don’t like how she, as a member of the younger generation, lives her life, they can simply “beat it.”
I’m talking ’bout my generation
I’m talking ’bout my newer nation
And if you don’t like it, you can beat it
Beat it, baby
You never liked the way I said it
If you don’t get it, then forget
‘Cause I don’t have to fucking explain it-Lana Del Rey, “Brooklyn Baby”
However, this independent, society-be-damned “hipster” energy is not something foreign to Lana Del Rey or her musical themes, so perhaps there is a level of candor to these lyrics. Regardless, she still tells a vivid story about a young woman living in Brooklyn in the early 21st century. By listening to “Brooklyn Baby,” you still get that idyllic vision of the borough, and you especially feel that yearning for the culture of the area from a time long passed.
Today, Lana Del Rey’s “Brooklyn Baby” is perhaps known best among the youth for being the soundtrack to social media videos romanticizing a cozy East Coast fall – the image of fall foliage lining a dimly lit downtown street while you sip on a hot coffee seems to be the scene called to mind for most young adult Lana Del Rey listeners. Though it may not have been the exact image conjured through her lyrics, it’s impossible to hear that smooth guitar and Del Rey’s lush vocals and not find yourself in a world of warm, nostalgic romanticism for the chilly autumn months in downtown Brooklyn.
“Brooklyn Baby” goes to show that no matter how far you may go, your experiences in New York will never leave you. Even in Lana Del Rey’s more California-centric tracks, like “The greatest,” she can’t help but mention how she misses New York and the city’s rock ‘n’ roll music scene. Even 11 years after its initial release, “Brooklyn Baby” remains one of Del Rey’s most iconic and beloved tracks, going to show that art inspired by New York has longevity like no other.
“Brooklyn Baby” by Lana Del Rey
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da
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 churning out novels like
Beat poetry on amphetamines
I say
I say
Well, my boyfriend’s in a band
He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed
I’ve got feathers in my hair
I get down to Beat poetry
And my jazz collection’s rare
I can play most anything
I’m a Brooklyn baby
I’m a Brooklyn baby
Da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-ya-da
Pa-da-da-da-da-da-da
They say I’m too young to love you
They say I’m too dumb to see
They judge me like a picture book
By the colors, like they forgot to read
I think we’re like fire and water
I think like the wind and sea
You’re burning up, I’m cooling down
You’re up, I’m down
You’re blind, I see
But I’m free, ooh
I’m free
Well, my boyfriend’s in a band
He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed
I’ve got feathers in my hair
I get down to Beat poetry
And my jazz collection’s rare
I can play most anything
I’m a Brooklyn baby
I’m a Brooklyn baby
I’m talking ’bout my generation
I’m talking ’bout my newer nation
And if you don’t like it, you can beat it
Beat it, baby
You never liked the way I said it
If you get it, then forget
‘Cause I don’t have to fucking explain it
And my boyfriend’s in a band
He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed
I’ve got feathers in my hair
I get high on hydroponic weed
And my jazz collection’s rare
I get down to Beat poetry
I’m a Brooklyn baby
I’m a Brooklyn baby
Pa-da-pa-pa, pa-de-da
Te-de-de, da-da-ah
Ooh, oh, woah-ah
Yeah, my boyfriend’s pretty cool
But he’s not as cool as me
‘Cause I’m a Brooklyn baby
I’m a Brooklyn baby
Pa-da-da-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da, baby
Ah-ta-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da, baby
Pa-da-da-da-da-da
Pa-pa-da-pa-da, yeah
Yeah, yeah
→ Continue reading at NYS Music
