who is the mysterious K Lana sings about? – Kurt Cobain in Lana Del Rey's music!

 

 before we start let’s take a look on what Lana said about Kurt Cobain in the past:

“When I was 11, I saw Kurt Cobain singing Heart Shaped Box on MTV and it really stopped me dead in my tracks. I thought he was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Even at a young age, I really related to his sadness.”

She adds “I never revisited his music again until I was about 17 or 18, and then when I did, it still meant just as much to me then. It’s continued to be my primary … inspiration – in terms of not wanting to compromise lyrically or sonically,” – Lana Del Rey on Kurt Cobain.

Lana said that she never visited his music again until she was 17 or 18, that’s when Lana started making music under the name of May Jailer, and since then Kurt music became her primary inspiration! When she was 20 Lana finished writing and recording her first unreleased album Sirens, and it was a folk album musically influenced by Nirvana stripped down songs! visiting Nirvana’s music again helped Lana shape her first record!

in the unreleased record Sirens, it was the first time Lana mentions K – in the song (Drive By, also known as For K – part 1)

K's a friend of mine I think about him as he does time

-        in the song Lana is talking about a gangster lover and his gang, that were caught and sent to jail for a crime they committed, she also mention K for the first time, but she mentions him as a friend, not as a lover?

 

Many people interpret the K for Josh Kump, Lana’s ex boyfriend, but Josh was her lover, not her friend, we can interpret the K mention here as her only companion as she is alone and lonely while her lover is in jail, Kurt her spiritual and imaginary friend, she related to his sadness, and his music inspired her so much, it makes sense, in fact Kurt Cobain also had an imaginary friend called Buddha, and his suicide letter was written for his friend Buddha.

 

"He had make-believe friends, too. There was one called Boda'" -Wendy O'Connor on Kurt Cobain.

 

-         you may ask why would she call someone she did not even meet her friend? But Lana has a song where she’s calling Axl Rose her husband, and it’s literally called Axl Rose Husband, also in the song Ride, and Body Electric, she thinks of Elvis Presley as her father, she thinks of Marilyn Monroe as her mother, in her recent poems she speaks to Sylvia Plath like she was a friend, we all know that Sylvia was dead before Lana was even born, that’s something she always does.

also in the song Come as You Are by Nirvana, there’s the line “come as you are, as I want you to be as a friend”- it also makes sense considering the context of the song!

 

 

now, let’s move forward to the record Lana Del Ray a.k.a Lizzy Grant, where she mentions K again.

 

in the record there are three songs we’ll be talking about Oh Say You Can See, For K Part 2 and Brite Lites

Oh Say You Can See:

in the song Lana is describing a usual night and then;

The voice of Nirvana says

 "Come as you are" 

And I will

the voice of Nirvana is Kurt, is her imaginary friend telling her to “Come as you are, as a friend” and she will?

For K- Part 2:

in the song Lana is describing someone she has a crush on; she met in a bar, someone who is probably playing a guitar and singing! And again the only singer Lana dated was James Barrie, Josh was not a singer?

she also describes his physical appearance:

I like the way you wear your sweater off your shoulder 

The way your hair comes down and makes you look older 

How are you getting so handsome, my boy?

The way your face is shaped, 

I wonder if you know 

The way you stand up and your silhouette glows 

I'm electrified, I'll be up all night now 

Use that voice, sing that song 

And tell me to come on, to come on, come on 

You won't hear no, you won't hear no

-         Kurt was famous for wearing sweaters off his shoulders especially in the iconic MTV Unplugged Live.

-         Kurt always wears his hair down

-         Kurt was so handsome, so good looking and handsome!

-         Kurt was also known by his different and beautiful face shape

-         One of Kurt’s most iconic traits is his singing voice!

“use that voice and sing that song and tell me to come on”, is she referring to the song Come As You Are? She also said in Oh Say You Can See, that the voice of Nirvana tells her to come as she is and she will go, she will not say no!

 

in the song Lana is maybe talking about suicide? She had suicidal thoughts for such a long time, Kurt is dead and his spirit visited her again to tell her to come to the other side while she is having some weird fantasy about him? She did that in the Axl Rose song too

 

Kurt in the MTV Unplugged Live, wearing his most iconic sweater and most iconic guitar, he sang Come As You Are in that show!

 Brite Lites:

the song has nothing to do with K, it’s a song about sleeping with men to get into the industry, the song is also connected to the other song from the same record Put Me in a Movie!  I’ll be posting their analysis soon!

but there’s a line in this song that could mean something

“I’m going back to Arbor Dean / Aberdeen”

some people hear Arbor Dean, and others hear Aberdeen, while I hear the words both, Arbor Dean doesn’t mean anything, if you google the word, you’ll find nothing related to the context of the song or even something interesting, while the word Aberdeen is the name of a town! Kurt’s hometown, where his house and memorial lays!

Aberdeen’s welcoming sign says “come as you are”

 the song On Our Way, also known as heavier than heaven, she describes a lover as heavier than heavenly, both On Our Way and For K part 1 are from the same album, which is Sirens.

Heavier than Heaven is a 2001 biography of Kurt Cobain, It was written by Charles R. Cross.    

 The word for K, is similar to something Lana used in Get Free to pay homage to dead people that inspired her, in the studio version the for .. are muted and she adds all my birds of paradise who never got the chance to fly (meaning the people she always loved but they died way to young), but in the live version of the song Lana solved the mystery as she filled the blanks with for Amy and for Whitney, this could apply for Kurt too, for Marilyn and Elvis and Jim, all the artists that inspired her works! Anyway, the names Amy and Whitney are not the names in the studio version and because they are muted we will never now! She probably left them blank so she could mention any names she wants too! For K is similar to for Kurt.

Lana mentioned Nirvana more than once in other songs like Prom song and Television Heaven; and she’s covered their song Heart Shaped Box!

 

these are just assumptions they may be fake as they may be true, take everything with a grain of salt, and don’t take Lana lyrics way too seriously, she always sings about many people in one song! Uses references and name drops, and fantasizes about her inspirations so much, she maybe singing about her boyfriend or crush and still be linking him to Kurt!

 

There’s the other theory that K is her ex boyfriend Josh Kump, but it doesn’t make much sense like this theory especially that Josh is not a singer and the guy she sings about in for K – Pt 2 is deniftely a singer, also the only other singer she was rumored to be with is Jimmy Gnecco but he doesn’t have a K in his name, but I’ll post later anyway, all those researches are mine and they are my personal thoughts, Lana never said anything!

Writer's note! this is one of my very first analysis, and weakest one by far! but i had to post, it might have some truth in it, for two reasons as i said before, Lana always sings about her idols and thinks of them as relatives or lovers, and secondly because Lana always mentioned Kurt Cobain as one of her main and first inspirations.