Meaning of “Venice B**ch” by Lana Del Rey

“Venice B**ch” is a love song by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. The lyrics of the song see the singer/narrator (Del Rey) directly addressing her significant other. In doing so, she talks about how she misses him on her lips while referring to herself as his “little Venice b**ch”.

“Oh God, miss you on my lips”

From the line above (which is the first line of the song’s chorus), it is clear that at some point, distance briefly separated the narrator from her lover.

“Young baby is back in town now
You should come, come over”

The lyrics above from the third verse of the song go to support the earlier statement of distance separating the lovers at some point. However, the narrator (Del Rey) is now back in town and is inviting her lover to come over. She can’t wait to hang out with him.

But who’s this lover Lana can’t seem to get enough of?

From the below line in the song’s post chorus, we get a fair idea of her lover’s profession. He is a writer while she is a singer.

“You write, I tour, we make it work”

The line above not only sheds some light on who her lover is (at least the work he does), but it also explains why distance keeps them apart from time to time. Of course whenever she’s touring, they can’t be together. That’s how come she misses him on her lips. In that same line above, we also get the idea that despite their long distance relationship, they are able to make it work.

Having said all those sweet and romantic words to her lover,  Del Rey ends the song by telling her lover that she’d be so jealous of his love had he not been hers.

“If you weren’t mine, I’d be jealous of your love.”

But is this song autobiographical?

Del Rey might have not yet said whether it is autobiographical or not. However, we have a strong feeling it is. Why are we saying so? We say this because a few days before this song came out, Del Rey had released a song titled “Mariners Apartment Complex”. That song contained autobiographical lyrics of an event that occurred between Rey and her real life lover. And in that song, she referred to herself as his “Venice b**ch”. Owing to this, we strongly suspect that Del Rey is addressing that same man from her earlier song. This therefore makes us believe that the lyrics of this song are directed to an actual lover in Rey’s life.

Who is Norman Rockwell?

Del Rey mentions a Norman Rockwell in the song and asks him to paint her “happy and blue”. Norman Rockwell refers to a famous American illustrator, painter and author Norman Percevel Rockwell  who died in 1978. Rockwell was best known for his illustrations in a magazine called The Saturday Evening Post.

It is noteworthy that Rockwell’s name was also used in the title of the album (Norman F***ing Rockwell) on which this song appears.

Facts about “Venice B**ch”

• This track was co-written by Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff.
• Jack Antonoff handled the song’s production all by himself. Antonoff also co-wrote and produced Del Rey’s previous single “Mariners Apartment Complex”.
• Del Rey used the title of this song to refer to herself in the lyrics of her song “Mariners Apartment Complex”. That track as well as this one appears on the same album.
• “Venice B**ch” was officially released on 18th September, 2018. It is the second single from Del Rey’s sixth studio album titled Norman F***ing Rockwell. The single “hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but I have it” also appears on that album.

Does “Venice B**ch” have a music video?

Yes, it does. The official music video for “Venice B**ch” was released on the same day (Sep 18) that the single was released. Below is the clip.