Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Album: Chemtrails Over The Country Club (2021)
Charted: 58
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The chemtrail conspiracy theory posits the erroneous idea that the government puts chemicals into jet fuel. Conspirators believe that condensation trails left in the sky by high-flying aircraft are "chemtrails" comprising chemical or biological agents.

    During this song, Lana Del Rey evokes spending quality time with friends and family in peaceful surroundings, but while she relaxes in the country club and the swimming pool with her loved ones, the chemtrails, representing the threats to her country, are ever present in the background.
  • The song is the title track of Lana Del Rey's seventh studio album. She says much of the album is about her "stunning girlfriends" and "beautiful siblings," telling Interview magazine: "'Chemtrails' is the title track because it mentions them all and it mentions wanting so much to be normal and realizing that when you have an overactive, eccentric mind, a record like Chemtrails is just what you're going to get."
  • Speaking to Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1, Del Rey said this song is atypical of the album. "I think with this album it feels very much like when you're reaching in a relationship," she explained. "You're like beckoning it, like 'I want it so bad.'"
  • During the first verse, Del Rey reflects on her independent lifestyle, which doesn't always conform to the standard societal norm.

    Well, I don't care what they think
    Drag racing my little red sports car
    I'm not unhinged or unhappy, I'm just wild


    She touched on feeling "wild" to Annie Mac. "If I go to the Brentwood Country Mart barefoot or whatever, I'm not insane; I'm connected to the earth," Del Rey explained. "I think people are having to reevaluate what is strange and not strange."
  • Del Rey wrote and produced the song with Jack Antonoff, who was the primary producer of her previous album, Norman F---ing Rockwell!
  • Antonoff plays all the instruments on the track aside from the horn, which the producer's Bleachers bandmate, Evan Smith, performs.
  • Kyle Wrightman and Alex Lee, collectively known as BRTHR, directed the whimsical music video, which finds Del Rey dressed in vintage clothes driving a red convertible Mercedes car, linking to her lyric in the first verse. She meets up with her friends at the country club, but the singer and her girl pals are transformed into werewolves after a tornado swoops in.
  • Chemtrails Over The Country Club topped the UK albums chart. It was Del Rey fifth longplayer to reach #1 in the UK, following Born To Die (2012), Ultraviolence (2014), Lust For Life (2017) and Norman F---ing Rockwell (2019).
  • Lana Del Rey performed "Chemtrails Over The Country Club" live for the first time during her show at the La Prima Estate Festival in Lido di Camaiore, Italy on July 2, 2023.

Comments: 1

  • Terry from Australia It's ironic that she drives her little red car putting chemicals into the air but is a chemtrail conspirasist. Or maybe she is being ironic about chemtrails
see more comments

Editor's Picks

When Rock Belonged To Michelob

When Rock Belonged To MichelobSong Writing

Michelob commercials generated hits for Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood in the '80s, even as some of these rockers were fighting alcoholism.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."

Protest Songs

Protest SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?

Best Band Logos

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

American Hits With Foreign Titles

American Hits With Foreign TitlesSong Writing

What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?