Lana Del Rey and Bleachers’ frontman Jack Antonoff recorded “Margaret” for Del Rey’s 2023 album, Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. Written and produced by Del Rey and Antonoff, “Margaret” documents the star producer meeting his future wife.
The soft rock piano ballad is part Hollywood rom-com with echoes of the E Street Band’s hazy nostalgia. It’s earnest, sugary, and delivered in aloof voices like a duo singing a firsthand romantic tale from afar.
Smitten From the Start
“Margaret” was written for Antonoff’s wife, Margaret Qualley, though the two are now reportedly separated.
Del Rey sings in the opening verse about Antonoff’s initial encounter with Qualley.
This is a simple song, gonna write it for a friend,
My shirt is inside out; I’m messy with the pen.
He met Margaret on a rooftop; she was wearing white,
And he was like, “I might be in trouble.”
He had flashes of the good life; he was like,
“Should I jump off this building now or do it on the double?”
The song was intended to chip away at the myth that everyone eventually finds “The One.”
Regardless of the myth’s durability, “Margaret” feels like the kind of wedding song the DJ spins when the hall is almost empty and the tables are littered with plastic cups of warm beer, tattered decorations, and the forever-lonely who’ve either lost love or will never find it.
Still, they sing, “When you know, you know.”
It kinda makes me laugh,
Running down that path.
When you’re good as gold,
’Cause when you know, you know.
Friendly Advice
In the second verse, Antonoff addresses his friends, many of whom might be looking for love or running terrified away from it.
Word to all my friends,
With their red flags, their white knights,
Their black eyes and their blue lies.
If you’re asking yourself, How do you know?
Then that’s your answer; the answer is No.
You gotta run, gotta run, run, run, run like your head’s on fire,
Run away like your head is on fire.
Then Del Rey offers words of encouragement for the lonely ones: So if you don’t know, don’t give up. However, the following line can cut both ways:
’Cause you never know what the new day might bring.
Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy