Fingertips by Lana Del Rey Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Emotional Tapestry of Identity and Existence
Lyrics
Tracing fingertips over plastic bags
Thinking, “I wish I could extrapolate some small intention
Or maybe just get your attention for a minute or two”
Will I die? Or will I get to that ten-year mark?
Where I beat the extinction of telomeres?
And if I do, will you be there with me, Father, Sister, Brother?
Charlie, stop smoking
Caroline, will you be with me?
Will the baby be alright?
Will I have one of mine?
Can I handle it even if I do?
You said that my mind
Is not fit or so they said
To carry a child
I guess I’ll be fine
It wasn’t my idea the cocktail of things that twist neurons inside
But without them, I’d die
They say there’s irony in the music, it’s a tragedy
I see nothing Greek in it
Give me a mausoleum in Rhode Island with Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and Dave
Who hung himself real high
In the National Park sky, it’s a shame and I’m crying right now
To get to you, save you if I take my life
Find your astral body, put it into my eyes
Give you two seconds to cry
Take you home, I, I’ll give you a blanket
Your spirit can sit and watch TV by my side
‘Cause, baby, I ran through a time when I felt you were doing it
I couldn’t handle it, I was in Monaco
I couldn’t hear what they said on the telephone
I had to sing for the prince in two hours
Sat in the shower
Gave myself two seconds to cry
It’s a shame that we die
When I was fifteen, naked, next-door neighbors did a drive-by
Pulled me up by my waist, long hair to the beach side
I wanted to go out like you, swim with the fishes
That he caught on Rhode Island beaches
But, sometimes, it’s just not your time
Caroline
What kind of mother was she to say I’d end up in institutions?
All I wanted to do was kiss Aaron Greene and sit by the lake
Twisting lime into the drinks that they made
Have a babe at sixteen, the town I was born in and died
Aaron ended up dead and not me
What the fuck’s wrong in your head to send me away never to come back
Exotic places and people don’t take the place of being your child?
I give myself two seconds to cry
Let it crash over me like the waves in the sea
Call me Aphrodite
As they bow down to me
Sunbather, moon chaser, queen of empathy
I give myself two seconds to breathe
And go back to being a serene queen
I just needed two seconds to be me
In the pantheon of modern music, few artists weave the contemplative and the poetic quite like Lana Del Rey. ‘Fingertips,’ a track that rests like a hushed secret among her collection, is a poignant tapestry of memories and musings, each lyric a fingerprint of the singer’s emotional and existential journey. Deciphering the layers within Del Rey’s words is akin to a delicate dance with the psyche, a waltz through shadows and light.
Del Rey navigates the listener through varied landscapes: from the mundane to the profound, plastic bags to national parks, uniting disparate thoughts with the gentle thread of her voice. In this song, the singer opens a window to her soul, inviting us on a sojourn that grapples with the fragility of life, the weight of expectations, and the search for meaning amidst personal chaos.
A Voyage Through Temporal Waters
Time and mortality are recurring motifs that Del Rey explores with a tentative, almost wistful curiosity. ‘Will I die? Or will I get to that ten-year mark?’ she asks, pondering her own scientific salvation through the elongation of telomeres. Her quest for longevity is intertwined with a desire for familial closeness—will her loved ones be there to share in this borrowed time?
The song maneuvers between past and future, as Del Rey’s voice caresses each syllable with a delicate reverence for the transient. It’s a meditation on existence within the finite bounds of life; a musing on whether it’s possible to outpace our inevitable end and what, or who, makes that struggle worthwhile.
The Family Ties That Bind and Break
The familial references throughout ‘Fingertips’ are both tender and strained. Del Rey addresses her father, sister, and brother in a directly plaintive manner, later singing of a grandmother, grandfather, and a relative named Dave, evoking a mausoleum of memories. These mentions build a relational matrix against which she measures her life’s journey and its inner tumult.
Inclusion of the personal—like imploring ‘Charlie, stop smoking’—adds intimacy to the narrative. The juxtaposition of personal entreaties with broader existential questions about childbearing and coping underlines the recurring theme of struggling with the roles and responsibilities expected within a family sphere.
Medication’s Double-Edged Sword
Del Rey touches on the complex theme of mental health and medication with lyrical acuity. ‘It wasn’t my idea the cocktail of things that twist neurons inside,’ she observes, acknowledging the necessity of pharmaceuticals for survival yet hinting at a loss of authenticity and control. The irony of needing medication to live a life that the medication, in some measure, obscures is not lost in her vocalization.
By describing this ‘cocktail’ and its irony without the embellishment of Greek tragedy, Del Rey firmly roots her struggle in the modern, personal realm—far from mythical dramatizations, her lament is starkly real and undeniably honest.
The Continuum of Grief and Loss
Grief is a specter that haunts ‘Fingertips.’ Del Rey stitches it through the narrative, revealing a vivid tapestry of loss from the nuances of stardom to the stark reality of suicide mentioned in an almost offhand yet crushing manner. Whether it’s allowing herself two seconds to cry or contemplating the act of saving a loved one through self-sacrifice, the song traverses the delicate lines of sorrow.
The repeated mention of needing ‘two seconds to cry’ serves as a heart-wrenching refrain. It’s a stark validation of her need to grieve amidst the pressures of life and a society that demands she remain collected, portraying a heart that longs for brief moments of vulnerability in an unyielding world.
Aphrodite’s Resurrection: Finding Strength in Fragility
The culmination of ‘Fingertips’ is a powerful assertion of self. ‘Sunbather, moon chaser, queen of empathy,’ Del Rey reclaims her narrative, embodying the goddess of love, Aphrodite, as a symbol of resilience and power. By intertwining her own story with the deity’s, Del Rey crafts an emotive metaphor of transformation—emerging from her struggles as a serene queen, embracing her birthright of identity and autonomy.
Del Rey’s song is a voyage from the depths of personal desolation to a place of commanding identity. It reinforces the notion that in the span of two seconds, amid life’s relentless march, there is a space for self-care, reflection, and the strength to return to the essence of who we are. ‘Fingertips’ stands as a testimony to the profound act of being oneself, despite and because of the tumult that life presents.
