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Black Beauty Lyrics

I paint my nails black
I dye my hair a darker shade of brown,
Because you like your women Spanish, dark, strong, and proud.
I paint the sky black,
You said if you could have your way,
You'd make it night time all today,
So it'd suit the mood of your soul
Ohhh, what can I do?
Nothing, my sparrow blue

Ohhhhh, what can I do?
Life is beautiful,
But you don't have a clue
Sun and ocean blue,
They're magnificent,
It don't make sense to you

Black beauty
Ohhh oh oh
Black beauty
Ohhh oh

I paint the house black,
My wedding dress black leather, too.
You have no room for light,
Love is lost on you.
I keep my lips red,
They seem like cherries in the spring.
Darling, you can't let everything seem so dark blue.

But, ohhh
What can I do,
To turn you on,
Or get through you?

Ohhh, what can I do?
Life is beautiful,
But you don't have a clue.
Sun and ocean blue,
They're magnificent,
It don't make sense to you.

Black beauty,
Ohhhh
Black beauty,
Ohhhh

Black beauty,
Ohhhh
Black beauty,
Ohhhh
Black bea-u-uty,
Ohhhh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Black beauty baby
Black beauty baby

Ohhhh what can I do?
Life is beautiful,
But you don't have a clue
Sun and ocean blue,
They're magnificent,
It don't make sense to you

Black beauty,
Ohhhh
Black beauty,
Ohhhh
Black beauty,
Ohhhh
Black beauty,
Ohhhh
Song Info
Submitted by
iholdher On Jul 19, 2013
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10 Meanings

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Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

Lana watched a lot of Spanish themed movies after Paradise came out, possibly at the influence of her boyfriend, Barrie O'Neill. The lyrics are really telling, she bends in the relationship, tries to please her man, as she is rather submissive. She wants Barrie to see the beauty of the world by her side, and be happy but he isn't happy enough, in reality it's just the way he is, and that's where the sadness of the song comes from. "What can I do, life is beautiful but you don't have a clue"

It's not his fault, it's just the way he is, oblivious about the great things in life.

My Interpretation

That's really interesting and insightful, thanks for sharing it helps understand the song a lot better. I think despite her songs having this dark melancholic theme to them (often verging on suicidal) she seems quite a happy person in interviews and confident, but it's the people around her who were like that. She does have a darker side to her though I sense, a femme fatale type thing. Maybe that's also inspired from movies, or just part of her personality.

Some people (myself included I guess) are like Barrie. Maybe people find us interesting or depressing to dwell on the...

My Opinion
Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

She’s talking about being in a relationship with someone who sees the glass half empty, when she sees it as half full.

No matter how beautiful the ocean and the sun are, some people never really appreciate the real beauty in life. I know it’s hard for some people to look past the cruelty that goes on in this world, but you can’t let that become you. You must fight it with love, and truth, and teach others how to as well. But you can only make someone see so far. It is truly up to that person (who has a negative outlook on everything) to find it within themselves, what is it that will truly make them happy?

Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

romysvobodaon: Lana strikes me as one of those girls who always falls for the wrong guy, the type who has issues, or is difficult to love.. you can see this time and time in her songs.. or she goes for bad guys, and likes the whole gangster/outlaw image thing. Morrissey is a bit the same (it's rumoured he's homosexual or bisexual) but he has a fascinated with, tough guys, criminals, boxers etc, or people who just don't like him and don't want his attention.

It's like the say, the more someone is harder to get close to, it's often more attractive and enticing to some people. Especially people who have an aura of darkness or mystery about them, and don't reveal much of themselves.

Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

Lana writes really good songs, I love her melodic and melancholic style. She's like a female American version of our Morrissey who writes also in a very dark melancholic way.

Sad love songs are always the best, and this one is quite dark:

I love this part..

You said if you could have your way You'd make it nighttime all today

It reminds me a lot of Depeche Mode and their recurring theme with preferring darkness and night time, like "Waiting for the Night to Fall" from the Violator album:

I'm waiting for the night to fall so everything is bearable

Also "In Your Room" from Songs of Faith and Devotion:

Shying from the light I've always loved the night And now you offer me Eternal darkness

Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

To me the song is pretty self explanatory. Basically what's see saying is her man see's the world as black and white, no color, no good in the world. However, she still sees him as beautiful and loves him even though he see's the world this way. Hence the name of the song. She changes her world to adapt to his world, "I paint the house black,My wedding dress black, leather too." She knows she can't change the way he sees the world but she still tries even though he can't the magnificence of the world.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

I always thought the lyric was "so it'd suit the mood of your soul"

could be, i couldn't tell which one!

That would be a cooler line I think ;-)

It's funny how you can sometimes hear a different line to the actual line..

I always thought the line in Jame's "She's a Star":

"Put on your shades, if you can't see"

Was:

"Put on your shades, and you feel fine"

I always imagined it like the tortured female glamorous celeb like Marilyn Monroe, hiding from the world behind their shades when all the attention and fame gets too much.

Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

Black Beauty is a type of drug in the 60's. I guess she was talking about a guy who was addicted. Idk. Just my inferring.

My Interpretation

@TomahawkChopx Black Beauty most famously is a novel written in the 19th century that has had numerous film adaptations made. It would be more realistic to say the song is about that book/film more so the drugs ... but IMO it is about neither.

Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

This song is about Pricilla and Elvis Presley and their relationship. Pricilla dyed her hair darker with darker eye makeup because that was what Elvis thought his ideal woman should look like. Black Beauty was also a drug in the 60's, (era of which Pricilla and Elvis lived in), and Elvis was addicted to drugs. I believe that Lana connects to Pricilla in some way and that is why she wrote it. There is also a music video for Black Beauty and it incudes home videos of Pricilla and Elvis.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

I see it a bit different. To me the lover is depressive, can't love life, unable to think positively. Then Lana is trying to make him feel better, not think about his depression but he just can't get better like that. Then black beauty could be depression.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Black Beauty lyrics by Lana Del Rey

This is a beautifully written depiction of what it is like to be a woman in love with someone dark, depressed, too far gone, etc. The woman in the song tries everything she can to get his love and attention, even succumbing to the darkness herself.

My Interpretation