"Born to Die" is a song written by Lana Del Rey and Justin Parker and produced by Parker and Emile Haynie in 2012. Taken from Lana's first major-label album of the same title, Born to Die, the song served as the album's second single worldwide.
Writing and inspiration
The song was written by Lana and Justin Parker after the success of Video Games. It is part of the K trilogy, but may not necessarily be about him.
Composition
Musically, Born to Die is an apocalyptic down-tempo ballad with hip-hop influences. It was composed in the key of E minor and at a tempo of 86 beats per minute. It features similar instrumentation to Video Games, but focuses more heavily on the hip-hop influenced beat also seen in Blue Jeans.
Cross-references
- The song is part of the K trilogy.
Official versions
- Album version 4:42
- Remastered version 4:41
- Radio edit 4:01
- Demo version 3:55
- Video version 4:46
Remixes
- Club Clique For The Bad Girls Remix 5:00
- Helium Robots Remix 4:52
- Jakwob & Etherwood Remix 3:43
- Jamie Woon Remix 5:14
- Joy Orbison Remix 5:00
- Larry "Mr. Fingers" Heard Remix 9:01
- Larry "Mr. Fingers" Heard Edit 9:00
- Omid 16B Remix 5:14
- Omid 16B Radio Edit 4:07
- Omid 16B Instrumental Mix 5:08
- Omid 16B Instrumental Reprise 2:35
- We Don't Belong In Pancha Remix 5:20
- White Lies C-Mix 7:34
Music video
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Original version featuring removed clips.
Background
After recording videos for all of the tracks from Lana Del Ray A.K.A. Lizzy Grant in the same style, Lana continued by recording this one and interlacing clips of her with old films, cartoons, paparazzi footage, and nature clips to create the video. The original video, released in July of 2011, was removed and reformatted using some new clips once Lana was signed to Stranger, due to copyright problems.
Description
The video shows Lana, with her hair in a similar style to that of Jackie Kennedy, wearing a white top and a yellow & black shirt, and shows her with various colorizations added to her shots. The clips in the video show San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, amongst others, as well as specific shots of the Chateau Marmont and various billboards around L.A. A prominent scene featured throughout the video is that of an intoxicated Paz De La Huerta, an actress, stumbling. Many scenes of a man and woman on a moped, dancing, kissing, and jumping in a pool are a main focus of the video. The original video also included many shots of cartoons and orchestras, but these were removed in the final edition.
Look #1
Look #2
Lyrics
Album version
Feet don’t fail me now
Take me to the finish line
Oh my heart it breaks every step that I take
But I’m hoping at 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
Cause you and I, 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
Choose your last words, this is the last time
Cause you and I, we were born to die
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