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Del Rey and Justin Parker wrote it, and Robopop (Daniel Omelio and Brandon Lowry) produced it at BMG Studios in New York. Wikipedia says the demo was vocals and piano, that Lowry re-recorded vocals and piano with her, and that Omelio added strings, harps and synth arpeggios in a single session from 8pm to 2am, mixing as he went. It runs 4:42 in F-sharp minor at 123 BPM. It went online on May 5, 2011 and was released as the lead single of Born to Die on October 7, 2011 (Songfacts gives October 10). She described her style as gangsta Nancy Sinatra and told The Sun it is about letting go of her musical ambitions and settling down into a simple life, and called it myself in song form.

Del Rey directed and edited the video, which mixes webcam footage of her with archive clips and paparazzi footage of Paz de la Huerta, and Songfacts says it was made in iMovie; Dazed reported over 128 million YouTube views by 2016. It reached 91 on the Hot 100 in January 2012, 1 in Germany and Iceland and 2 in several European countries, 6 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2011, and sold 2.6 million worldwide by October 2016. It won the 2012 Ivor Novello for Best Contemporary Song, shared with Parker, and NME named it single of the year. Maura Johnston called it overproduced and critics argued about its lyrics.

She sang it on Saturday Night Live on January 14, 2012, a heavily criticized performance she later said was more eccentric, with Maria Callas in mind. At Glastonbury on June 24, 2023 the song was cut for curfew, and after her power was cut she led a fan singalong; at Coachella on April 12, 2024 Billie Eilish joined her for it. Setlist.fm lists it as her most-played song at 346 performances. Covers include Boy George, John Mayer, Ben Howard, Amanda Palmer, Tom Odell and Bombay Bicycle Club, and Ramin Djawadi's orchestral cover closed Westworld season four. Our upload is the Born to Die studio version.