"Pawn Shop Blues" (originally titled "Bread and Oranges") is a song written by Lana Del Rey and David Kahne. It was produced by Kahne for Del Rey's debut studio album, Lana Del Ray, which was officially released in January 2010.
Background[]
A demo of the song also appeared on the mixtape The Phenomena of Lizzy Grant. It was produced by Steven Mertens in 2007. The instrumental leaked on November 19, 2013.
Live performances[]
Del Rey performed the song live five known times during the early days of her career. The first known performance was at Makor on May 15, 2006. The next three known performances were during September 2006, as part of her participation in the Williamsburg Live Songwriter's Competition. One of these performances was recorded and compiled onto a CD of 11 live recordings from the competition finalists. The audio of this performance is available online. The fourth known performance of "Pawn Shop Blues" was on June 14, 2007, at Union Pool in New York. A snippet of her performance at Union Pool can be heard at the end of the video for her performance of "Yayo".
On November 23, 2017, Del Rey sang a snippet of the song a cappella for fans outside her pop-up store in Los Angeles, California.
Music videos[]
| Music video | Information | |
|---|---|---|
|
Released | N/A |
| Length | 3:27 | |
| Director | Lana Del Rey | |
| Producer | ||
| Filmed | Unknown | |
| Location | Unknown | |
| Vevo views | N/A | |
| Music video | Information | |
|---|---|---|
|
Released | February 13, 2021 |
| Length | 3:26 | |
| Director | Chuck Grant | |
| Producer | ||
| Filmed | February 23, 2017 | |
| Location | Los Angeles, California | |
| Vevo views | ||
Background and description[]
Del Rey created her own homemade music video for the song. Like most of her old music videos, it featured clips of Del Rey herself and clips she gathered from miscellaneous films and videos.
The second music video was filmed on February 23, 2017, by Chuck Grant as part of a project for Kodak. Chuck posted it to her Instagram reels on February 13, 2021.
Cross-references[]
- References to God can be found in "Gods & Monsters", "You're Gonna Love Me", "Disco", "Live Forever (Golden Grill)" and "Starry Eyed", among others.
- The phrase "God knows" is also used in "God Knows I Tried", "Blue Banisters", "Tulsa Jesus Freak", and "Violets for Roses".
- Money is also mentioned in "Money Power Glory", "Swan Song", "Money Hunny", "Religion", "Dealer", and "Dance for Money". It's referred to as cash in "Hundred Dollar Bill" and "Old Money".
Official versions[]
- Lana Del Ray version — 3:26
- Instrumental version — 3:32
- The Phenomena of Lizzy Grant demo version — 3:07
Lyrics[]
Album version[]
Well, I didn't know it would come to this, but
That's what happens when you're on your own
And you're all right with letting nice things go
Well, I pawned the earrings that you gave me
Gold and metal flowers dangling
And I almost cried as I sold them, oh
And I don't mind living on bread and oranges, no-no
But I gotta get to and from where I come
It's gonna take money to go
Oh-no, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
In the name of higher consciousness
I let the best man I knew go
'Cause it's nice to love and be loved
But it's better to know all you can know
Said it's nice to love and be loved
But I'd rather know what God knows
Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no, oh-no, oh-no
I can't do this once more
No man can keep me together
Been broken since I was born
Well, I didn't know it would come to this, but
That's what happens when you're on your own
And you're all right with letting nice things go
The Phenomena of Lizzy Grant demo version[]
Well, I didn't know it would come to this, but
That's what happens when you're on your own
And you're all right with letting nice things go
Well, I pawned the earrings that you gave me
Gold and metal flowers dangling
And I almost cried as I sold them, oh
And I don't mind living on bread and oranges, oh-oh
But I gotta get to and from where I come
And it's gonna take money to go
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
In the name of higher consciousness
I let the best man I know go
'Cause it's nice to love and be loved
But it's better to know all you can know
Yeah, it's nice to love and be loved
But I'd rather know what God knows
Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no, no, no-no
Well, I didn't know it would come to this, but
That's what happens when you're on your own
And you're all right with letting nice things go
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