Yosemite – Lana Del Rey

Yosemite was one of the first songs recommended to me by a fellow blogger when I presented the first song by the Queen of Americana music, Lana Del Rey, to feature here: Radio. After listening to her suggestions, I went on a tear through Lana’s music, and she’s featured here prominently ever since.

It’s crazy to think that today’s song, Yosemite, originally didn’t make the cut for the final tracklist of Lust for Life (2017). Instead, it was released in 2021 on Chemtrails over the Country Club.

In a 2017 interview Del Rey named Yosemite as one of her favourite tracks from Lust for Life. She also explained in an interview with Zane Lowe that it was ultimately left off because, as she put it, “it was just too happy” for the record.

I remarked earlier how fond I was of the album cover – easily the most glamorous I’ve ever seen. Do yourself a favour and click to enlarge it. The cover shows Del Rey (fifth from the right) with a number of her female friends, who also appear in the music video for another song from the album, Let Me Love You Like a Woman. Anyhow, that cover’s a beauty.

I mentioned ‘Americana music’ earlier, and that descriptor couldn’t be more appropriate for today’s song. Like its predecessor, Wild at Heart, which I presented in August from the same record, Yosemite captures a cinematic sound that conjures up wide, desolate Americana landscapes. Listening to this feels like the closest thing to going horseback riding through the canyons of an Arizona desert. It really does.

I remember watching How Green Was My Valley
Then I was thinking
“How deep was the canyon that you came from?”

That’s where Lana’s music really shines: in the way it’s so laden with Americana atmosphere. You could almost be forgiven for thinking you’ve been transported back to a 1950s country-and-western flick, with Lana playing the screen siren. She’s got that bygone-era dame figure down pat, and it’s just a pleasure to go along for the ride and be swept up in the sights and sounds her music evokes.

Lana’s a great writer, obviously, and I love this line: The only thing we’ll turn is the pages of all of the poems we burned. She has a knack for weaving an atmosphere that’s both intimate and vast, and that’s on full display here. It all feels utterly original.

Lana spoke more about Yosemite in a 2017 interview with the BBC:

“I kinda want to dig into a little bit more of the acoustic side of the record… like I have a track called ‘Yosemite’ which I really like – which is just a little more laid back, kind of a love song that I did all in one take in the room.”

Oh, and in case any of our non-American friends were wondering: Yosemite is a spectacular national park in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, USA. It’s particularly famous for El Capitan, a gigantic granite rock face popular with rock climbers.

You might recall the famous climber Alex Honnold, who scaled the 914-metre wall in the documentary Free Solo. One of the most captivating adventure videos I’ve ever seen is this one here – Climbing SOLO with Alex Honnold.

Seasons may change
But we won’t change
Isn’t it sweet how we know that already?
Winter to spring
Spring back to fall
Isn’t it cool how nothing here changes at all?

[Pre-Chorus]
You make me feel I’m invincible
Just like I wanted
No more candle in the wind
It’s not like I’m invisible
Not like before when I was burning at both ends

[Chorus]
We did it for fun, we did it for free
I did it for you, you did it for me
We did it for the right reasons
We did it for the right reasons

[Verse 2]
Seasons may change
But we won’t change
Isn’t it strange how different we are from all of our friends?
Seasons will turn
The world, it will turn
The only thing we’ll turn is the pages of all of the poems we burned

[Pre-Chorus]
Honey, you made me feel I’m invincible
It’s just like I wanted
No more candle in the wind
It’s not like I’m invisible
Like I was before, no more burning at both ends

[Chorus]
Now I do it for fun, I do it for free
I do it for you, you did it for me
We did it for the right reasons
We did it for the right reasons

[Bridge]
I remember watching How Green Was My Valley
Then I was thinking
“How deep was the canyon that you came from?”
Television static was quite overwhelming
Was it because of the cabin and the candles in the wind?

[Chorus]
We’ve done it for fun, we’ve done it for free
I showed up for you, you showed up for me
We did it for the right reasons
We did it for fun, we did it for free

[Outro]
When I was young ’til eternity
I’ll do it for the right reasons
Withstanding all the time, changes, and seasons
Right reasons

References:
1. Yosemite (song) – The Lana Del Rey Wiki