The Indulgence of Italian Imagery: Lyrical Analysis of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Salvatore’

The Indulgence of Italian Imagery: Lyrical Analysis of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Salvatore’

This song evokes the memories of an American city girl, once naïve to love, as she reminisces about the intimate, passionate, and sensual experiences she shared with her lover during an Italian summer. As she descends into a state of mild depression, she mends her depressive and nostalgic thoughts in an ethereal manner by finding magic, passion, and beauty in her sadness. She almost indulges in and delves into her personal misery in an enigmatic yet mystically magical way. The following analysis unveils these insights.

All the lights in Miami begin to gleam– The brightly shining lights of Miami serve as a memento, retrieving the grandeur of memories from that Italian summer she shared with her Romeo. Their gleaming power may be symbolic of the Italian summer sun and its role in dispersing the intimate energy that radiates across the Mediterranean region.
Ruby, blue and green, neon too – Colour imagery reflects and resonates the colours of Italy with ruby-coloured houses and hamlets, blue bodies of water and green cypress trees that ornately embellished the neon green meadows of Tuscany.
Everything looks better- Hyperbole to reflect her deep sense of appreciation towards the beauty of Italy from above my king Allusion to her enigmatic lover indicating their patronage of an elegantly rich and almost regal relationship in Italy.
Like aqua marine, ocean’s blue – While the colour symbolism maybe an extended metaphor to elongate the ethereal and enchanting beauty of Summer Italy, it may also be symbolic to the onset of her depressive symptoms where blue elicits an unconscious sensation of desolation as the nostalgia she experiences is met with a silently sweeping desperate sense of longing and despair triggering mild depression.

Ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah – Onomatopoeic lexical choices evocate the passionate flow of her thought as she continues to reminisce the delightful and nostalgic memories while simultaneously experiencing the coincident feelings of grief and desperation as a result of her train of thought. In one lens, the words may mimic the sound of quivering as she deals with the perpetual loss of such nostalgic memories or, through another lens, it may envision her indulgence in misery as she savours the amalgamation of sadness and nostalgia rather than agonising it like most humans thus accepting her emotional states as pleasant or unpleasant as they are.
Cacciatore – Allusions to her lover, possible words she might have learned been thrown into the lyrics to illustrate the unsystematic randomness yet beautiful manner through which her train of though is flowing. Cacciotore meaning ‘Hunter’ is a symbolism of a person who provides and is adventurous which may reflect the nature of her lover and how she appreciates this manly quality.
La da da da da
La da da da da – Further onomatopoeic sounds and lexis that connects the flow of her thoughts by expressing her medley of feelings and emotions comprised of ecstasy, nostalgia, grief and dreaminess.
Limousines – She may have driven around Italy in her Romeo’s limousines which visually deconstructs the image of a rich and regal lifestyle which she lived through with her lover that Summer. These words are also expressions of freedom, in this case the freedom to spread apart in the space of a limousine, which maybe constrained or lacking in her current American life as opposed to that one Italian summer.               

Ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah
Ciao amore
La da da da da
La da da da da
Soft ice cream – Visual Image of Ice cream connotes Italian gelato once again showing the random yet ethereal flow of her train of though as she jumps from one memento to another all weaves and knitted together with nostalgic, ecstasy and grief. The soft ice cream may further symbolise the sensual intimacy and voluptuous memories she would have shared with her lover from classic caressing, passionate pecks and many more.

All the lights are sparkling for you it seems – Structural change from gleaming to sparkling lights illustrates the transitioning from seeing Italy to her Lover in her visions. As she ponders upon the handsome, well-built and enchanting silhouette of her lover the lights of Miami sparkle in her mind as her eyes are lit and consumed by her attraction towards just as the first time they would’ve met in Italy.
On the downtown scenes, shady blue– Lexical Choices like “down” “shady” and “blue” lie in the semantic field of depression reinforcing that while she is consumed by the cerebral appearance of her lover and aesthetically pleasured by the beauty of Italy, she is still undergoing a concurrent feeling of misery and loss that she battles with by indulging in it.
Beatboxing and rapping in the summer rain
Like a boss – Simile of Talent and Experience , he sang Jazz and Blues – Transitioning from the materialisation of her lover she diverts her attention to his excellent skill in music. Musical lexis like “Jazz” and “Blue” coincidentally give birth to auditory images of romantic sounds in the rain signifying another passionate and intimate memory that means a lot to her.

Chorus (Repeat)

The summer’s hot – May have a multitude of meanings, maybe it is that the summer of Italy was hot bought in literal as well as euphemistic sexual terms as well as the summer she is currently expediting in Miami. However, the word “Hot” may be implicit symbol of another emotion that is growing within her which maybe anger and furiousness of having distanced with her lover and not being bale to relive these passionate memories.

And I’ve been waiting for you all this time – Signifies that she has been waiting for his return but never satisfied her desire indicating possible perpetual loss and distance from her lover? A growing sense of anger?
I adore you, can’t you see – Direct Address to Lover, questions his common sense and consciousness as it changes the tone of these lyrics from a light-hearted to a more defensive, furious and distressed tone indicating her increasing mental pain and pressure., you’re meant for me?
Summer’s hot but I’ve been cold without you – Juxtaposing images of coldness and heat adds to the combination of both her grief and growing sense of frustrating fury towards him for not returning to her.
I was so wrong not to tell, I’m in regine, tangerine dreams – Returns from frustration to a delightful tone as she remembers how she has entered an internal state of mind and that although her visons and dreams deliver a medley of both happiness and sadness, their product is an ultimate state of comfort and pleasure that she consumes and digests through her intricate recollection of memories. Nevertheless, the erratic changes in tone portrays the bipolarity of her emotional states which is common in case of mild nostalgic depression.

Catch me if you can – Rhyming pattern of couplets develops as she now systematically jumps from one final set of memories to another, a possible vison of them playing an athletic game by the seaside,
Working on my tan – Images of her sensually sunbathing in the light of helios while its energies gently craft a tan on her sun-kissed skin.
Salvatore – Saviour, first allusion and reinforcement of title signifies how her lover may have had almost Jesus (God-like) qualities and the importance he would have served in saving her from a previous mental trauma or memory and that she still respects him for that.
Dying by the hand – Death is symbolic to a passionate death or death of ones depressive emotions and the onset of more exhilarated ones referring to a deeply sexual memory.
Of a foreign man – A reference to her lover not being American like her but Italian?
Happily – Isolated word in structure…sums up the experience between him and her in Italy
Calling out my name
In the summer rain- More passionate and intimate memories deduced… this one illustrates how hearing the very acoustic sound her would have melted her heart and given her a sense of sensual pleasure.
Ciao amore- A line that has being repeated throughout the chorus but only at the end does it make sense as she recollects and complies all her memories in her mind she now begins to release that her aspiration for his return are a hopeless dream and that she says Goodbye to her lover thanking him for everything she has done and appreciating the beauty of every memory she has with him with core memories being in the chorus.
Salvatore can wait – Fragmented statement… Salvatore can wait in Italy signifying she no longer expects his return deducing a tone of finality.
Now it’s time to eat
Soft ice cream– An image of her returning back to the present and to a normal life sitting and eating ice cream indicating her resignation from the mental utopia we deconstructed above. In another perspective, as argued the soft ice cream symbolised intimate and deeply sensual memories but, in this context, ‘eat’ would mean partially deleting these memories from her memory system in attempt to completely eradicate the memories of that Italian Summer in preparation for a new love strory.

Ah ah ah ah – Onomatopoeic lexical choices evocate the passionate flow of her mind and soul as she continues to reminisce the delightful and nostalgic memories while simultaneously experiencing the coincident feelings of grief and desperation as a result of her train of thought. In one lens, the words may mimic the sound of quivering as she deals with perpetual loss of those nostalgic memories or in another lens may elicit a vision of ecstasy where she indulges in her own sadness and enjoys its presence rather than agonise them.
Cacciatore – Allusions to lover, possible words she might have learned been thrown into the lyrics to illustrate the random yet beautiful manner through which her train of though is flowing. Cacciotore meaning ‘Hunter’ is a symbolism of a person who provides and is adventurous which may reflect the nature of her lover and how she appreciates this manly quality.
La da da da da
La da da da da – Further onomatopoeic sounds and lexis that connects the flow of her thoughts by expressing her medley of feelings and emotions comprised of ecstasy, nostalgia, grief and dreaminess.
Limousines – She may have driven around Italy in her Romeo’s limousines which visually deconstructs the image of a rich and regal lifestyle which she lived through with her lover that Summer.

Ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah
Ciao amore
La da da da da
La da da da da
Soft ice cream – Visual Image of Ice cream symbolises Italian gelato once again showing the random yet ethereal flow of her train of though as she jumps from one memento to another all weaves and knitted together with nostalgic, ecstasy and grief. The soft ice cream may further symbolise the sensual intimacy and voluptuous memories she would have shared with her lover from classic caressing, passionate pecks and many more.