I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet for free
Now me I play for fortunes
And those velvet curtain calls
I got a black Limousine and two gentlemen
Who escort me through these halls
And I'll play if you got the money
Or if you're a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good for free
Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never been on their TV
So they passed his music by
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good for free
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter.
Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamor, and melancholia, with frequent references to contemporary pop culture and 1950s–70s Americana. Her vintage Hollywood glamor aesthetic is presented not only in her music, but also in her music videos.
Raised in northern New York, Del Rey moved to New York City in 2005 to pursue a music career. She first began releasing music as Lizzy Grant, with the EP 'Kill Kill' arriving in 2008. By 2010, she had rebranded herself as Lana Del Rey, and released her self-titled debut studio album; the album did not chart.
After numerous projects, Del Rey's breakthrough came in 2011 with the viral success of her single "Video Games"; she subsequently signed a recording contract with Polydor and Interscope. She achieved critical and commercial success with her major label debut album, Born to Die (2012), debuting and peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Born to Die contained the sleeper hit "Summertime Sadness".
Born To Die became her first of six number-one albums in the UK, and also topped various national charts around the world. Del Rey's third album, Ultraviolence (2014), featured greater use of guitar-driven instrumentation and debuted atop the U.S. Billboard 200. Her fourth and fifth albums, Honeymoon (2015) and Lust for Life (2017), saw a return to the stylistic traditions of her earlier releases, while her critically acclaimed sixth album, Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019) explored soft rock, was nominated for Album of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, and was also named one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone. Her next studio albums, Chemtrails over the Country Club and Blue Banisters, followed in 2021. Del Rey collaborated with Taylor Swift on "Snow on the Beach", from Swift's tenth studio album Midnights (2022).
Del Rey's ninth studio album, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, was later released in 2023, supported by the critically acclaimed single "A&W" and its title track.
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