Editing Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have – but I Have It (song)

{{Infobox song
|image = Image:HIADTFAWLMTH_-_BIHI.jpg
|artist = Lana Del Rey
|written = [[Lana Del Rey]]<br>[[Jack Antonoff]]
|producer = Jack Antonoff<br>Lana Del Rey
|recorded = January 29, 2018
|released = January 9, 2019
|time = 5:24<br>{{OfficialVersions}}
|Source = {{Source|NFR}}
|Singles = {{6S}}
|next = N/A
|previous = "[[Happiness Is a Butterfly (song)|Happiness Is a Butterfly]]"
|album = [[Norman Fucking Rockwell! (album)|Norman Fucking Rockwell!]]
|MiX = {{Singles7}}
|Last single image = Venice Bitch cover.png
|Last single link = Venice Bitch (song)
|Last single title = Venice Bitch
|This single image = HIADTFAWLMTH_-_BIHI.jpg
|This single link = Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have – but I Have It (song)
|This single title = Hope Is a Dangerous Thing...
|Next single image = Doin'TimeCover.jpg
|Next single link = Doin' Time (song)
|Next single title = Doin' Time
}}"'''Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have – but I Have It'''" (stylized in [[wikipedia:Letter case#All lowercase|all lowercase]], registered as "'''Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me'''" and previously known as "'''Sylvia Plath'''" or "'''Sylvia'''") is a song by [[Lana Del Rey]] from her sixth studio album ''[[Norman Fucking Rockwell! (album)|Norman Fucking Rockwell!]]''. It was released on January 9, 2019, as the third single from the album.

==Background and inspiration==
It was recorded on January 29, 2018, in the same sessions as "[[Love Song (song)|Love Song]]".

Del Rey first mentioned the song as "Sylvia" on [[2018/February#February 15|February 15, 2018]], during the concert in San Diego, part of the [[LA to the Moon Tour]].

On October 25, 2018, she posted a snippet of the song on her Instagram account, announcing that it will be featured on ''[[Norman Fucking Rockwell! (album)|Norman Fucking Rockwell!]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Del Rey|first=Lana|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/BpXYuXCAopb/|title=SYLVIA PLATH from NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL 🎥|work=Instagram|date=October 25, 2018|accessdate=October 28, 2018}}</ref>{{Dead link}} She also tweeted lyrics to the song.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Del Rey|first=Lana|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208084320/https://twitter.com/LanaDelRey/status/1055523725867593728|url=https://twitter.com/LanaDelRey/status/1055523725867593728|title=I was reading Slim Aarons and I got to thinking that I thought maybe I’d get less stressed if I was tested less like all of these debutantes- smiling for miles in pink dresses and high heels on white yachts. But I’m not baby I’m not that|work=Twitter|archivedate=February 8, 2020|date=October 25, 2018}}</ref>

On December 3, 2018, ''[[Elle (magazine)|Elle]]'' magazine reported that the song would be the next single off the ''[[Norman Fucking Rockwell! (album)|Norman Fucking Rockwell!]]'' album, although no official confirmation was given by Del Rey's team.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Tang|first=Estelle|url=https://www.elle.com/culture/music/a25357389/best-female-pop-singers-2018/|title=How Ariana Grande, Robyn, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Lana Del Rey Are Changing Pop Music|work=Elle|date=December 3, 2018|accessdate=January 8, 2019}}</ref>

On January 2, 2019, Del Rey announced the song would be the third single, changing its name from "Sylvia Plath" to "Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have – but I Have It", in an since deleted Instagram post featuring a slightly extended snippet.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Del Rey|first=Lana|url=https://www.facebook.com/lanadelrey/videos/134513980802530/|title=Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you enjoy the new song I’m putting out on the ninth it’s called ‘hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have- but i have it’ Also as of last week I finished a short book of poetry I’ve been writing over the last 13 months that I’ll be putting out later. In the meantime though I’d like to apologize in advance for upcoming cancellations of shows you’ll be hearing about– I wish I could fulfill those obligations but I won’t be able to Thanks L|work=Facebook|date=January 2, 2019|accessdate=January 8, 2019}}</ref>

The song's producer, [[Jack Antonoff]], revealed via Twitter that this song was one of two songs him and Del Rey recorded during their first session in the studio. He added that it was recorded without a click track in mostly live takes over felt piano.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Antonoff|first=Jack|url=https://twitter.com/jackantonoff/status/1083508601409454080|title=hope is a dangerous thing is one of 2 songs that happened the first day that lana and i were in the studio. recorded no click mostly live, felt piano + lana’s perfect vocal. sounded exactly like that in the room. this one means a lot. listen at night alone|work=Twitter|date=January 10, 2019|accessdate=January 10, 2019}}</ref>

The song was inspired by Sylvia Plath, who was a famous American poet, novelist, and short-story writer.

Del Rey revealed in an interview for ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue Korea]]'' that it took 3 years to finish this song.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Joo-Hyun|first=Lee|url=http://www.vogue.co.kr/2019/05/13/자레드-레토와-라나-델-레이의-기묘한-여정/|title=자레드 레토와 라나 델 레이의 기묘한 여정|trans_title=The curious itinerary of Jared Leto and Lana Del Rey|language=ko|work=Vogue Korea|date=May 13, 2019|accessdate=May 13, 2019}}</ref>

An extended version of the song was registered on PPL Repertoire. It lasts 5 minutes and 58 seconds.<ref>ISRC Code: GBUM71903509</ref>

August 22, 2019, in her interview with ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine, she said this about the track: “It was staggered with references from living in Hollywood and seeing so many things that didn’t look right to me, things that I never thought I’d have permission to talk about, because everyone knew and no one ever said anything,” she says in a tangle of sentences as knotty as the lyrics themselves. “The culture only changed in the last two years as to whether people would believe you. And I’ve been in this business now for 15 years! So I was writing a song to myself.” She exhales deeply, sinking back into the sofa. “Hope truly is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have, because I know so much.” Del Rey pauses. “But I have it.”"<ref>{{Cite web|last=Garvey|first=Meaghan|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8527901/lana-del-rey-billboard-cover-story-2019|title=Lana Del Rey on Finding Her Voice and Following Her Muse: ‘I Have Never Taken a Shortcut’|work=Billboard|date=August 22, 2019|accessdate=January 29, 2024}}</ref>

==Music video==
{{Infobox mvideo
|length = 5:58
|vevo views = 88,294+
|video = hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have
|released = August 25, 2021
|filmed = 2019
|location = Los Angeles, California
|director = [[Lana Del Rey]]
|producer = N/A}}


On August 25, 2021, Del Rey released a homemade video for the song on her UHaulJoe YouTube channel.<ref>{{Cite web|last=UHaulJoe|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehVVzS94Pbc|title=hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have|work=YouTube|date=August 25, 2021}}</ref>{{Dead link}} It is speculated to have been recorded in 2019.

==Cross-references==
*Mention of a debutante is also found in "[[Fake Diamond (song)|Fake Diamond]]".
*Revolution is also mentioned in "[[Children of the Bad Revolution (song)|Children of the Bad Revolution]]".
*"Writing in blood on my walls" is a line echoed from "[[Heroin (song)|Heroin]]".
*Del Rey also describes herself as a sociopath in "[[Serial Killer (song)|Serial Killer]]".
*The keys are also mentioned in "[[Bartender (song)|Bartender]]".
*Sylvia Plath is also mentioned in poems "[[Bare Feet on Linoleum (poem)|Bare Feet on Linoleum]]" and "[[Patent Leather Do-Over (poem)|Patent Leather Do-Over]]".
*Coffee is also mentioned in "[[Queen of the Gas Station (song)|Queen of the Gas Station]]", "[[In My Feelings (song)|In My Feelings]]", "[[Love (song)|Love]]", "[[Vacation (song)|Vacation]]" and the poem "[[Never to Heaven (poem)|Never to Heaven]]".
*Her dad is mentioned in songs like "[[Radio (song)|Radio]]", "[[Ride (song)|Ride]]", "[[Cola (song)|Cola]]", and "[[Old Money (song)|Old Money]]".
*Slim Aarons was a famous photographer that used to take glamorous pictures of celebrities.
*"Hope is a dangerous thing" is a quote from Stephen King and his 1982 novel "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption".
*"The Bowery Bums" is a term used to describe alcoholic and homeless people from New York after the World War I.
*The stage is also mentioned in "[[Fuck It I Love You (song)|Fuck It I Love You]]", and "[[Your Girl (song)|Your Girl]]". 
*A nightgown is also mentioned in "[[If I Die Young (song)|If I Die Young]]" and "[[Playing Dangerous (song)|Playing Dangerous]]".

==Official versions==
*Album version — 5:25
**Instrumental version — 5:24
*Single version — 5:24
*Extended version — 5:58

==Lyrics==
===Physical version===
{{Scroll box|content=<poem>
I was reading Slim Aarons 
And I got to thinking that I thought 
Maybe I’d get less stressed, if I was tested less like 
All of these debutantes 
Smiling for miles in pink dresses and high heels 
On white yachts

But I’m not
Baby I’m not
No, I’m not
That I’m not

I've been tearing around in my fucking nightgown
24/7, Sylvia Plath
Writing in blood on my walls
'Cause the ink in my pen don't work in my notepad
Don't ask if I'm happy
You know that I'm not but at best I can say
I'm not sad
'Cause hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have

I had fifteen year dances
Church basement romances yeah I've got
Spilling my guts with the Bowery Bums
Is the only love I've ever known
Except for the stage which I also call home when I'm not
Serving up God in a burnt coffee pot
For the triad
Hello it's the most famous woman you know on the iPad
Calling from beyond the grave, I just wanna say "Hi, dad"

I've been tearing up town in my fucking white gown
Like a goddamn near sociopath
Shaking my ass is the only thing that's
Got this black narcissist off my back
She couldn't care less
And I never cared more
So there's no more to say about that
Except hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have
Hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman with my past

There's a new revolution
A loud evolution
That I saw
Born of confusion
And quiet collusion of which
Mostly I've known

A modern day woman
With a weak constitution
'Cause I've got
Monsters still under my bed
That I could never fight off
A gatekeeper carelessly dropping the keys on my nights off

I've been tearing around in my fucking nightgown
24/7, Sylvia Plath
Writing in blood on your walls
'Cause the ink in my pen don't look good in my pad
They write that I'm happy
They know that I'm not
But at best you can see I'm not sad
But hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have
Hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have
Hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have

But I have it
Yeah, I have it
Yeah, I have it
I have

''‘Cause I had you in- in my head. Are you real? Are you real? Yeah? Is there any chance that I’m just gonna wake up on the floor and the song won’t exist? I’ll be very sad. If I wake up, and you don’t exist, and the song doesn't exist... yeah, I hope you’re real.''
</poem>
}}

===Digital version===
{{Scroll box|content=<poem>
I was reading Slim Aarons 
And I got to thinking that I thought 
Maybe I’d get less stressed, if I was tested less like 
All of these debutantes 
Smiling for miles in pink dresses and high heels 
On white yachts

But I’m not
Baby I’m not
No, I’m not
That I’m not

I've been tiding around in my fucking nightgown
24/7, Sylvia Plath
Writing in blood on my walls
'Cause the ink in my pen don't work in my notepad
Don't ask if I'm happy
You know that I'm not but at best I can say
I'm not sad
'Cause hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have

I had fifteen year dances
Church basement romances yeah I've got
Spilling my guts with the Bowery Bums
Is the only love I've ever known
Except for the stage which I also call home when I'm not
Serving up God in a burnt coffee pot
For the triad
Hello it's the most famous woman you know on the iPad
Calling from beyond the grave, I just wanna say "Hi, dad"

I've been tearing up town in my fucking white gown
Like a goddamn near sociopath
Shaking my ass is the only thing that's
Got this black narcissist off my back
She couldn't care less
And I never cared more
So there's no more to say about that
Except hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have
Hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman with my past

There's a new revolution
A loud evolution
That I saw
Born of confusion
And quiet collusion of which
Mostly I've known

A modern day woman
With a weak constitution
'Cause I've got
Monsters still under my bed
That I could never fight off
A gatekeeper carelessly dropping the keys on my nights off

I've been tearing around in my fucking nightgown
24/7, Sylvia Plath
Writing in blood on your walls
'Cause the ink in my pen don't look good in my pad
They write that I'm happy
They know that I'm not
But at best you can see I'm not sad
But hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have
Hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have
Hope is a dangerous thing
For a woman like me to have

But I have it
Yeah, I have it
Yeah, I have it
I have
</poem>
}}

==Credits==

;'''Personnel'''

*[[Lana Del Rey]] — songwriting, production, vocals
*[[Jack Antonoff]] — songwriting, production, piano, synthesizer
*[[Laura Sisk]] — engineering, mixing
*Chris Gehringer — mastering

;'''Technical'''

*Mastered at Sterling Sound
*Recorded at Rough Customer Studio, New York, United States / Sunset Banana Split, Los Angeles, United States
*Mixed at Rough Customer Studio, New York, United States

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Navbox album NFR}}
[[Category:Songs]]
[[Category:Released songs]]
[[Category:Music videos]]
[[Category:Norman Fucking Rockwell songs]]
[[Category:Singles]]
[[Category:Norman Fucking Rockwell singles]]
[[Category:Norman Fucking Rockwell music videos]]
[[Category:Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd Promotional Tour songs]]