"Cruel World" is a song by Lana Del Rey written with Blake Stranathan. It serves as the opening track from Del Rey's second major-label studio album, Ultraviolence.
Background
On April 18, 2014, during a show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Del Rey revealed the name of the song, calling it her favorite from the album. In an interview with radio station 96.5TIC, Del Rey revealed how she wrote the song with her guitarist Blake Stranathan.
Composition and writing
"Cruel World" is a rock song in 4/4 performed at approximately 117 beats per minute in the key of F major. It runs at 6 minutes and 39 seconds long. Lyrically, the song describes a violent and drug-fueled relationship that has ended. On writing the song, Del Rey explained:
“I went down to the beach and I was thinking about everything, personally. The verse is thoughtful and laid back, but then the chorus falls into this world of chaotic and heavy sub-bass. The juxtaposition of those two worlds, the peaceful beginning and the chaotic chorus, it summed up my personal circumstances of everything going easily and then everything being fucked up. It felt like me.”[1]
In an interview for Strymon by Blake Stranathan, he speaks about the writing some songs on Ultraviolence, notably "Cruel World" and "Pretty When You Cry":
"On the last day while Phil Joly, the engineer, was bouncing down a couple sessions, and she asked me if I wanted to play around with the new pedal in the live room. I played maybe a few chords and we immediately started writing 'Cruel World'. We recorded it just guitar and vocal in one take, and the Dan Auerbach went on to produce the song not long after."[2]
Critical reception
Various critics identified the song as a breakup song, Kenneth Patridge of Billboard compared the song to Mazzy Star and called it a "woozy, bluesy slow-burner about a self-professed crazy girl who's just removed herself from a destructive relationship".[3] Mark Richardson of Pitchfork praised the song's production, with "its twangy guitars and thudding drums exploding at just the right moments".[4] In am album review of Ultraviolence, Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone stated: "'Cruel World', where a reverb-drenched riff lurks behind seductively kvetched lyrics about love and madness."[5]
Live performances
Since late 2014, "Cruel World" is often the first song Del Rey sings at her concerts. She performed it live for the first time on October 6, 2014, in Mexico City, Mexico, as the opening song for that concert, and was performed as the opening song for the last six dates on the Paradise Tour (October 6 to 18, 2014), in favor of "Cola", which had been performed as the opening song for all of the previous dates on the tour. Since then "Cruel World" was performed as the opening song for each of Del Rey's shows including the 2015 Endless Summer Tour and her 2016 Festival Tour. The song was performed as her opener until late 2017 when she began opening her shows with "13 Beaches" instead.
Cross-references
- Del Rey sings about a violent religious man in "Butterflies, Pt. 2".
- A red dress is mentioned in "Summertime Sadness", "Off to the Races", "Carmen", "Yes to Heaven" and "Criminals Run the World".
- A party dress is also mentioned in "Hundred Dollar Bill", "Love Song" and "National Anthem".
- Being "young, wild, free and crazy" is mentioned in the "Ride" monologue.
- The songs title "Cruel World" is referenced in "Hollywood's Dead" and is also used in the live introduction for "Cola".
- The phrase "got your gun" also appears in "Is This Happiness" and is alluded to in "The Blackest Day".
- Reference to the song "Heroin".
Official versions
- Album version — 6:39
- Clean version — 6:39
- Instrumental version — 6:38
Lyrics
Shared my body and my mind with you, that's all over now
Did what I had to do 'cause you're so far past me now
Shared my body and my life with you, that's way over now
There's not more I can do, you're so famous now
Got your bible, got your gun
And you like to party and have fun
And I like my candy and your women
I'm finally happy now that you're gone
Put my little red party dress on
Everybody knows that I'm the best, I'm crazy
Get a little bit of Bourbon in ya
Get a little bit suburban and go crazy
Because you're young, you're wild, you're free
You're dancin' circles around me, you're fuckin' crazy
Oh, you're crazy for me
I shared my body and my mind with you, that's all over now
I did what I had to do, I found another anyhow
Share my body and my mind with you, that's all over now
I did what I had to do, I could see you leaving now
I got your bible and your gun
And you love to party and have fun
And I love your women and all of your heroin
And I'm so happy now that you're gone
Put my little red party dress on
Everybody knows that I'm a mess, I'm crazy, hell yeah
Get a little bit of Bourbon in ya
Go a little bit suburban and go crazy
Because you're young, you're wild, you're free
You're dancin' circles around me, you're fuckin' crazy
Oh, you're crazy for me
Got your bible and your gun
You like your women and you like fun
I like my candy and your heroin
And I'm so happy, so happy now you're gone
Put my little red party dress on
Everybody knows that I'm a mess, I'm crazy, hell yeah
Get a little bit of Bourbon in ya
Get a little bit suburban and go crazy
Because you're young, you're wild, you're free
You're dancin' circles around me, you're fuckin' crazy
Oh, you're crazy for me
Oh, oh, you're crazy for me
Credits
- Personnel
- Lana Del Rey — vocals, songwriting
- Blake Stranathan — songwriting, electric guitar, claps
- Dan Auerbach — production
- Collin Dupuis — engineering
- Robert Orton — mixing
- Nick Movshon — electric bass, claps
- Leon Michaels — synthesizers, mellotron, claps
- Kenny Vaughan — electric guitar
- Seth Kaufman — synthesizer, claps
- Russ Pahl — pedal steel
- Maximilian Weissenfeldt — drums, claps
- John Davis — mastering
- Technical
- Published by Copyright Control/Sony/ATV Music Publishing
- Recorded at Easy Eye Sound, Nashville, United States
- Mastered at Metropolis Studios, London, United Kingdom
- Mixed at Hot Rocks Studios, Santa Monica, United States
References
- ↑ Zadeh, Joey (June 12, 2014) "American Dreamer: Lana Del Rey Interviewed". Clash Music.
- ↑ Heine, Angela (August 25, 2014) "Pedalboard Feature: Blake Stranathan
- ↑ Partridge, Kenneth (June 16, 2014). "Lana Del Rey, 'Ultraviolence': Track-by-Track Album Review". Billboard.
- ↑ Richardson, Mark (June 16, 2014). "Lana Del Rey: Ultraviolence Album Review". Pitchfork.
- ↑ Ganz, Caryn (June 20, 2014). "Lana Del Rey 'Ultraviolence' Album Review". Rolling Stone.
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