Money Power Glory (song)

Lana Del Rey
Writer(s)	Lana Del Rey Greg Kurstin
Producer(s)	Greg Kurstin
Alternate producer(s)	Dan Auerbach
Length	4:30 (See official versions)
From
Single(s)	"West Coast" "Ultraviolence" "Black Beauty"
Promotional single(s)	"Shades of Cool" "Ultraviolence" "Brooklyn Baby"
Ultraviolence track listing
"Pretty When You Cry"
"Fucked My Way Up to the Top"

"Money Power Glory" (or "Money, Power and Glory") is a song by Lana Del Rey written with Greg Kurstin. It was released on her second major-label studio album, Ultraviolence.

Background

On May 3, 2014, the title was revealed in an interview with a French magazine as "Money, Power & Glory". The interview said the song would have hip-hop beats that American radio stations would love. An alternate version of the song mixed by Robert Orton is registered on PPL Repertoire, but remains unreleased and unleaked. A snippet of an early demo of the song leaked on June 25, 2018, featuring different vocals and instrumental. The full demo leaked on September 20, 2018 and it was produced by Dan Auerbach.

Writing and inspiration

Del Rey talked about writing "Money Power Glory" in a track by track commentary of Ultraviolence, stating she wrote the song at a time when she felt really frustrated because she felt like all that anybody was going to allow her was maybe, if she was lucky, was money, and power, in the form of infamy, rather than fame. She described the song as "a sarcastic response, psychologically, just to what I felt was going on".

Live performance

Del Rey performed "Money Power Glory" live for the first time on July 15, 2014 during Live at the Marquee festival in Cork, Ireland.

Cross-references

• Dope and diamonds are referenced in the third demo of "Diet Mountain Dew", where she sings "gimme them, gimme them dope and diamonds".
• "The sun also rises" is possibly referencing the 1926 novel by Ernest Hemingway of the same name; this is another of several literary references throughout her songs.
• The phrase "this bitch" also appears in "In My Feelings".

Official versions

• Album version — 4:30
• Instrumental version — 4:28
• Demo version — 4:21

Lyrics

Album version

You say that you wanna go
To a land that's far away
How are we supposed to get there
With the way that we're living today?

You talk lots about God
Freedom comes from the call
But that's not what this bitch wants
Not what I want at all

I want money, power, and glory
I want money and all your power, all your glory
Hallelujah, I wanna take you for all that you got
Hallelujah, I'm gonna take them for all that they got

The sun also rises
On those who fail to call
My life, it comprises
Of losses and wins and fails and falls

I can do it if you really, really like that
I know what you really want, b-b-b-b-baby
I can do it if you think you like that
You should run, boy, run

I want money, power, and glory
I want money and all your power, all your glory
Hallelujah, I wanna take you for all that you got
Hallelujah, I'm gonna take them for all that they got

Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, diamonds
Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, that's all that I want
Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, diamonds
Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, diamonds

I want money, power, and glory
I want money and all your power, all your glory
Hallelujah, I wanna take you for all that you got
Hallelujah, I'm gonna take them for all that they got

Demo version

You say that you wanna go
To a land that's far away
How are we supposed to get there
With the way that we're living today?

You talk lots about God
Freedom comes from the call
But that's not what this bitch wants
Not what I want it all

I want money, power, and glory
I want money and all your power, all your glory
Hallelujah, I wanna take you for all that you got
Hallelujah, I'm gonna take them for all that they got

The sun also rises
On those who fail to call
My life, it comprises
Of losses and wins and fails and falls

But I can do it if you really, really like that
I know what you really want, b-b-b-b-baby
I can do it if you think you like that
You should run, boy, run

I want money, power, and glory
I want money and all your power, all your glory
Hallelujah, I wanna take you for all that you got
Hallelujah, I'm gonna take them for all that they got

Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, diamonds
Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, that's all that I am
Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, diamonds
Dope and diamonds, dope and diamonds, diamonds

I want money, power, and glory
I want money and all your power, all your glory
Hallelujah, I wanna take you for all that you got
Hallelujah, I'm gonna take them for all that they got

Credits

Personnel

• Lana Del Rey — vocals, songwriting
• Greg Kurstin — songwriting, production, mixing, guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboard
• Alex Pasco & Julian Burg — additional engineering
• John Davis — mastering

Technical

• Mastered at Metropolis Studios, London