What does Summertime Sadness mean?

Lana Del Rey: Summertime Sadness Meaning

Album cover for Summertime Sadness album cover

Song Released: 2012


Summertime Sadness Lyrics

Kiss me hard before you go
Summertime sadness
I just wanted you to know
That baby you're the best

I got my red dress on tonight
Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
Got my hair up real big beauty queen style
High heels off, I'm...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    vanessahh
    click a star to vote
    Dec 26th 2014 !⃝

    Summertime Sadness was written about Lana's best friend who committed suicide.
    Lyrics: "I got my red dress on tonight" Even though in the video she is wearing a white dress, she is wearing a red dress to represent the blood on her dress from her best friend.

    "Done my hair up real big, beauty queen style, high heels off, I'm feeling alive" Here she is having a flashback to the good times she had with her best friend.

    "Honey I'm on fire I feel it everywhere, nothing scares me anymore" The feelings she had overwhelms her and since she's lost someone so important to her she feels as if nothing can be worse than that.

    "Kiss me hard before you go, summertime sadness. I just wanted you to know that baby you're the best"
    Girls especially show their love for their best friends in numerous ways, in this case she is kissing her best friend goodbye. She also wants to see her again so she can tell her how much she meant to her and how much she loved her.

    "I'm feeling electric tonight, cruising down the coast going 'bout 99. Got my bad baby by my heavenly side, I know if I go I'll die happy tonight." She is being careless with her actions so that if she does die she wouldn't mind because she thinks she will be reunited with her best friend again. Hence "I'll die happy tonight."

    "I think I'll miss you forever, like the stars miss the sun in the morning skies."
    I think she meant that she misses her best friend but will never see her again because she belongs to the sun, and Lana will always be a star. The sun also once started out as a star, but now has become a bigger entity. This shows how her best friend was once with her but she died or moved on, intent on not giving her a second chance.

    "Late is better than never, even if you're gone I'm gonna drive."
    She's saying how even though she committed suicide she's happy with all the memories they had together and all the times she got to be with her. When she says that she's gonna drive she means that she's gonna try to move on from the past.

    _______________________________________...
    In the video the meaning is still the same however it's a bit different. Lana is all dressed angelic and with fog all around her to represent an angel (also to represent her best friend/the blonde girls actions in the video). The blonde girl represents Lana (I know it seems confusing but basically in the video just switch the roles and it makes it 10 easier to understand the concept of the video). While the blonde girl is driving and when she is standing at the end of the bridge she is remembering all the memories she had with Lana. She thinks that if she kills herself she will be reunited with Lana again "I know if I go, I'll die happy tonight.". When the girl jumps off the bridge a red glass drops to represent her death. But in the end even though she thought that if she committed suicide she would be with Lana again, they still did not end up together. That's what made it a summertime sadness.

    Sorry if it's so long, I just really love this song and I want people to know the real meaning behind it c:

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 11th 2014 !⃝

    Wow. It's interesting seeing other people's interpretations because I thought it was super obvious and very few people share my interpretation...

    I see it as someone close to her died. Not necessarily a lover, maybe a friend or a family member. Not necessarily suicide, just died for whatever reason.

    The "Kiss me hard before you go..." part is about her reminiscing and missing her loved one.

    "I got my red dress on tonight
    Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
    Done my hair up real big beauty queen style
    High heels off, I'm feeling alive"

    She is giving the impression that she's going out to have fun to live life or whatever.

    "Oh, my God, I feel it in the air
    Telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare
    Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere
    Nothing scares me anymore"

    Here she's revealing that she actually plans to commit suicide by driving into a utility pole. She either dressed up because she didn't want people to know her intentions and wanted it to look like an accident for her family or she just wanted to go out with a bang.

    "I got that summertime, summertime sadness"
    She's revealing that she's deeply depressed and her fun behavior is an act.

    "I'm feelin' electric tonight
    Cruising down the coast goin' 'bout 99
    Got my bad baby by my heavenly side
    I know if I go, I'll die happy tonight"

    She knows she'll be with her loved one soon and can almost feel their presence now. Again "feeling electric" is further alluding to how she plans to commit suicide- if you didn't get it the first time around. She's been depressed but the thought of sweet blissful death actually makes her feel alive.

    "Think I'll miss you forever
    Like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky
    Later's better than never
    Even if you're gone I'm gonna drive"

    If she doesn't do it, she'll always feel the emptiness. "Later's better than never"- she wishes that when they died, they would have taken her with them right then. "Even if you're gone I'm gonna drive" to me means that people tell her all the time that "she has to live life for both of them" and even though she knows that would be the right thing to do, she's determined to kill herself and join them instead.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 2nd 2012 !⃝

    The song can be interpreted in many ways.
    If you never saw the video, you may say it is about the natural human outcome- death, grieving and the loss of a loved one.
    If you saw the video then the song takes a different twist. The fact that it depicts two females,obviously in love, Lana in her infinite wisdom takes a poke at discrimination of sexual orientation and the hang up that still lingers on in the year 2012 of homophobia. That is why Lana Del Rey
    is the greatest singer/songwriter in the world today!

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 15th 2023 !⃝

    I think that mv is about her best friend. She felt something more to her but never got a chance to tell her that. When she finally wanted to, it was too late.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 1st 2023 !⃝

    I think it means crashing up and burning in the part where it says "Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it In the air"

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 27th 2017 !⃝

    Its a metaphorical way to interpret a feeling of nostalgia you get from something bad that happened in a previous summer and summertime sadness is when you relive that moment in time every year during summer

  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 18th 2017 !⃝

    This is about Suicide. I think her friend committed suicide and That's why she did video.

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 3rd 2016 !⃝

    I'm not sure, but I heard that the song is really about Jimmy Gnecho. Jimmy was the love of Lana's life but their relationship was haunted by his ex- lover who committed suicide in a car. Lana always felt there was three in the relationship. Summertime sadness is about her twisted feelings towards this third person. In some ways they were very alike - perhaps physically? and they loved the same guy, which gives them a sympathy link. Also, they both know what it's like to be depressed/suicidal, hence the falling or the feeling like you are falling and the sense that Jesus is letting you down/silent/just a statue. But when the ex died, she didn't just destroy herself. She destroyed a part of Jimmy and she destroyed his relationship with Lana and so lana herself. It might as well have been Lana who died in the car. In some strange way Lana fantasises that she had been the one who died so that Jimmy might have loved her instead. 'Baby you're the best' seems to be an admission that the best woman won. I definitely get the sense in the video that the two women are suppose to be two sides of one person. I don't get a lesbian vibe but wikipedia doesn't agree with me.

  9. Thelittleredhead
    click a star to vote
    Oct 29th 2015 !⃝

    I think it's about suicide; but not of her friend or lover. She's getting ready to kill herself. "I'm feelin' electric tonight
    Cruising down the coast goin' by 99
    Got my bad baby by my heavenly side
    Oh if I go, I'll die happy tonight".
    She dressed up she wanted to make sure she looked good when she went. She's ready to go. But she is thinking of the one and only person she feels will miss her.
    "I think I'll miss you forever".
    She feels there will be some sort of conciseness on the other side, and believes she'll look back and miss her friend.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 21st 2015 !⃝

    I heard it is about her friend that commited suicide . And how this interoperates her life anfd then lana wanting to commit suicide

  11. DeeDee
    click a star to vote
    Apr 12th 2015 !⃝

    This song is about transcendence. Both Jaime and Lana represent the same role. Lana waits for Jaime to pass over so she can take Jaime's place. They meet in the middle, in between life and death, or the transition. Lana comes out of the fog at the end, and a new life begins. I wonder though, if Jaime is playing Lizzy Grant, with Lana as herself.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 11th 2014 !⃝

    Wow. It's interesting seeing other people's interpretations because I thought it was super obvious and very few people share my interpretation...

    I see it as someone close to her died. Not necessarily a lover, maybe a friend or a family member. Not necessarily suicide, just died for whatever reason.

    The "Kiss me hard before you go..." part is about her reminiscing and missing her loved one.

    "I got my red dress on tonight
    Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
    Done my hair up real big beauty queen style
    High heels off, I'm feeling alive"

    She is giving the impression that she's going out to have fun to live life or whatever.

    "Oh, my God, I feel it in the air
    Telephone wires above are sizzling like a snare
    Honey, I'm on fire, I feel it everywhere
    Nothing scares me anymore"

    Here she's revealing that she actually plans to commit suicide by driving into a utility pole. She either dressed up because she didn't want people to know her intentions and wanted it to look like an accident for her family or she wanted to go out with a bang.

    "I got that summertime, summertime sadness"
    She's revealing that she's deeply depressed and her fun behavior.

    "I'm feelin' electric tonight
    Cruising down the coast goin' 'bout 99
    Got my bad baby by my heavenly side
    I know if I go, I'll die happy tonight"

    She knows she'll be with her loved one soon and can almost feel their presence now. Again "feeling electric" is further alluding to how she plans to commit suicide- if you didn't get it the first time around. She's been depressed but the thought of sweet blissful death actually makes her feel alive.

    "Think I'll miss you forever
    Like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky
    Later's better than never
    Even if you're gone I'm gonna drive"

    If she doesn't do it, she'll always feel the emptiness. "Later's better than never"- she wishes that when they died, they would have taken her with them right then. "Even if you're gone I'm gonna drive" to me means that people tell her all the time that "she has to live life for both of them" and even though she knows that would be the right thing to do, she's determined to kill herself and join them instead.

  13. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 15th 2014 !⃝

    Thought you'd like to know, 99 is a highway that goes up through the central valley of California nearing Oregon. I know because I'm from that area.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 4th 2014 !⃝

    Actually, the video is relating to her and her best friend (as far as i heard...) one of both women committed suicide, and as you see on the video, Lana Del Rey falls off the cliff with her red dress and no high feels >> "I got my red dress on tonight
    Dancing in the dark in the pale moonlight
    Got my hair up real big beauty queen style
    High heels off, I'm feeling alive."

    The reason she wanted to commit suicide also is because Lana wasn't able to survive(or live) without your love one(s). King (women who jumps off the bridge, as being the best friend of Lana that committed suicide) said about the video that, "It's about not being able to live without the one you love, friend or lover it doesn't matter, that's whatever you want it to be."

    Hope this sorts things out c: . . .sorta e.e

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 1st 2014 !⃝

    It's about a huge slam of heroin.

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 7th 2014 !⃝

    The lyric is "SIZZLING LIKE A SNARE"
    Not "sizzling like your stare"

  17. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 3rd 2014 !⃝

    This song is about how a girl and her gilfriend both commited suicide in the summer because everything was getting screwed up, my sister told me this when she looked up the definition so I think it's true. Hope I helped

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 7th 2014 !⃝

    The song is about her friend that commited suicide.

‹ prev 12



More Lana Del Rey songs »


 


Latest Articles

 


Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]




Just Posted

Mad Hatter anonymous
Fire Lake anonymous
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead anonymous
We Gotta Get out of This Place anonymous
Jealous anonymous
Won't Get Fooled Again anonymous
Smokestack Lightning anonymous
True Colors anonymous
Future Love Paradise anonymous
Adios, Adios anonymous
Strangers anonymous
Possibility anonymous
Jailbreak anonymous
Sour Girl anonymous
Cornflake Girl anonymous

(We won't give out your email)