The FADER’s “Songs You Need” are the tracks we can’t stop playing. Check back every day for new music and follow along on our Spotify playlist.
Lana Del Rey has shared a new song called “A&W,” the second single from her forthcoming album, Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, following the December release of its title track. That track clocked in at nearly five minutes, and today’s offering (February 14) is even longer. Running well past the seven-minute mark, it’s the epic saga of the titular “American Whore©.” Proving yet again just how good she is at zeroing in on cultural archetypes, she weaves several motifs — invisibility, lost love, perverse addiction — into a piece that’s more suite than song, an emo ballad that warps into something you might hear at a club in the middle of your worst nightmare.
“Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop, Jimmy Jimmy ride / Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop, Jimmy, get me high / Love me if you live and love, you can be my light / Jimmy only love me when he wanna get high,” she sings in the song’s latter half, creating an immediately memorable, infuriatingly intertextual refrain that’ll stick in your head much longer than you want it to. “Your mom called, I told her / You’re fucking up big time,” she finishes, tossing off another brilliantly annoying statement you won’t be able to shake. Hate her or lover her, you’ve got to respect her artistry, and her commitment to the bit.
Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd is due out March 24 via Interscope. Listen to “A&W” above.
