This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Set the cheetahs on the loose
There's a thief out on the move
Underneath our legion's view
They have taken Cleopatra
Run run run, come back for my glory
Bring her back to me
Run run run, the crown of our pharaoh
The throne of our queen is empty
We'll run to the future, shining like diamonds
In a rocky world, rocky rocky world
Our skin like bronze and our hair like cashmere
As we march to the rhythm, on the palace floor
Chandeliers inside the pyramid, tremble from the force
Cymbals crash inside the pyramid, voices fill up the halls
Set the cheetahs on the loose
There's a thief out on the move
Underneath our legion's view
They have taken Cleopatra, Cleopatra
The jewel of Africa, jewel
What good is a jewel that ain't still precious?
How could you run off on me? How could you run off on us?
You feel like God inside that gold
I found you laying down with Samson and his full head of hair
I found my black queen Cleopatra, bad dreams, Cleopatra
Remove her, send the cheetahs to the tomb
Our war is over, our queen has met her doom
No more, she lives no more serpent in her room
No more, he has killed Cleopatra, Cleopatra
Big sun coming strong through the motel blinds
Wake up to your girl for now, let's call her Cleopatra, Cleopatra
I watch you fix your hair
Then put your panties on in the mirror, Cleopatra
Then your lipstick, Cleopatra
Then your six-inch heels
Catch her
She's headed to the pyramid
She's working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Pimping in my convos
Bubbles in my champagne
Let it be some jazz playing
Top floor motel suite twisting my cigars
Floor model TV with the VCR
Got rubies in my damn chain
Whip ain't got no gas tank
But it still got wood grain
Got your girl working for me
Hit the strip and my bills paid
That keep my bills paid
Hit the strip and my bills paid
Keep a nigga bills paid
She's working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
You showed up after work I'm bathing your body
Touch you in places only I know
You're wet and you're warm just like our bathwater
Can we make love before you go
The way you say my name makes me feel like
I'm that nigga
But I'm still unemployed
You say it's big but you take it
Ride cowgirl
But your love ain't free no more, baby
But your love ain't free no more
She's working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid, that's right
Working at the pyramid tonight, yeah
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
(Air guitar)
There's a thief out on the move
Underneath our legion's view
They have taken Cleopatra
Run run run, come back for my glory
Bring her back to me
Run run run, the crown of our pharaoh
The throne of our queen is empty
We'll run to the future, shining like diamonds
In a rocky world, rocky rocky world
Our skin like bronze and our hair like cashmere
As we march to the rhythm, on the palace floor
Chandeliers inside the pyramid, tremble from the force
Cymbals crash inside the pyramid, voices fill up the halls
Set the cheetahs on the loose
There's a thief out on the move
Underneath our legion's view
They have taken Cleopatra, Cleopatra
The jewel of Africa, jewel
What good is a jewel that ain't still precious?
How could you run off on me? How could you run off on us?
You feel like God inside that gold
I found you laying down with Samson and his full head of hair
I found my black queen Cleopatra, bad dreams, Cleopatra
Remove her, send the cheetahs to the tomb
Our war is over, our queen has met her doom
No more, she lives no more serpent in her room
No more, he has killed Cleopatra, Cleopatra
Big sun coming strong through the motel blinds
Wake up to your girl for now, let's call her Cleopatra, Cleopatra
I watch you fix your hair
Then put your panties on in the mirror, Cleopatra
Then your lipstick, Cleopatra
Then your six-inch heels
Catch her
She's headed to the pyramid
She's working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Pimping in my convos
Bubbles in my champagne
Let it be some jazz playing
Top floor motel suite twisting my cigars
Floor model TV with the VCR
Got rubies in my damn chain
Whip ain't got no gas tank
But it still got wood grain
Got your girl working for me
Hit the strip and my bills paid
That keep my bills paid
Hit the strip and my bills paid
Keep a nigga bills paid
She's working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
You showed up after work I'm bathing your body
Touch you in places only I know
You're wet and you're warm just like our bathwater
Can we make love before you go
The way you say my name makes me feel like
I'm that nigga
But I'm still unemployed
You say it's big but you take it
Ride cowgirl
But your love ain't free no more, baby
But your love ain't free no more
She's working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid, that's right
Working at the pyramid tonight, yeah
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
Working at the pyramid
Working at the pyramid tonight
(Air guitar)
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The second half is pretty self-explanatory: a man who has fallen in love with a dancer/prostitute and they had a falling out.
But the first half, which I find much more interesting, seems to be about a loss of essence. When he sings "the jewel of Africa - what good is a jewel that ain't still precious?", it reminds me of losing what makes this woman beautiful. She's been tainted, perhaps by the profession or the world she lives in, and has lost her sparkle and her essence. "Sending the cheetahs to the tomb" would be trying to find her in her "final resting place" aka a strip club/some motel/etc.
Anyway. Love this song.