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Darnell Montejo

Professor Batty

English 102

12 December 2019

Abusive or Passionate Love?

When you hear song lyrics like this for example, “He hit me and it felt like a kiss”

(“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.”) what comes to your mind? Is this song about an abusive

relationship or just a passionate one? The song lyrics I will be focusing on will be from a song

called “Ultraviolence” by Lana Del Rey. These song lyrics have a very controversial topic to it

and the words Del Rey uses in this song have very negative or controversial denotation and

connotation. When I first listened to the song as a teen, I was very surprised by the lyrics Del

Rey sang as she sings in the very first verse and the chorus of the song “He hit me and it felt like

a kiss” (“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.”). I will discuss more about the other controversial

lyrics Del Rey sings in the song and their double meanings. These lyrics may be very upsetting

to other people but to me these lyrics are beautiful and not as upsetting as they may seem. I

believe these lyrics are depicting a very passionate love or relationship and this is the message

the audience should know the song is about when listening to it not an abusive relationship.

When listening to “Ultraviolence” there will be two verses or lines that may catch your

attention and they might make you confused, mad or intrigued and I will discuss how and why

those lyrics use figurative language including metaphors and similes. When Del Rey first sings

“Jim told me that he hit me and it felt like a kiss” (“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.”) in the first

verse she is using a simile. She uses a simile in this specific line because when someone hits you
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it obviously won't feel as soft as a kiss will feel, so this lyric is not supposed to be taken seriously

or literally. She also mentions a similar simile in the second verse when she sings “He hurt me

and it felt like true love” (“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.”) she says this intensifying the

message she is trying to put across. The message that she is trying to make by using this lyric is

that the relationship she is in can get very passionate or even physical when they have sex. These

lyrics are another example of a simile it also has a very negative connotation to it. She is actually

trying to say that their relationship may get difficult and passionate and she knows it deep down

but they both love each other regardless of any obstacles they may have. These lyrics can seem

like they are promoting or glorifying abusive and toxic relationships, but this is definitely not the

case. She is just explaining the dynamic of her past or current relationships and how passionate a

relationship can get and how she loves that. These relationships can get passionate sexually or

just how they show their affection but the message isn’t that her partner gets abusive towards

her.

Del Rey uses a lot of metaphors and similes in her songs and there are many examples in

the lyrics. The first example is in the first verse when she starts off the song with “He used to call

me DN/That stood for Deadly Nightshade/'Cause I was filled with poison” (“Lana Del Rey –

Ultraviolence.”), this is an example of a metaphor. She said that she was “filled with poison”

(“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.”) obviously that is not possible, she is actually trying to say that

she herself is a very passionate human being and lover or that’s what her partner or maybe other

people think of her because her and her partner have a very passionate and sexy relationship in

public. Another example of a simile is in the bridge when she sings “I would do anything for

you, babe/Blessed it is this union/Crying tears of gold like lemonade”( “Lana Del Rey –

Ultraviolence.”), the simile she used was “crying tears of gold like lemonade”( “Lana Del Rey –
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Ultraviolence.”), the person obviously makes her really happy, she loves the passionate

relationship she is in and she is loyal to her partner, these are a couple of metaphors and similes

Del Rey uses in her song.

So, there may be some people who listen to the song and don’t really understand the

figurative language Del Rey uses and might take some of the lyrics too literal. It's understandable

how these lyrics can be upsetting, offensive or can put the wrong message across to other

listeners. One reason the lyrics may sound upsetting or offensive is because she uses very

negative words in her lyrics such as “hit” or “hurt” and that can sound very off putting. The

lyrics are not meant to be taken seriously, Del Rey uses similes and metaphors to exaggerate

passionate love, relationships or even sex to emphasize it not to describe an abusive relationship.

This song is definitely not about abusive relationships and that can be obvious if you listen to the

song with an open mind and listen to all the figurative language Del Rey uses in the song.

Overall, it may be said that Lana Del Rey has very controversial lyrics in her song

“Ultraviolence”. This song can be very controversial because of the lyrics “Jim told me that he

hit and it felt like a kiss” (“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.”) and “He hurt me and it felt like true

love” (“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.”). These lyrics can offend someone, but another can

interpret it as her describing a relationship and how it can get passionate. I believe these lyrics

are depicting a very passionate love or relationship and this is the message the audience should

know the song is about when listening to it not an abusive relationship. Del Rey uses figurative

language many times in the lyrics of this song, so the lyrics are not meant to be taken literally or

seriously. Next time when reading or listening to the lyrics try to interpret it in another way.
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Works Cited

“Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence.” Genius, 4 June 2014, https://genius.com/Lana-del-rey-

ultraviolence-lyrics.
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Appendix A

“Ultraviolence” by Lana Del Rey

[Verse 1]
He used to call me DN
That stood for Deadly Nightshade
'Cause I was filled with poison
But blessed with beauty and rage
Jim told me that he hit me and it felt like a kiss
Jim brought me back, reminded me of when we were kids

[Chorus]
With his ultraviolence
Ultraviolence
Ultraviolence
Ultraviolence
I can hear sirens, sirens
He hit me and it felt like a kiss
I can hear violins, violins
Give me all of that ultraviolence

[Verse 2]
He used to call me poison
Like I was Poison Ivy
I could have died right there
'Cause he was right beside me
Jim raised me up, he hurt me but it felt like true love
Jim taught me that loving him was never enough

[Chorus]
With his ultraviolence
Ultraviolence
Ultraviolence
Ultraviolence
I can hear sirens, sirens
He hit me and it felt like a kiss
I can hear violins, violins
Give me all of that ultraviolence

[Bridge]
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We could go back to New York

Loving you was really hard
We could go back to Woodstock
Where they don't know who we are
Heaven is on Earth
I would do anything for you, babe
Blessed it is this union
Crying tears of gold like lemonade

[Interlude]
I love you the first time, I love you the last time
Yo soy la princesa, comprende mis white lines
'Cause I'm your jazz singer and you're my cult leader
I love you forever, I love you forever

[Chorus]
With his ultraviolence (Lay me down tonight)
Ultraviolence (In my linen and curls)
Ultraviolence (Lay me down tonight)
Ultraviolence (Riviera Girls)
I can hear sirens, sirens
He hit me and it felt like a kiss
I can hear violins, violins
Give me all of that ultraviolence