Or, heaven is a place on earth where you...
The clouds above the high desert will part when the harp is plucked. The string section is warm. The piano is a pillow. The sun pours down. It lights up the chrome trim of the old Chevy hood as it motors ahead. Los Angeles bound. A gang of psychedelic gangsters.
Lee Hazelwood drives with one hand on gripping the wheel, the other massaging his black mustache. Nancy Sinatra is in the passenger seat blowing kisses to herself in the rear view mirror. I'm in the back seat, reading Ginsberg.
Then her voice appears. A haunting beautiful monotone. The crooning of a girl dressed up to be a woman. An announcement that Los Angeles will soon appear, shining out on the horizon. It is mesmerizing.
Who is this singing, Lee? Nancy asks. She is still staring at herself in the rear view.
Lee stares towards Los Angeles.
It's Lana Del Rey, I answer, still reading Ginsberg.
Who is this, Lee? She sounds an awful lot like me? Nancy asks.
Lee stares towards Los Angeles.
It's "Video Games" by Lana Del Rey, I answer, louder, and I close Howl for the time being.
The three psychedelic gangsters are hypnotized through the chorus. Heaven is a place on earth where you, tell me all the things you want to do.
Then Nancy says, Phaedra is my name.
It is you, Lee answers.
Some velvet morning when I'm straight, I'm going to open up the door to your Studio City apartment, and sit down with a beer, and watch you stand with your back against the wall and mouth the words to this song. Playin' video games. You will pout and make your growing lips dance a tango above each other.
This is what Lee Hazelwood says to Lana Del Rey.
This is what I say about Video Games. The song is sensual. It is seductive. And the chorus will live inside your head for a few days. Lingering like a floral perfume hanging onto a pillow. Somewhere, before the final repeating of the chorus, the song gets a bit repetitive. I might want it to stop. I might want to listen to something else, or maybe nothing at all. However, some time during the day that will follow, I will find myself singing to myself
Heaven is a place on earth where you...
Dammit Dan! Just when I was getting a Foo Fighters song out of my system and trying to forget about Rollin' in the Deep you go and put a meme-like-dreamlike song into my brain. Thanks. And it is a haunting song.
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