Ride

This song has everything to do with relationships and seeking security in other people.

In the video she has multiple relationships with older men. Lana makes several notations towards her father. "I've been out on that open road. You can be my full time, daddy" She is lost and free and want the man to give her security as a father would do.

She needs someone and is tired of feeling crazy for that. She "rides" meaning she detaches herself from the situation and feeling lonely. It's almost like she knows she's lonely and she uses being a free spirit as a cover-up. Just ride and carry on.

She so desperately needs to be love, and wouldn't have to ride, and act as though she doesn't care if one particularly person would stay. If you listen to the monologue in the being of the song, you'll understand exactly what she means.

To me it's about that moment when you have reached the point where you feel your life will drive you insane if you keep it as it is and you just want to runaway from everything for a while to calm your mind, enjoy solitude, meet people on the road and just ride through things until you find your destination which is when you have found what you want

I don't really care what this song is about but my god is it just about the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Lana's voice and the tragedy she invokes is just amazing. Here I am a man approaching 40 with no problems in his life who just starts to cry when he hears this incredible desperation and joy of a song. I would give anything to be that hairy biker, living free with Lana.

"For home to be wherever you lie your head"

I think this song is about having this inner complexity and depth that is making you want to free yourself form your mind, and at the same time try to fit in in this shallow society of today. It's about people looking at you like you're crazy because they don't understand you. It's about wanting to find a home, some inner comfort, but at the same time knowing you will never be able to do that so you just ride, just go, just let go of all conventions and morals. There's a torment in being like this, having this rich capital of emotions, thoughts and wants but it's also how you know you are alive.

"Dying young and playing hard, that's how my father made his life an art"

Dying, dying and then to be reborn. To go through the hardships of life, experience pain and hurt and to be able to detach yourself from it. And to use that as a part of your life, to turn the pain into something raw and beautiful, to turn it into art.

"I'm tired of feeling like I'm f-ck-n crazy Baby, too much I strive, I just ride"

Again, a disassociation to everything ordinary/normal, maybe even happiness, and a feeling of madness that is haunting your being and making you feel crazy. And there's no point of striving to be ordinary, to live simple so you just ride. you seek to be free from yourself, from your mind and you live on the edge, go wild, maybe to point of being destructive, you feed those hounds inside that need and want so much by maybe even causing yourself physical pain.

I think lana is a highly sensitive person, or maybe she just wants to be. In any case, it's a beautiful song and essentially it's about finding an inner peace, a peace of mind and to feel fulfilled.

"I am fucking crazy, but I am free"

Love this song so much. So beautiful. Makes me cry.

I think it's when you know so much is wrong and fucked up about your life and there's so much you want to change, all these little things and some big things but you have no idea where to begin and so all you want to do is just drive or ride and keep moving.

My interpretation anyway.

Okay, this is long and the other interpretations are also good but if you read this cool. At a first listen the song is obviously about a female drifter having fun and crisscrossing the road but this is one of those songs where the story acts as a context for the themes.

Part 1, "Ive been out on that open road, you can be my full-time daddy, white and gold": The narrator is feeling alone on the road and is trying to find her place. She is desperate to feel companionship and like she matters to somebody having sacrificed so much for this life. All the way up to the chorus she talks about how the only thing she had to keep her company was the "singing the blues" and "one pretty song".

Part 2, "Dying young and I'm playing hard, that's how my father made his life an art" : Here the narrator is focusing on the good aspects of drifting around. She can play hard and drink all day. By saying that she's gonna die young though she is aware her lifestyle is risky and self-destructive but she is a free spirit who couldn't care less and by calling this life an art shows that she wouldn't have it any other way.

Part 3, "I'm tired of feeling like I'm fucking crazy": At this point the narrator explains why she is doing all of this in the first place. She is obviously an outcast and considered a freak and the act of running away from it all and living life her way is the only way for her to stay sane and happy. "All I've got to keep me sane baby, so I just drive, I just ride".

Part 4, "Chorus": I also think that she isn't just running away from the world but from herself too. "I hear the birds on the summer breeze" shows the freedom she is enjoying and during the day "I drive fast" so she is always preoccupied. "I am alone in the night" obviously means that at nights she is stuck with herself and "Been trying hard not to get into trouble, But I, Ive got a war in my mind" means that she is probably a quite wild, crazy and self-destructive person searching for herself and peace-of-mind on the road. "So, I just drive, just drive" shows her solution to her troubles are to keep running and moving along but no matter how far she goes or how fast she goes her problems keep catching up to her.

Summary: The song could be the soundtrack to the lives of James Dean or Jack Kerouac. She captures the essence of freedom, excitement and rebellion mixed with alienation and the sense of aimlessness that comes with roaming the roads. If you fancy yourself an artist or scientist; a maverick, freak, free-spirit or adventurer trapped in by the constraints of society than this song is about letting loose. If you are just an average Joe/ Jane who has ever felt like packing one bag and running away from it all then you can also relate. Just lie back, listen to Lana's beautiful voice and imagine the crisp air blowing through your hair and all the wacky characters you will meet along the way as you let loose. Great Song!!

"Dying young and playing hard, that's how my father made his life an art"

To me it sounds like she's singing about Elvis and not her biological father, cause her biological father is very much alive. The reason why I suspect this is because in her song "Body Electric" she sings:

"Elvis is my daddy, Marilyn's my mother - Jesus is my bestest friend."

And that to me seems to be connected in some way. Maybe because she's inspired by the way Elvis lived. He "lived fast, died young, he was wild & he had fun" which is also a quote from her music video "Ride".

I think riding in the context of this song refers to escaping an overwhelming sense of doom by running (or rather, riding) away from problems. However, you can't really run away from your problems. Unless your choose to change yourself your problems will always catch up to you eventually.

It also sounds like she's finding freedom among outlaws. The homeless nomads are every bit as at war with themselves as she is with herself. She's learned to find liberation in the realization that life itself is transient so one is free to live fast and die young.

For me is just like, a desperate need to find security and love in someone. She just rides alongside the road in search of someone who will give her a feeling of "belonging" and she says she's tired of it, she's tired of feeling f**king crazy, she needs to settle down and that's what's she's looking for, that's why she rides. I think that's waaaay to much references to her dad, it may be as her father couldn't give her the security and love seh needed so she tried to find it in other men ( especially the older ones). That's my opinion anyways, beautiful song

This song is simply about being a social reject, being someone who doesn't fit in in the society. After trying so hard to fit in, she just decided to go and "ride".

This song breaks my heart. It's like someone who have been trying so hard to fit in and to get people to understand her. Even the "don't break me down" part sounds like she's begging people to just stop leaving or judging her for what she is and just accept and take her.

And in the beginning of the music video, Lana explain something about having double personality or something? I can't really remember, but I think that's also one of the important element in this song: turning to alcohols and drugs to run away from your problems- "Been trying hard not to get into trouble, but I, I've got a war in my mind." She's having a war with herself and to help her ease her pain maybe she resorted to alcohol and drugs ("to get into trouble")

Plus, I don't know if it's just me but she kinda sounded like a drunk/high chick in this particular song.