For Girls with Daddy Issues: The Lana Del Rey Libretto
In the opera of Lana Del Rey’s music, the father is both character and chorus. Each reference recurs like a motif, composing a quiet drama of longing, devotion, and presence across her discography.
This collection of lyrics takes the form of a libretto — the text of an opera, the words set to music — chosen for its ability to capture the intimacy, orchestration, and theatricality of her songs more faithfully than any other term.
At one point, the idea of a hymnbook tempted me: a gathering of sacred songs meant to be sung in devotion, echoing the reverent, ritualistic pulse of much of her music. The phrase The Hymen Hymnal lingered as well, rich with layered resonance: beginnings, innocence, and devotion entwined with melody, suggested through sound and symbolism.
In the end, it felt a little too risqué for the title.
I Sing The Body Electra
What follows is the libretto itself: a chronological collection of these little white lines, a black book for girls with daddy issues, or anyone who feels the wires of their Electra Complex sizzling like a snare.
This collection serves as musical scholarship and artistic documentation of the poetess, Lana Del Rey. Registered materials are not included beyond lyrics due to copyright restrictions. Unreleased material and recordings owned by the artist herself are included.
Any artist-owned recordings will be removed upon her request.
Unreleased tRACKS
Daddy
Pretty Baby (2006)
“My mean daddy, my bad baby
Don’t you want me?
I don’t believe you when you say
You want to leave.”
Crooked Cop (2007)
“My baby daddy, crooked cop. I know it's stupid but I cannot stop.”
Trash Magic (2007)
“Do you like my fake nails, daddy?
Black palm tree, pink tiger stripes.”
Axl Rose Husband (2008)
I said, "Daddy, I need you."
Greenwich, I need you.
Strangled up in ivy, I'm the garden of Eden.
Lady Liberty, teal with flame, I'm shining."
”You're my one king, daddy.
I'm your little queen, red, white and blue.”
Come When You Call Me America (2008)
“Tell me a story, daddy.”
1949 (2008)
“Daddy dearest, you know how I like to take trips. Pops, first stop’s at the K-mart — buy me my peach lip gloss, cigarettes, and lollipops for our trip across the USA.”
“Daddy likes Blackpool Pleasure Beach and road stops. Me, I like the Swiss Alps souvenir gift shops. Late night, midnight, radio, show talks. Him and me, a big jailbreak.”
Daytona Meth (2009)
“I remember vintage green wallpaper.
Your criminal arms, I couldn't feel safer.
King Creole daddy, chasin' that paper.
I love you.”
Bad Boy (2010)
“Mama knows I like the bad boys, just like daddy was a bad boy.
True love, true love, true love.
It never dies, it never dies, it never dies.”
Daddy’s Girl (2010)
Concept 1
“Daddy’s girl, kissing all the pain away.”
Concept 2
“I'm a daddy's girl and I gotta get back to him. I’m a daddy’s girl and I gotta get back to his world.”
Go-Go Dancer (2010)
“I know I go-go dance but I do it for kicks, I never have to work 'cause my daddy is rich.”
Young & Free (2010)
Like daddy used to say to me, "When you're young and free, stop and think of me."
Staying together is heaven when you look so good and you taste so sweet.
Paris (2011)
“Why don't we leave tonight and take off to a different place?
Don't tell my daddy why, gotta get on that plane and just fly.
Take me to Paris, let's go there and never look back.”
Madly (2013)
“I don't want your cherry, I just want you very badly.
I don't wanna marry you, just wanna be your daddy.
I don't wanna fall in love, just wanna make you happy.
Let me love you, woman.
Woman, let me love you madly.”
Father
Dragonslayer (2013)
“She is the Father’s daughter. She’s holy, holy.”
Unidentified Flying Bill (2013)
“Bill takes me down to the beach in the coat that he got from his father.
He whispers to me that sometimes he thinks he sees things over the water,
like, maybe UFOs or something flying in the air.Bill takes me down to the beach in East Hampton and walks on the water,
Says, "They don't know it yet but I'm the second coming of The Father."
Registered Tracks
Daddy
Be My Daddy (2010)
“You can be my daddy tonight.
I'm neon phosphorescent, open like a Christmas present.
You can be my daddy, if you're seeking heaven,
then you wanna come and get it.”
Kinda Outta Luck (2010)
“Is it wrong that I think it's kinda fun when I hit you in the back of the head with a gun?
My daddy's in the trunk of his brand new truck. I really want him back, but I'm kinda outta luck.”
You Can Be The Boss (2010)
“You can be the boss, daddy.”
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Released tRACKS
Daddy
Yayo (2008)
“Let me put on a show for you, daddy.”
Put Me in a Movie (2010)
“Come on, you know you like little girls.
You can be my daddy.
Lights, camera, acción.
He didn’t know he’d have this much fun.”“Put me in a movie, you can be my daddy..”
Ride (2012)
“You can be my full time, daddy, white and gold.”
Body Electric (2012)
“Elvis is my daddy, Marilyn's my mother,
Jesus is my bestest friend.Whitman is my daddy, Monico's my mother,
Diamonds are my bestest friend.”
Florida Kilos (2014)
“You like your little baby like you like your drinks, cool.
White lines, pretty daddy, go ski it.
You snort it like a champ, like the winter we're not in.Come on down to Florida, I got somethin' for ya.
We could sail the kilos or the Keys, baby, oh yeah.”
Summertime (2020)
“Oh, your daddy, he’s rich. And your ma is good looking. So hush, little baby, don’t you cry.”
Text Book (2021)
“You got a Thunderbird, my daddy had one, too.
Let's rewrite history, I'll do this dance with you.”
Kitsugi (2023)
“Daddy, I miss them. I'm in the mountains. Probably running away, I've been meaning to say that there's nothing to do except know that this is how the light gets in.”
White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter (2026)
“I love my daddy, of course we’re still together.”
Dad
Cola (2012)
“I pledge allegiance to my dad for teaching me everything he knows.”
Is This Happiness (2014)
“Got your Gun, I got my Dad.”
Hope is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman like Me to Have — But I Have It (2019)
Calling from beyond the grave, I just want to say, “Hi, Dad!”
Father
Radio (2012)
“American dreams came true somehow, I swore I'd chase 'em 'til I was dead.
I heard the streets were paved with gold, that’s what my father said.”
Old Money (2012)
“My father's love was always strong, my mother's glamour lives on and on.”
Body Electric (2012)
“Heaven is my baby,
Suicide's her father,
Opulence is the end.”
Young and Beautiful (2013)
“Dear Lord, when I get to Heaven, please let me bring my man. When he comes, tell me that you'll let him in. Father, tell me if you can.”
Text Book (2021)
“I guess you can call it text book, I was looking for the father I wanted back.”
“God, I wish I was with my father, he could see us in all our splendor.”
My Old Man
Off To The Races (2012)
“My old man is a bad man, but I can't deny the way he holds my hand — and he grabs me, he has me by my heart.”
“My old man is a tough man, but he got a soul as sweet as blood red jam, and he shows me — he knows me, every inch of my tar black soul. He doesn't mind I have a flat, broke-down life. In fact, he says he thinks it's what he might like about me, admires me, the way I roll like a rolling stone.”
Heroin (2017)
“I'm flying to the moon again, dreaming about marzipan, taking all my medicine to take my thoughts away. I'm getting on that aeroplane, leaving my old man again, I hope that I come back one day to tell you that I really changed.”
Since serial murder began to be systematically studied in the 1970’s, it has been seen that sex and murder are deeply, repeatedly intertwined.