Lyrics
Why?
Who me?
Why?
Feet don’t fail me now
Take me to the finish line
Oh my heart it breaks every step that I take
But I’m hoping at the gates,
They’ll tell me that you’re mine
Walking through the city streets
Is it by mistake or design?
I feel so alone on the Friday nights
Can you make it feel like home, if I tell you you’re mine?
It's like I told you honey
Don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh, let’s go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
Choose your last words
This is the last time
'Cause you and I, we were born to die
Lost but now I am found
I can see but once I was blind
I was so confused as a little child
Tried to take what I could get
Scared that I couldn't find
All the answers honey
Don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh
Let's go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
Choose your last words,
This is the last time
'Cause you and I
We were born to die [3x]
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
So don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh
Let's go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane...
Choose your last words,
This is the last time
'Cause you and I
We were born to die
Who me?
Why?
Feet don’t fail me now
Take me to the finish line
Oh my heart it breaks every step that I take
But I’m hoping at the gates,
They’ll tell me that you’re mine
Walking through the city streets
Is it by mistake or design?
I feel so alone on the Friday nights
Can you make it feel like home, if I tell you you’re mine?
It's like I told you honey
Don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh, let’s go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
Choose your last words
This is the last time
'Cause you and I, we were born to die
Lost but now I am found
I can see but once I was blind
I was so confused as a little child
Tried to take what I could get
Scared that I couldn't find
All the answers honey
Don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh
Let's go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
Choose your last words,
This is the last time
'Cause you and I
We were born to die [3x]
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
So don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh
Let's go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane...
Choose your last words,
This is the last time
'Cause you and I
We were born to die
Lyrics Analysis
“Born To Die” is described by Lana Del Rey as a “homage to true love and a tribute to living life on the wild side.”
Timeline
00:00 - 00:12
The video begins with a mid shot of the artist, Lana Del Ray standing naked hugging a man whilst holding eye contact with the camera as it slowly tracks towards her.
00:12 - 00:45
The camera then pans across from a low angle shot before tilting down to show Lana sitting at the end of the room through a long shot. The camera slowly tracks towards her whilst she is lip syncing the song, showing her wearing a white dress, representing purity and innocence. She is sitting on a throne, and the only person sat inside the church, perhaps to show her authority. Besides her are two tigers, which as spirit animals, well known for representing raw feelings and emotion, which closely links to how the song is based on Lana's emotions and feelings of sadness and loneliness. As well as this, tigers also represent courage and strength, linking to how she has carried on in determination despite losing her loved one and feeling loss and despair, and losing all meaning in life.
The video begins with a mid shot of the artist, Lana Del Ray standing naked hugging a man whilst holding eye contact with the camera as it slowly tracks towards her.
00:12 - 00:45
The camera then pans across from a low angle shot before tilting down to show Lana sitting at the end of the room through a long shot. The camera slowly tracks towards her whilst she is lip syncing the song, showing her wearing a white dress, representing purity and innocence. She is sitting on a throne, and the only person sat inside the church, perhaps to show her authority. Besides her are two tigers, which as spirit animals, well known for representing raw feelings and emotion, which closely links to how the song is based on Lana's emotions and feelings of sadness and loneliness. As well as this, tigers also represent courage and strength, linking to how she has carried on in determination despite losing her loved one and feeling loss and despair, and losing all meaning in life.
00:45 - 00:55
It then cuts to a long shot of the man leaning against a car. As the shot is framed in lowkey lighting, and the main source of light comes from the headlights of the car. Lana runs in from the side of the shot, and the camera then cuts to a mid shot when she hugs him, to emphasise how important he is to her and how happy she is to see him.
It then cuts to a long shot of the man leaning against a car. As the shot is framed in lowkey lighting, and the main source of light comes from the headlights of the car. Lana runs in from the side of the shot, and the camera then cuts to a mid shot when she hugs him, to emphasise how important he is to her and how happy she is to see him.
00:55 - 1:06
It then cuts back to a mid shot of her sitting in the throne before cutting to a lowkey lit mid shot of the couple sharing an intimate moment together, further developing the idea that their moments together are priceless. The shots are long and in slow motion, illustrating how time slows down when they are together and how every second counts for them.
1:06 - 1:56
It then cuts to a long shot looking up at the church ceiling before cutting back to the long shot of her sitting in the throne, lip syncing the song. A simple cut is then used to transition to an extreme close up of the man's hand holding a joint, which he then smokes and passes to Lana, based off the lyric of 'let's go get high'. The camera keeps cutting back to mid shots of her lip syncing the song, where her facial expressions show her looking upset, as the lyrics are meaningful. The shots become faster as the pace of the song quickens, as well as their actions being based on the sound effects, such as the man gestures shooting a gun with his hand as the drumbeat is heard.
1:56 - 2:18
The next shot seen is a mid shot of her laying in bed, looking upset. In terms of lighting, it fades to black before showing the next shot of her laying in the same position, but with the addition of the man, who is looking at her and stroking her arm, representing how he, as her partner, is there for her through both her highs and lows, and he is there for comfort. It then cuts to a mid shot of her sitting on the bed and lip syncing the song, whilst the camera pans around her. The shots cuts in-between her being on her own and her being with the guy, perhaps symbolising how despite him being there, she does not see her amongst her deep feelings of loneliness.
2:18 - 3:14
The camera then cuts to a tracking shot moving forwards down a road before cutting to show the front of the car, which pans upwards to show the couple sitting inside. A close up shot then shows her wiping the window to illustrate her face of unhappiness. It then cuts back to her sitting in the throne, and whilst she is lip syncing the song she makes out the gestures as well, such as doing the cut-throat gesture when singing the lyric 'we were born to die'. After this lyric, a mid shot shows the guy takes his focus off driving and turns to kiss her, whilst it cuts to the car coming quick towards the camera to emphasise the speed they are driving at and showing they are adventurous and thrill seekers, and how they are not afraid of death.
3:14 - 3:50
It then cuts back to the setting of the church seen by the long shot of the ceiling and her sitting on the throne, as the camera slowly tracks out. A tracking shot is used when following the long ceiling to exaggerate the size of the building. A long shot illustrates a corridor of the church to emphasise the wealth and how posh it is represented, particularly focused when tracking along the ceiling to show the chandeliers.
3:50 - 4:12
The cuts match the beat of the music and shows a long shot of Lana at the end of the corridor wearing a white dress and walking towards the camera in a slow motion shot, to illustrate the lyric of 'come take a walk on the wild side'. A closer mid shot then show her eyes glistening, indicating the pain she has gone through, and, her looking beyond the camera to show she seems to be unfocused and fazed. A long shot then depicts her opening a door, where only white light its seen behind, perhaps to represent her leaving life and entering heaven.
4:12 - 4:34
A close up then tracks out to a long shot where the man is looking down on Lana as he is holding her in his arms. She is covered in blood and seems lifeless, representing the name of the song of 'Born to Die', showing that at the she died. Behind them is darkness with the only light coming from the fire.
4:34 - 4:46
It then cuts back to the same mid shot as the beginning of the music video of her standing and hugging the man in front of the American flag. After watching the video, we could perhaps conclude that they are in the afterlife. The camera slowly tracks towards them before cutting to black.
It then cuts back to a mid shot of her sitting in the throne before cutting to a lowkey lit mid shot of the couple sharing an intimate moment together, further developing the idea that their moments together are priceless. The shots are long and in slow motion, illustrating how time slows down when they are together and how every second counts for them.
1:06 - 1:56
It then cuts to a long shot looking up at the church ceiling before cutting back to the long shot of her sitting in the throne, lip syncing the song. A simple cut is then used to transition to an extreme close up of the man's hand holding a joint, which he then smokes and passes to Lana, based off the lyric of 'let's go get high'. The camera keeps cutting back to mid shots of her lip syncing the song, where her facial expressions show her looking upset, as the lyrics are meaningful. The shots become faster as the pace of the song quickens, as well as their actions being based on the sound effects, such as the man gestures shooting a gun with his hand as the drumbeat is heard.
1:56 - 2:18
The next shot seen is a mid shot of her laying in bed, looking upset. In terms of lighting, it fades to black before showing the next shot of her laying in the same position, but with the addition of the man, who is looking at her and stroking her arm, representing how he, as her partner, is there for her through both her highs and lows, and he is there for comfort. It then cuts to a mid shot of her sitting on the bed and lip syncing the song, whilst the camera pans around her. The shots cuts in-between her being on her own and her being with the guy, perhaps symbolising how despite him being there, she does not see her amongst her deep feelings of loneliness.
2:18 - 3:14
The camera then cuts to a tracking shot moving forwards down a road before cutting to show the front of the car, which pans upwards to show the couple sitting inside. A close up shot then shows her wiping the window to illustrate her face of unhappiness. It then cuts back to her sitting in the throne, and whilst she is lip syncing the song she makes out the gestures as well, such as doing the cut-throat gesture when singing the lyric 'we were born to die'. After this lyric, a mid shot shows the guy takes his focus off driving and turns to kiss her, whilst it cuts to the car coming quick towards the camera to emphasise the speed they are driving at and showing they are adventurous and thrill seekers, and how they are not afraid of death.
3:14 - 3:50
It then cuts back to the setting of the church seen by the long shot of the ceiling and her sitting on the throne, as the camera slowly tracks out. A tracking shot is used when following the long ceiling to exaggerate the size of the building. A long shot illustrates a corridor of the church to emphasise the wealth and how posh it is represented, particularly focused when tracking along the ceiling to show the chandeliers.
3:50 - 4:12
The cuts match the beat of the music and shows a long shot of Lana at the end of the corridor wearing a white dress and walking towards the camera in a slow motion shot, to illustrate the lyric of 'come take a walk on the wild side'. A closer mid shot then show her eyes glistening, indicating the pain she has gone through, and, her looking beyond the camera to show she seems to be unfocused and fazed. A long shot then depicts her opening a door, where only white light its seen behind, perhaps to represent her leaving life and entering heaven.
4:12 - 4:34
A close up then tracks out to a long shot where the man is looking down on Lana as he is holding her in his arms. She is covered in blood and seems lifeless, representing the name of the song of 'Born to Die', showing that at the she died. Behind them is darkness with the only light coming from the fire.
4:34 - 4:46
It then cuts back to the same mid shot as the beginning of the music video of her standing and hugging the man in front of the American flag. After watching the video, we could perhaps conclude that they are in the afterlife. The camera slowly tracks towards them before cutting to black.
Analysis
Time length of video - 4:46
Total number of shots used - 69
Extreme Close up shots - 2 (3%)
Close up shots - 10 (15%)
Mid shots - 34 (49%)
Long shots - 6 (9%)
Tracking shots - 12 (17%)
Pan - 3 (4%)
Low Angle shots - 2 (3%)
Setting
The other location where the video is taken place is inside the man's car where the couple are intimate together, showing their trust and his importance to her.
Costume and Makeup
In terms of the artist's costume, she is seen wearing a white dress, which is known to be representing purity. After understanding the video, however, we could guess that the white dress is worn to symbolise how she is not alive, and perhaps in Heaven.
Extreme Close up shots - 2 (3%)
Close up shots - 10 (15%)
Mid shots - 34 (49%)
Long shots - 6 (9%)
Tracking shots - 12 (17%)
Pan - 3 (4%)
Low Angle shots - 2 (3%)
Mise en scene
Setting
The main part of the video is shot inside a large church, to emphasise the grandness of it, linking to the idea that she is in Heaven.
The other location where the video is taken place is inside the man's car where the couple are intimate together, showing their trust and his importance to her.
Costume and Makeup
In terms of make-up, the artist, Lana Del Ray, is wearing obvious makeup, mainly on her eyes and lips to emphasise her beauty.
However, women throughout media have always been shown wearing makeup to be portrayed as "beautiful" and those who do not wear any are not.
Throughout the video, her boyfriend is presented as topless, to show his tattoos. This may be to emphasise his rebelliousness which she likes, and how she wants a thrill seeker.
Lessons to be Learnt
- Linking the lyrics to the actions in the video helps the audience to understand the song better.
- The artist is the focal point of the video, to present their importance, as well as helping with brand recognition.
- Shots matching the pace of the song, such as long takes to match the slow beat, and shorter, more frequent shots with a fast beat, are effective.
- Having less characters in the video can be effective, so the video does not become too crowded and the singer is the focal point.
- Mid shots and long shots are typically used in this genre, to create a sense of setting and a better understanding of the story.
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