Black Bathing Suit

Album: Blue Banisters (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song takes place in the COVID lockdown. It starts with Lana Del Rey romantically frustrated. She wants a boyfriend to eat ice cream and watch TV with, someone to walk home with from the mall, but she's stuck inside quarantining.
  • The rest of the song finds the singer dealing with the criticisms she's faced throughout her career, accusations of antifeminism, glamorizing abuse, and white privilege. She asks a potential boyfriend if he can cope with dating a so-called bad girl.

    And what I never said, why there's a price on my head
    It's nothing to do with them, it's my karmic lineage
    So I'm not friends with my mother, but I still love my dad
    Untraditional lover, can you handle that?
  • The title comes from Del Rey's wish that any prospective lover see beyond her body. Rather than focusing on her outside (her black bathing suit) and celebrity status, the songstress wants him to see she is attractive inside, too.

    I wish you could see to my soul through this black bathing suit
    You don't know me any better than they do, baby
    'Cause I sing like an angel, my heart's like one, too
  • Lana Del Rey wrote the song with:

    Wyes Blood collaborator Drew Erickson. He contributed to six Blue Banisters tracks, including the single "Arcadia."

    Zach Dawes, the bassist for side-project outfits the Last Shadow Puppets and Mini Mansions.
  • Zach Dawes produced the song with frequent Del Rey mixer and engineer Dean Reid.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks

Ron and Russell Mael of SparksSongwriter Interviews

The men of Sparks on their album Hippopotamus, and how Morrissey handled it when they suggested he lighten up.

Strange Magnetics

Strange MagneticsSong Writing

How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.

Elton John

Elton JohnFact or Fiction

Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.

Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root

Michael Glabicki of Rusted RootSongwriter Interviews

Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)Song Writing

How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in Songs

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.