Songfacts®:

• It might be summertime, and Lana is cruising down the coast with her bad boy beau by her side, but she is sad. Why? Her guy is the best but the singer fears losing him - "Kiss me hard before you go," she sings. The song's scenario is typical of Lana's debut album, which she describes as "Hollywood Sadcore."
• Del Rey penned this Pop song with veteran songsmith Rick Nowels, whose other credits include Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" and Dido's "White Flag." Nowels told Billboard magazine that he met Del Rey in the summer of 2011. "I had heard some of her songs on YouTube," he said, "and I loved what she was doing. When we wrote it, I realized that she was a brilliant songwriter and a magical artist. She writes the kind of music I want to listen to."
• The melodramatic music video for the song was filmed in April and May 2012. Directed by Kyle Newman, it stars his wife (actress and model Jaime King) alongside Del Rey. King's film credits include Pearl Harbor and Sin City. Other clips she's appeared in include ones for Gavin DeGraw's "Chariot", We Are The Fallen's "Bury Me Alive" and The Fray's "Never Say Never."
• The song proved especially popular in Eastern Europe, topping the charts in both Poland and Ukraine.
• Del Rey teamed up with French DJ Cedric Gervais for a dance remix of the track. This new version gave Del Rey her first ever Top 10 hit on Billboard's Hot 100.
• Gervais originally remixed the song as a labor of love. "After the success of my track 'Molly,' a lot of people asked me to remix big artists," he explained to Billboard magazine. "To me it's not about the money, so I turned down a lot of people. But Lana Del Rey came in. I didn't even ask how much money I just said please send me the vocals right away and I did the track in one day. I wasn't thinking if it was going to be a hit or not, I just love and respect the artist that she is."
• A cover by the Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation covered was included as a bonus track on their 2014 Hydra album. Their vocalist Sharon den Adel explained to Artist Direct: "That was actually a project we did in Belgium for a radio station. We did a cover song once a week for thirteen weeks. I liked her album a lot so I figured I'd do one of her songs."