Hearing that he was dying, Cleopatra brought him to her, and he died with her. "To me, that was trying to say, Cleopatra, this archetype of I'm gonna be this force of nature," he explained. "It's told from the perspective of a female, and I don't think we've really done that in a song. (function() { Cleopatra Lyrics: I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress / When you knelt by my mattress, and asked for my hand / But I was sad you asked it, as I laid in a black dress / With my father in a / BEGIN! / Whose rap flow's the dopest? In the song, Cleopatra claims, "And it hardened like my heart did when you left town." "The world will see who I … For her though, it makes no difference because her lover (shall we call him Mark Antony to match the actual story of Cleopatra?) The Roman rulers then tried to capture her and take her back to Rome, but she killed herself before they could. The story continues with the bridge.Schultz sings, "And the only gifts from my Lord were a birth and a divorce." Unfortunately for the suitor, Cleopatra has "no plans" and doesn't tell us whether she said "yes" or "no." But even though her looks were useful, she didn't stray from Mark Antony. This information and the lines above are what suggest that "Cleopatra" is perhaps a modern retelling of the original story. In Shakespeare's play, Mark Antony says of Cleopatra, "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety: other women cloy / The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry / Where most she satisfies." Cleopatra blames herself. In the second verse,Schultz sings, "While the church discouraged any lust that burned within me." ." Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys co-wrote the Mary J. Blige hit "Real Love.". And so, he leaves, she never sees him again because he leaves town heartbroken, and she doesn't clean the footprints off of the floor ever. document.write('');var c=function(){cf.showAsyncAd(opts)};if(typeof window.cf !== 'undefined')c();else{cf_async=!0;var r=document.createElement("script"),s=document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];r.async=!0;r.src="//srv.clickfuse.com/showads/showad.js";r.readyState?r.onreadystatechange=function(){if("loaded"==r.readyState||"complete"==r.readyState)r.onreadystatechange=null,c()}:r.onload=c;s.parentNode.insertBefore(r,s)}; She doesn't clean up the footprints because, as she says a line later, "I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant." div_id: "cf_async_" + Math.floor((Math.random() * 999999999)) 5. In the song, the "you" (or the romantic interest) "knelt by my mattress and asked for my hand." The chorusis a woeful reminiscing on past mistakes: "But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life." "Cleopatra" was based on a true life story of a woman Wesley had briefly met through his wife's best friend, and is the first song the band has written from a female perspective. She's moved on and lost it, never to regain it. The "script" and "costume" seem to be references to Mark Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare. The mood is soft, sad, and mournful, and the sentiments are beautiful. She's "an actress" who appears to have a taste for wild living. Schultz continues, "But I've read this script and the costume fits, so I'll play my part." Cleopatra was a very beautiful woman. adunit_id: 100001411, When Mark Antony went back to Rome, according to Shakespeare, he married another powerful Roman's sister. The story that got me going to be even interested in writing about from that perspective, [is] I had heard that she was in love when she was younger, this is all in the song if you just take a look at the lyrics, its pretty spelled out. ", Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park.". And shes so numb from the loss of her father that she doesn't say anything back when he proposes. The fact that she's on a mattress while they talk  suggests an intimate relationship, and the black dress suggests that she dresses well or acknowledges her own good looks. She used her looks to bring her power, and perhaps, in some way, they helped her to "gain power" over Mark Antony. Shes a badass, shes a hard-living, tough person I met very briefly, but super interesting lady.". The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs. "Cleopatra" was based on a true life story of a woman Wesley had briefly met through his wife's best friend, and is the first song the band has written from a female perspective. The Lumineers sum up Cleopatra's sentiments quite accurately: "Damn your wife, I'd be your mistress just to have you around.". The song is typical Lumineers style but a little tricky to figure out lyric-wise. I can find little to connect this to the historical story except that the other powerful rulers of Rome likely did not approve of Mark Antony's relationship to Cleopatra (especially the ruler whose sister Mark Antony was married to). /* TFP - lyricinterpretations */ I'm Clifford Stumme, and I use literary analysis and research to explain the deeper meanings of pop songs. One of rock's top photographers talks about artistry in photography, raising funds for a documentary, and enjoying a County Fair with Tom Waits. After Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale hooked up in 1996, Rossdale's Bush bandmates referred to their hit song as "Everything Gwen.". Song meanings ©2003-2020 lyricinterpretations.com. “Now a nurse in white shoes leads me back to my guest room, it’s a bed and a bathroom and a place for the end”- I didn’t realize what the last lines meant until I’d listened to the song many times, but now it seems like the song is her reflecting and looking back on her whole life as she’s in a nursing home, old and dying, and thinking about her life and what it could’ve been if her father hadn’t died and she said yes to her love. The rafters could refer to the ceilings of the place she performed her plays, and her height suggests that she was even more famous than the playhouse she acted in. Schultz combines the taxi driver's story with that of Cleopatra, the 'last Queen in Egypt'. Hi! The song's music video was directed by Isaac Ravishankara, whose past projects include clips for the likes of Ellie Goulding and Hosier The visual follows a divorced taxi driver as she picks up various passengers, all of whom evoke memories for her. The song is the title track of The Lumineers second album. In the actual story of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Mark Antony is one of the three most powerful men in Rome, and Cleopatra is the queen of Egypt. This appears to be an allusion to Cleopatra's suicide, which comes later in the story. Feel free to leave a comment or to email me at clifford@popsongprofessor.com with questions or ideas! SONG MEANING: "Cleopatra" by The Lumineers is a modern retelling of the story of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. The third verse is the last unique stanza, and in it Cleopatra sings, "I was Cleopatra, I was taller than the rafters." Mark Antony decided to fight with Cleopatra but lost and blamed Cleopatra. VS MARILYN MONROE! Wesley Schultz, the lead singer of The Lumineers is singing from the perspective of a woman named Cleopatra (or at least someone who identifies heavily with the story of Cleopatra). But she was young, and her father had passed away, and so shes mourning the death of her father. The first versestarts, "I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress." And in the song, The Lumineers tell us that she says, "Yes, my flesh, it was my currency . I'm married to my beautiful wife April and love Twenty One Pilots, Mumford & Sons, Kishi Bashi, and so many others! / CLEOPATRA! }; She's the first female taxi driver in the Republic of Georgia. You can get lyrics writing advice, prompts, discounts on courses, and sometimes even 1-on-1 help. Cleopatra made mistakes before, but this time, she's taking her life into her own hands and taking it with her own hands. I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress Schultz told ABC Radio the opening line of the song, is meant to reflect the "archetype" of the iconic Egyptian queen. Here, Cleopatra is referring to her own birth and possibly to the deaths of her two brothers who served as co-rulers during her reign and to whom she was married at separate times. It was raining that day, and he had tracked in this mud on her carpet. Her death is what the final chorus is talking about when Schultz sings, "I won't be late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life / And when I die alone, when I die along, when I die, I'll be on time." A monthly update on our latest interviews, stories and added songs. Are they named after something naughty? Want to know more? In the song, she claims she "held true / So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me / From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you." "Veronica" was inspired by Elvis Costello's grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Song Meaning”Cleopatra made me cry in the studio and I had to stop the take.It’s inspired by a true story about a female taxi driver who, when she was younger, was proposed to. She could have kept being an actress and kept using her good looks to bring her money, but she took care of herself as a taxi driver instead. hometown Lyrics: Short cut to a quick buck is working all the time / Renting out your mind / And saving every dime / Cause when ten of those combine / They cross a sacred line / … In the opening verse Schultz imagines how Cleopatra felt about having to wed her close family member. Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? After the death of her father, Ptolomeo XII Auletes, in 51 BC, Cleopatra was forced to marry her younger brother, Ptolemy XIV, according to the tradition of the Pharaohs. Cleopatra vs Marilyn Monroe Lyrics: EPIC RAP BATTLES OF HISTORY! var opts = { })(); (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); I think cleopatra is about being resigned to destiny, and the timing of love being off and realizing that there’s nothing you can do about it. Thus, if she had been a Broadway actress, this would have meant that she was very famous indeed. The first versestarts, \"I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress.\" Wesley Schultz, the lead singer of The Lumineers is singing from the perspective of a woman named Cleopatra (or at least someone who identifies heavily with the story of Cleopatra). One of the most successful songwriters in the business, Desmond co-wrote "Livin' La Vida Loca," "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" and "Livin' On A Prayer. The Cleopatra in the song recognizes who she is and knows that she can only hope to be the mistress to the man she loves, but she accepts this role.