"Sad Girl" is a song by Lana Del Rey written with Rick Nowels. It is featured as the sixth track from Del Rey's second major-label studio album, Ultraviolence.
Background[]
The song was recorded during November 2013, in the same sessions as "Shades of Cool", "Is This Happiness", "I Can Fly", "Fine China", "Say Yes to Heaven" and "Your Girl".
Two snippets of an early demo featuring slightly different vocals and instrumental leaked on June 25, 2018. A third snippet leaked on October 19, 2018. The full demo leaked on September 19, 2019. An early mix leaked on November 10, 2020.
In late 2022, the song went viral on TikTok, with hundreds of thousands of individual videos made using it, amassing millions of views.
Writing and inspiration[]
Del Rey talked about the song in a track by track commentary for Ultraviolence by saying "Sad girl, cause I'm still sometimes a sad girl, still things beyond my control. Sometimes I do things that I want, above what I maybe should do". She also stated that the song reminded her of "Shades of Cool" because of it's bluesy tone and stays within the theme of the album.[1]
Composition and critical reception[]
"Sad Girl" is a jazz-influenced ballad performed at approximately 119 beats per minute and runs at a duration of 5 minutes and 17 seconds. Kenneth Patridge of Rolling Stone called the track "the most alluring ballad" on the whole record.[2]
Cross-references[]
- The lyric "he's got the fire, and he walks with it" is a reference to the line "fire walk with me" from Twin Peaks; the influence of Lynch's work on Del Rey can also be found in "Blue Velvet", "JFK" and "Carmen".
- The lyric "I'm on fire" also appears in "Summertime Sadness", "Ben", "Body Electric", "Baby Blue Love" and a thematically similar lyric is found in "Lucky Ones". It is a reference to 1985 song "I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen.
- Fire is also mentioned in "Off to the Races", "High by the Beach", "West Coast", "Angels Forever", "Live or Die" and "Freak".
- Money is also mentioned in "Money Power Glory", "High by the Beach" and "Money Hunny", among some other songs.
- Getting high is a common subject in songs such as "Florida Kilos", "High by the Beach", "Hollywood", "Carmen", among others.
- The phrase "while he gets high" is similar to "while you get high" which appears in "True Love on the Side".
- Bad girl/s is also mentioned in "Video Games" and "Black Bathing Suit".
Official versions[]
- Album version — 5:17
- Instrumental version — 5:14
- Demo version — 5:17
- Early mix — 5:18
Lyrics[]
Ah, ah
Being a mistress on the side (Ah, yeah-ah)
It might not appeal to fools like you
Creepin’ around on the side
Might not be somethin' you would do
(Ah, ah)
But you haven't seen my man (Man)
You haven't seen my man (Man, man)
You haven't seen my man (Man)
You haven't seen him (Whoa-ah)
He's got the fire and he walks with it
He's got the fire and he talks with it
His Bonnie on the side, Bonnie on the side
Makes me a sad, sad girl
His money on the side, money on the side
Makes me a sad, sad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a bad girl, I'm a bad girl
Bein' a bad bitch on the side (Ah, ah)
Might not appeal to fools like you (Ah, ah)
Creepin’ around while he gets high
It might not be somethin' you would do (Ah)
But you haven't seen my man (Man)
You haven't seen my man (Man, man)
You haven't seen my man (Man)
You haven't seen him (Whoa-ah)
He's got the fire and he walks with it
He's got the fire and he talks with it
His Bonnie on the side, Bonnie on the side
Makes me a sad, sad girl
His money on the side, money on the side
Makes me a sad, sad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a bad girl, I'm a bad girl
Watch what you say to me
Careful who you're talkin' to
Watch what you say to me
Careful who you're talkin' to
I'm on fire, baby, I'm on fire
He's got the fire and he walks with it
He's got the fire and he talks with it
His Bonnie on the side, Bonnie on the side
Makes me a sad, sad girl
His money on the side, money on the side
Makes me a sad, sad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a bad girl, I'm a bad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl, I'm a sad girl
I'm a sad girl, I'm a mad girl, I'm a bad girl
Credits[]
Personnel
- Lana Del Rey — vocals, songwriting
- Rick Nowels — songwriting, vocal production
- Dan Auerbach — production, electric guitar, synthesizers
- Collin Dupuis — engineering, synthesizer
- Kieron Menzies — vocal engineering
- Robert Orton — mixing
- Nick Movshon — drums
- Leon Michaels — mellotron
- Kenny Vaughan — synthesizers, mellotron
- Seth Kaufman — electric guitar
- Russ Pahl — acoustic guitar
- John Davis — mastering engineer
References[]
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