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Brooklyn Baby Lyrics

They say I'm too young to love you
I don’t know what I need
They think I don’t understand the freedom land of the 70's
I think I’m too cool to know you
You say I’m like the ice, I freeze
I’m churning out novels like Beat Poetry on amphetamines

I said, I said

Well, my boyfriend's in a band
He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed
I’ve got feathers in my hair
I get down to Beat Poetry
And my jazz collection’s rad
I can play most anything
I’m a Brooklyn Baby
I’m a Brooklyn Baby

They say I’m too young to love you
They say I’m to dumb to sing
They judge me like a picture book
By the colors like
They forgot to read

I think we’re like fire and water
I think we’re like the wind and sea
You’re burning up, I’m cooling down
You’re up, I’m down
You’re blind, I see

But I’m free, oooh
I’m free

Well, my boyfriend’s in a band
He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed
I’ve got feathers in my hair
I get down to Beat Poetry
And my jazz collection’s rad
I can play most anything
I’m a Brooklyn Baby
I’m a Brooklyn Baby

I'm talking ‘bout my generation
Talking ‘bout that newer nation
And if you don’t like it you can beat it
Beat it, baby
You never liked the way I said it
If you don’t get it then forget
Cause I don’t have to fucking explain it

And my boyfriend’s in a band
He plays guitar while I sing Lou Reed
I’ve got feathers in my hair
I get high on hydroponic weed
And my jazz collection’s rad
I get down to Beat Poetry
I’m a Brooklyn Baby
I’m a Brooklyn Baby

Yeah my boyfriend’s pretty cool
But he’s not as cool as me
'Cause I’m a Brooklyn Baby
I’m a Brooklyn Baby
Song Info
Copyright
Lyrics © Bmg Rights Management, Sony/atv Music Publishing Llc, Missing Link Music
Writer
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, Barrie James O'neill
Submitted by
hhadley On Jun 07, 2014
7 Meanings

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Cover art for Brooklyn Baby lyrics by Lana Del Rey

This song overall, in my opinion, is poking fun of/satirizing stereotypical Brooklyn hipsters. This isn't a problem for me, considering that I am not a Brooklyn hipster, or a hipster in general, and it's really not offensive or malicious in it's tone. Some might take offense, but the way I see it, they don't really see that this song is firmly tongue in cheek.

"They say I'm too young to love you they say I don't know what I need They think I don't understand the freedom land of the seventies"

This set of lyrics could be seen is two ways.

  1. She's in love with an older man who thinks she's too young and naive
  2. She says she likes a '70's artist and the people from that time tell her that she doesn't understand the music or what that time was like Personally, I think it's the latter, considering the context of the song.

Also, lyrics like: "I sing Lou Reed" "My jazz collections rad" "I get down to beat poetry" "I get high on hydroponic weed" "I'm a Brooklyn Baby" Really drive the point home, to me, that she's singing about being a Brooklyn hipster.

My Interpretation

100% agree. I was thinking this exact same thing- it sounds super mock-y to me. Pretty much every single lyric in the song points to it. And I would even go as far as saying it's making fun of hipsters in general- it's just that Brooklyn is so much of "the place to be" as a hipster so it seems.

Cover art for Brooklyn Baby lyrics by Lana Del Rey

I actually believe this song is satire.

Take every Brooklyn hipster or the cast of say, Girls, and the whole thing is essentially a parody of them/the hipster culture.

aka Hipsters will tell people all about how unique or ironic they are by listening to indie music or oldies they've re-discovered and claimed as 'cool'. The line, 'My boyfriend's pretty cool... But he's not as cool as me', is quentissential hipster talk.

Same with 'if you dont like it then forget it.' Clearly youre not worth the explanation & said hipster is too cool for you.

I tend to think that Lana is aware she fits with the 'hipster' culture, but I don't think she's stupid. For that reason, i don't see the lyrics as an intent to be literal. At all.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Brooklyn Baby lyrics by Lana Del Rey

Lana showing how cool she is.

Cover art for Brooklyn Baby lyrics by Lana Del Rey

This song is probably about her and her relationship with Barrie, who is also featured in this song.

Cover art for Brooklyn Baby lyrics by Lana Del Rey

I think this song is about Lana (the girl in the song) falling for a guy who's like a serious singer and the people who hang around him, (his friends) think of Lana as trash because she's not like them. I think during the song she sings about all the things she knows about singing, poetry, so she can prove to them that she is worthy of being with them. Towards the end, I think she becomes bitter with all of them because she starts saying thinks like, "and if you don't like then you can beat up, you never liked the way I said it, if you don't forget it, then i don't have to fucking explain it." She's drifting away from him and his friends and realizing she started becoming someone else just to meet someone else's expectations of her. THe last lines in the song IDK if it's just me but I hear a male voice too so maybe her "boyfriend" was mocking her for what she was saying and no she realized she doesn't need him anymore like she thought.

Cover art for Brooklyn Baby lyrics by Lana Del Rey

from my prespective, i see this song as 2 people who love each other but are very different from each other due to the age gap. “They say i’m too young to love you”, indicating her partner is significantly older. “I think we’re like fire and water, i think we’re like the wind and sea, you’re burning up i’m cooling down, you’re up, i’m down, you’re blind i see”, i think this indicates that they are the total opposites of each other because they have a significant age gap but because of that, they compliment each other and make it work because they love each other.

Cover art for Brooklyn Baby lyrics by Lana Del Rey

im not sure but i heard she was doing this as like a comeback to her critics, the older ones making fun of her generation: "im talking bout my generation twalking bout that newer nation and if u dont like it you can beat it, beat it baby"

so as you can see shes like flaunting kinda her generation in response to her older critis making fun of her and the youngsters and also when she says talking she says it with a brooklyn accent

i know this is satire its like shes satirically showing off her lifestyle, yeah my boyfriends pretty cool but hes not as cool as me, and portraying stereotypes

 
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