Songfacts®:

• In this song, Lana Del Rey sings about giving a helping hand to a person who is going through a tough time.
  
  You lose your way, just take my hand
  You're lost at sea, then I'll command your boat to me again
  Don't look too far, right where you are, that's where I am
  I'm your man
• The song was inspired by a late night walk Del Rey took with a boyfriend. The singer explained in an interview with BBC Radio 1's Annie Mac that they stopped in front of the titular apartment complex, "and he put his hand around my shoulder." He said that they were similar because "we're both really messed up."
  
  Del Rey thought it was the saddest thing she'd ever heard. She responded, "I'm not sad, I didn't know that's why you thought you were relating to me on that level, I'm actually doing pretty good."
  
  You took my sadness out of context
  At the Mariners Apartment Complex
  I ain't no candle in the wind
  
  The guy was upset by the mix-up, and Del Rey wrote this song about the many times she had to "step on that role where I was showing the way and I was sort of being the brighter light."
• "Mariners" was produced by Jack Antonoff, the guitarist for fun and frontman for Bleachers. This marked the first time Del Rey had worked with Antonoff, who has previously helmed hit tunes for Lorde ("Green Light") and Taylor Swift ("Look What You Made Me Do").
• The video was filmed by Del Rey's photographer sister Chuck Grant.
• Lana Del Rey performed the song live for the first time ever during her March 22, 2019 Buku Music + Art Project show at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans.
• Describing the making of "Mariners Apartment Complex," Jack Antonoff recalled how he was amazed by Lana Del Rey's songwriting process. He witnessed her crafting the song's chorus live in the recording booth.
  
  "She just got behind the mic, she just sang that part," he recalled to Apple Music's Zane Lowe. "She heard it, I heard it. And if anyone didn't hear how brilliant it was, they're a moron."