Songfacts®:

• Despite being titled after a brand of root beer, this song is a character study where Lana Del Rey reflects on her life so far. Ignore the ampersand in between the two letters; "A&W" actually stands for "American Whore," a title Del Rey gives herself.
• The sprawling seven-minute song is divided into two distinct parts. The first part ("American Whore"), with a piano and string arrangement, tells the story of a woman fighting against societal expectations. The second part ("Jimmy") showcases Del Rey's electronic trap interpretation of Little Anthony and the Imperials' 1959 R&B song "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-Ko-Bop."
• In the first verse, Del Rey contrasts her current self with her innocent younger self. She portrays herself as hard and jaded, having been sexualized for years.
  
  I haven't done a cartwheel since I was nine
  I haven't seen my mother in a long, long time
  I mean, look at me, look at the length of my hair, my face, the shape of my body
  Do you really think I give a damn what I do after years of just hearing them talking?
  
  Since she was a young child, Del Rey has harbored a strong disdain for her mother, Patricia Ann Hill, who worked as an advertising executive. While the specific reason for this animosity is unclear, there are rumors that Patricia abandoned Lana when she was a child to pursue a new family. Del Rey highlights their broken relationship on her 2021 song "Black Bathing Suit," where she sings:
  
  I'm not friends with my mother but still love my dad
• The pre-chorus sets the scene for the story, taking place in Rosemead, California, although Del Rey doesn't feel a sense of belonging there.
  
  I say I live in Rosemead, really, I'm at the Ramada
  It doesn't really matter, doesn't really, really matter
• In the chorus, Del Rey uses the term "whore" for herself. This is because she's had to accept a lifestyle where casual sex has become the norm, and she has run out of patience securing a man who truly loves her.
  
  Call him up, he comes over again
  Yeah, I know I'm over my head, but, oh
  It's not about having someone to love me anymore
  No, this is the experience of being an American whore
  
  Del Rey still has sexual needs to fulfill and lives on physical encounters with no emotional attachment.
• In the second verse, Del Rey references a TV show called Forensic Files and the movie The Diary of a Teenage Girl. She wonders why she's so divisive.
• The third verse returns to the physical description of Del Rey from the first verse as she sheds light on the ongoing presence of rape culture in contemporary American society. The singer highlights how some people attempt to justify rape by pointing to the way they present themselves, suggesting that she was somehow inviting sexual assault, and placing the blame for the rape on the victim herself.
  
  I mean, look at my hair, look at the length of it there and the shape of my body
  If I told you that I was raped, do you really think that anybody would think I didn't ask for it, didn't ask for it?
  
  The closing lines of the first part reveal Del Rey feelings of invisibility and helplessness.
• The track takes a turn around the four-minute mark. The second part of the song starts with booming electronic trap beats and the sound of zippers unzipping. Del Rey interpolates "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop" by Little Anthony & The Imperials, but with a darker twist. The lyrics describe a manipulative relationship centered on drugs with a guy called Jimmy.
  
  Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop, Jimmy, get me high
  Love me if you live and love, you can be my light
  Jimmy only love me when he wanna get high
  
  Jimmy is a recurring character that comes up often in Lana Del Rey's music, representing a bad boy who uses/abuses her. Del Rey references Jimmy or Jim in several other songs, such as "Ultraviolence"
  
  Jim told me that
  He hit me and it felt like a kiss
  
  "Hundred Dollar Bill"
  
  Jimmy pulls up in his blue Chevy Nova
  I have been dying for him to come over
  I'm in my party dress, he say "You such a mess"
  
  And "All Smiles"
  
  Jimmy, let me get a better look at your face
  I know it ain't doing
  But I know what you like
• Del Rey co-wrote and co-produced "A&W" with by Jack Antonoff. The Bleachers frontman previously worked on Del Rey's Norman F---king Rockwell (2019) and Chemtrails Over the Country Club (2021) albums. In an Instagram post, Antonoff said it is his favorite song he's ever made with Del Rey.
• As well as being the vocalist, Del Rey also sang her own background vocals and played the glockenspiel. Antonoff played all the other instruments: drums, acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, bells, piano, synth bass, synth pads, moog bass, mellotron.
• During her headlining show on May 27, 2023 at the MITA Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Del Rey debuted live four songs from Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, including her set opener, "A&W."
• "A&W" came from experimentation with other Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd tracks like "Peppers" and "Taco Truck x VB." Antonoff and Del Rey mixed and matched sounds until they hit upon the most cutting-edge structure they could imagine.
  
  "This sprawling thing was the most ambitious thing to do," Antonoff told Billboard. "A song like 'A&W' is just an example of what happens when you just know people so well that you can really support each other into strange places."
• The Guardian music writers voted this their Best Song of 2023. They wrote:
  
  "The seven-minute song, an incredible slither of detuned guitar, brooding piano and staticky detritus, feels like that body stretching and spreading out luxuriously, defying tidy convention. For as much as Del Rey has been contorted into this impossible space – by men, by critics, by society – her essential self remains intact in her sublimely freaky, wayward music. Halfway through A&W, the song all but dubs out then transitions into bratty skipping-rope trap as she taunts a druggy lover. It sounds like something from her maligned Born To Die days, it makes no sense and it's oddly brilliant. Why ever Del Rey is like she is, there's certainly no one else like her."
  
  The NME Writers also voted this their Best Song of 2023. They wrote:
  
  "The seven-minute 'A&W' made for a masterful, devastatingly gorgeous summation of her career: it plumbed the loss of innocence and youth, while also speaking to societal expectations of what womanhood should look like. Elastic trap beats and quickening piano keys compounded a crackling, persistence of dread as Del Rey's performance grew steadily in intensity. 'I'm a princess. I'm divisive. Ask me why I'm like this,' she sang, drawing us close and holding us rapt."
  
  "A&W" also topped several other year-end lists, including those of Pitchfork and the BBC.