Zach Bryan and Lana Del Rey Invent a Blissful Reality in “Lies”

Zach Bryan’s latest EP, Young Manhood And Other Donatable Organs, features a stirring piano duet with Lana Del Rey. In “Lies”, Bryan and Del Rey donate the truth while they invent a blissful reality. From the start, it seems this relationship exists on shaky ground.

Sweet Little Lies

You get the sense that Bryan and Del Rey portray two lovers just passing through each other’s lives. This is temporary, so let’s just pretend. Tell me what you know I want to hear.

You tell me you love me, that you’ll always want me,
Say you’ll always love it when I talk this way.
Tell me you’ll be there when I need you the most,
Hold me close when the night turns to day.

Human history is full of giant myths. But it’s the little ones that persist alongside various gods and superstitions. Bryan and Del Rey absorb lies because the impulses of the heart are too strong for rational thinking. If you can fill the reservoir with enough joy, perhaps the looming heartbreak will sting less.

Tell me your lies, babe, your sweet little lies,
Fill my heart with sweetness with the words that you say.
Been seeking the truth all of my youth,
Truth means nothing when you look this way.
Tell me your lies.

In Del Rey’s verse, she wants to know that past lovers didn’t mean as much. Yet early in those relationships, similar things were said and shared. But those partners were fickle. This is real. It’s different now, promise.

Tell me you’ll always be right here forever,
That you had them, but you want me better.
Tell me everything that you ever said,
Was just another excuse for what you meant instead.
Tell me all the times that you said I’m enough,
Wasn’t just another fickle form of love.

I’ll Let You Believe

They willfully distort each other’s view of reality. Promise never to leave and say anything to make you feel happy. More pretending.

I’ll let you believe, never leave you without warning,
And I’ll say anything just to see your little smile.

Finally, they both acknowledge this will end. At least it’ll be good while it lasts. And there’s a kind of truth in that.

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images