"Burnt Norton (Interlude)" (also registered as "Burnt Norton", "Four Quartets No 1", and "Only Through Time Time Is Conquered"[1]) is a song by Lana Del Rey, featured as the eighth track from her third major-label studio album, Honeymoon. The interlude features an instrumental composition by Keefus Ciancia and is produced by Del Rey, Rick Nowels, and Kieron Menzies.
Background[]
The interlude is a narrated partial reading of T.S. Eliot's poem "Burnt Norton", the first of his Four Quartets, published in full in 1936. The Burnt Norton is a manor in Gloucestershire, England, where Eliot was said to frequently visit his muse and confidante, Emily Hale.
The song was first previewed on August 21, 2015, through the Honeymoon Hotline, a phone line once accessible by calling the telephone number on the Honeymoon album artwork. "Burnt Norton" would play when the number was called before a menu directed callers to choose between selecting - throughout the album's promotion - four different songs from the record, or clips from lectures by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss and Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
The instrumental of the interlude leaked on October 8, 2015.
Composition[]
The track serves as a brief interlude for the album; it is composed of Del Rey reciting lines taken from T.S. Eliot's poem of the same name, which speaks about the nature of time, and meditates on the idea of fate, with an underlying suggestion that our present experiences are out of our control.
Live performances[]
Del Rey used the instrumental of the track as an interlude between songs during various dates on the Lust for Life Promotional Tour as well as the LA to the Moon Tour. The interlude was played as a recording during select dates on the Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd Promotional Tour.
Short film[]
In November 2015, Neil Krug shared an Instagram video of footage from the "West Coast" music video shoot with "Burnt Norton" playing over it. Cinematographer David J. Myrick reposted Krug's video, which Krug described as a "teaser".[2] On April 17, 2025, a still image from the short film leaked, and later that day, a four-second clip of the film.[3] Further information about the film is limited as it has yet to leak in full.
Official versions[]
- Album version – 1:21
- Instrumental version – 1:25
Lyrics[]
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden
Credits[]
- Personnel[a]
- T.S. Eliot – songwriting
- Lana Del Rey – production, narration
- Kieron Menzies – production, engineering, recording, mixing
- Rick Nowels – production
- Keefus Ciancia – music composition
- Trevor Yasuda – engineering, additional recording
- Chris Garcia – engineering, additional recording
- Adam Ayan – mastering
- Technical
- Published by Faber & Faber Music Ltd. / Mister Green Music (BMI) / Sony/ATV Music Publishing
- Recorded and mixed at The Green Building, Santa Monica, California
- Mastered at Gateway Mastering, Portland, Maine
References[]
- ↑ ISWC: T-917.650.760-1
- ↑ Myrick, David J. (November 11, 2015). Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/99QuJ1n5SO/. Retrieved July 28, 2025.
- ↑ LMDR Covers (April 17, 2025). "11 years of West Coast 🤯 lil short unseen footage from an old film". Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIkEjSuTOq5/. Retrieved July 29, 2025.
Notes[]
- ↑ Adapted from the album's liner notes.
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