Road To Love
With a soaring melody, nods to Springsteen and an industrial techno production represent the blueprint for ‘Born This Way’. A unicorn is mentioned. The sax in this and in ‘Hair’ and in ‘Edge Of Glory’ – is not just there for no reason. I grew up listening to much Springsteen and Billy Joel, so in a way, it represents my innocence.
Bloody Mary
A dark, pulsing and atmospheric, almost funeral electroballad, one of several tracks including ‘Judas’ with religious references. I believe that Mary Magdalene was both fully divine and fully human. She has to be strong when Jesus fulfills the prophecy to die for everyone’s sins, but she still has the moment of humanity where she’s upset to let him go. She had to be a superstar, but she must have cried too.
Government Hooker
Gregorian pop chants, pervy robot voices (courtesy of GaGa’s bodyguard, Pete), window-rattling beats, and the extraordinary line “Put your hands on me, JF Kennedy”. GaGa: The humour is that a machine in tells me what to do and I happily do it as long as I get fucked. It relates to how our government fuck us over, but it makes fun of the plastic popstar – I’ll do anything as long as you fuck me and pay me
Marry The Night
Peak-era Whitney Houston-esque pop euphoria up top, with churning techno grinding underneath. “This is about me going back to New York. I wrote this about the courage it took for me to say ‘I hate Hollywood, I just wanna live in Brooklyn and make music’”
Americano
Told as a love story between Gaga and a girl from L.A., this is an acid house-fuelled Mexican-themed footstomper. “This was my first proper collaboration with Fernando Garibay and White Shadow. Labels had been telling Fernando to tone down his mexican influences, but here, we really brought them out. It was when Prop 8 was overturned in California. The immigration law was passed in Arizona, houses were being raided for immigrants, some of whom had been here for 20 years. America was once the land of the free, and now we’re telling everyone to get the fuck out”
