Lana Del Rey Teams Up With Miles Kane For New Song “Dealer”
The song dates as far back as 2017.
On Friday, Lana Del Rey released Blue Banisters, her seventh studio album and second of 2021. The LP follows Chemtrails Over The Country Club and spans 15 tracks, a few of which have remained on the Genius Top Songs chart since their release. One of the songs holding strong in the Top 10 is “Dealer,” featuring English singer-songwriter Miles Kane. “Dealer” marks the only song on Blue Banisters featuring another artist’s voice, though Del Rey enlisted a number of producers and songwriters to help out behind the scenes.
Del Rey and Kane originally wrote “Dealer” for a joint album they had been working on with his side project The Last Shadow Puppets, also comprising Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, James Ford, and Zach Dawes. That project got shelved in 2017. Del Rey later revealed in an interview with Jack Antonoff that she also considered putting the song on Chemtrails. “The one thing that makes me upset is that if I hadn’t been so distracted with my personal life and my poetry, I could’ve broken Chemtrails down in a more delicate, precise way,” she said. “I guess the way I could’ve done that is just by adding one more defining song to it … I think I need to add that song, ‘Dealer,’ where I’m just screaming my head off.”
Kane and Del Rey sing from two different perspectives on “Dealer.” On the first verse, Kane addresses a friend, relative, or acquaintance who may be trying to get in contact with him.
Please don’t try to find me through my dealer
He won’t pick up his phone
Please don’t try my father either
He ain’t been home for years
Kane doubles down on being unreachable in the second verse.
Please don’t try my doctor either
He won’t take any calls
He’s no fucking spirit healer
On the chorus, Del Rey speaks directly to her dealer.
I gave you all my money, gave you all my money
Gave you all my money, gave you all my money
Later on in the hook, she describes their imbalanced relationship. While she gives her dealer everything she has, her dealer provides her nothing of value in return.
I don’t wanna give you nothing
’Cause you never give me nothing back
Why can’t you be good for something?
“Dealer” isn’t the only song on Blue Banisters that originated with The Last Shadow Puppets joint album—“Thunder,” the 10th track off the LP, was also written for the 2017 project.
You can check out all of the lyrics to “Dealer” on Genius now.
