‘Henry, come on’ by Lana Del Rey - Lyrics & Meaning

Well, it's safe to say this one has been a long time coming. After first teasing a brief snippet of the hazy ‘Henry, come on’ in January 2024, some 15 months later, we've finally been treated to the full studio version. Lana Del Rey surprised fans with the track on Friday, April 11th, a couple of weeks ahead of her highly anticipated Stagecoach Festival 2025 performance, with ‘Henry, come on’ expected to serve as the lead single from Lana's new album, The Right Person Will Stay.

The full project, which is believed to be the ‘Video Games’ hitmaker's debut country record, arrives on May 21st, 2025. The album was originally slated for a September 2024 release under the working title of Lasso, before Lana Del Rey decided to push the rollout back a few months and adjust the name, for unknown reasons.

Thankfully, Lana Del Rey's first full-length album since 2023's Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd is now on the horizon. We're hoping the alt-pop phenom delivers the live debut of ‘Henry, come on’ at Stagecoach later this month.

Rather than being a full-blown immersion in the country world accompanied a euphony of steel guitars and twangy bass, ‘Henry, come on’ feels like a tentative but enchanting step into Music City from Lana Del Rey. It features the New York native's signature ethereal vocals, with an orchestral instrumental cushioning Lana's laments.

There are hints of pedal steel infused into the dreamlike backing, with the majority of the track finding Lana Del Rey crooning wistfully across an undulating acoustic guitar and the faint, yearning cry of strings. ‘Henry, come on’ swells in intensity as it progresses, with Lana injecting an added jolt of intensity into her delivery as the evocative offering reaches its moving, heartbroken crescendo.

“I mean, Henry, come on
Do you think I'd really choose it?
All this off and on
Henry, come on
I mean, baby, come on
Do you think I'd really lose it on ya
If you did nothin' wrong?
Henry, come on”

First things first: it's not clear - and probably won't ever be clear, given the enigmatic quality that pervades Lana Del Rey's discography - who Henry is. He's likely a fictional character, with Lana singingly mournfully to him as he prepares to leave.

‘Henry, come on’ appears to take place towards the end of a relationship, with Lana Del Rey reflecting on their tumultuous time together, asking him pointedly, “Do you really think I'd choose it? All this off an on?” This seemingly touches on how, despite the hot-and-cold nature of the romance, the protagonist fell head-over-heels, with Lana underlining that she wouldn't have otherwise chosen this path.

“Last call, "Hey, y'all"
Hang his hat up on the wall
Tell him that his cowgirl is gone
Go on and giddy up
Soft leather, blue jeans
Call us into void's dreams
Return it but say it was fun”

We get a flurry of country-themed language here, with Lana Del Rey rhyming ‘last call’ with ‘hey, y'all’. As a result, it seems Lana's playing on the double-meaning of ‘last call’ - something also covered in Morgan Wallen's rowdy 2016 anthem, ‘Whiskey Glasses’ - with this potentially meaning the final orders in a bar, as well as the last time she calls Henry. The protagonist asks the listener to tell Henry that “his cowgirl is gone”, before instructing her old flame to “giddy up” and get out of town.

“And it's not because of you
That I turned out so dangerous
Yesterday, I heard God say, "It's in your blood"
And it struck me just like lightning
I've been fightin', I've been strivin'
Yesterday, I heard God say, "You were born to be the one
To hold thе hand of the man
Who flies too close to thе sun"”

Lana Del Rey weaves themes of divine guidance throughout ‘Henry, come on”, with the ‘Born to Die’ singer-songwriter reflecting on hearing God tell her, “It's in your blood”, before musing on another instance in which God advised her, “You were born to be the one / To hold thе hand of the man / Who flies too close to thе sun”.

Lana Del Rey references the famous Greek myth of Icarus, who used his mechanical wings to soar too high, causing them to be melted by the sun, with Icarus falling to his death. It implies Henry was chasing lofty ambitions, with Lana suggesting that he was always destined to leave their love behind in pursuit of his dreams.

“I'll still be nice to your mom
It's not her fault you're leavin'
Some people come and they're gone
They just fly away
Take your ass to the house
Don't even bother explainin'
There's no workin' it out
No way”

We get a jarring level of specificity here that clashes strikingly with the intentional ambiguity of the rest of the track, with the protagonist promising to be kind to Henry's mother, despite the break-up. Lana Del Rey stresses that Henry initiated the split by leaving, with Lana then conveying that she's made peace with the situation, concluding, “Some people come and they're gone / They just fly away”.

“It's last call, "Hey, y'all"
Hang his hat up on the wall
Tell him that his cowgirl is gone
Come on and giddy up
Soft leather, blue jeans
Don't you get it? That's the thing
You can't chase a ghost when it's gone”

We get a slightly adjusted iteration of the hook, here, as Lana Del Rey swaps the final two lines (“Call us into void's dreams / Return it but say it was fun”) in favour of “Don't you get it? That's the thing / You can't chase a ghost when it's gone”. Both capture the song's overarching tone of being regretful at the fact that the relationship is ending, all while underlining to Henry why it was never going to work out.

“All these country singers
And their lonely rides to Houston
Doesn't really make for the best
You know, settle-down type”

We get some additional Wild West-driven imagery here, with Lana Del Rey stepping back and realising that country artists don't necessarily make the best partners.

She indicates that they romanticise the idea of lonesome, arduous quests, quipping that this idealisation of a life lived by yourself makes it hard to settle down with someone.

In November 2024, Lana Del Rey announced her new album and hinted that ‘Henry, come on’ would be the lead single from the keenly awaited project, sharing that she was “so grateful that my 13 tracks came together with my beautiful work between Luke, Jack, Zach and Drew Erickson amongst others. Happy for you to hear a few songs coming up before Stagecoach... starting with Henry”.

At the pre-Grammys Party earlier that year, Lana Del Rey explained why she was venturing into the country space, “If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country...We’re going country. It’s happening. That’s why Jack [Antonoff] has followed me to Muscle Shoals, Nashville, Mississippi, over the last four years”. Since then, Lana is thought to have scaled back the countrification of her sound, with the trailblazing artist telling British Vogue that the record won't be a “heavy departure” from her typical style. The textures that permeate ‘Henry, come on’ seem to confirm this.

“I mean, Henry, come on
Do you think I'd really choose it?
All this off and on
Henry, come on
I mean, baby, come on
Do you think I'd really lose it on ya
If you did nothin' wrong?
Henry, come on

-

Last call, "Hey, y'all"
Hang his hat up on the wall
Tell him that his cowgirl is gone
Go on and giddy up
Soft leather, blue jeans
Call us into void's dreams
Return it but say it was fun

-

And it's not because of you
That I turned out so dangerous
Yesterday, I heard God say, "It's in your blood"
And it struck me just like lightning
I've been fightin', I've been strivin'
Yesterday, I heard God say, "You were born to be the one
To hold thе hand of the man
Who flies too close to thе sun"

-

I'll still be nice to your mom
It's not her fault you're leavin'
Some people come and they're gone
They just fly away
Take your ass to the house
Don't even bother explainin'
There's no workin' it out
No way

-

It's last call, "Hey, y'all"
Hang his hat up on the wall
Tell him that his cowgirl is gone
Come on and giddy up
Soft leather, blue jeans
Don't you get it? That's the thing
You can't chase a ghost when it's gone

-

And it's not because of you
That I turned out so dangerous
Yesterday, I heard God say, "It's in your blood"
And it struck me just like lightning
I've been fightin', I've been strivin'
But yesterday, I heard God say, "You were born to be the one
To hold the hand of the man
Who flies too close to the sun"

-

All these country singers
And their lonely rides to Houston
Doesn't really make for the best
You know, settle-down type

-

It's last call, "Hey, y'all"
Hang his hat up on the wall
Tell him that his cowgirl is gone
Go on and giddy up
Last call, "Hey, y'all"
Hang his hat up on the wall
Tell him that his cowgirl is gone
Go on and giddy up
Go on and giddy up
Go on and giddy up
Hey”

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