“Video Games”

I chose this song to show the divide between Linda and Willy during their conversation in the first scene of Act 1. As the most gleeful song from Lana’s first debut album, Born to Die, it shows Lana’s more loving and beautiful side in one her most moving albums. “It’s you, it’s you, it’s all for you, Everything I do. I tell you all the time, Heaven is a place on earth with you. Tell me all the things you want to do.” These lyrics in particular to demonstrate Linda’s blind devotion to her husband, regardless of the cost. This song would play lightly in the background after Willy walks off and Linda is alone in the kitchen. However, as the title suggests, in both the song and in the play, the man the woman is in love with isn’t really that interested in them, but menial things, like video games. With her willingness to bend to his whim, she’ll do “all the things you want to do” because she wants to preserve her marriage and family. A brief change in song would occur, switching to “Mariners Apartment Complex” and then back to “Video Games.” As the scene ends and Linda begins to walk out, she’ll pause and look back as the following line plays: “Only worth living if somebody is loving you.” This will be used to foreshadow Willy’s death, and Linda’s eventual breakdown in Act 2. The expectation that they’ll be happy if they can just pull through and keep their marriage together is unrealistic, which is also a theme in the song.