| Regina Spektor – Sailor Song Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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In good art and literature the intended meaning of the writer is generally only slightly more important than the meaning that can be drawn from it. Provided you can reasonably explain your personal interpretation, it is entirely valid. |
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| Regina Spektor – Après Moi Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I suppose the above can make sense but I don't think anything in the song really points to it. Sure those lines could mean that, it would be somewhat consistent, but there doesn't seem to be anything to actually indicate that that is the meaning. Plus you'd have to ignore the origins of the phrase "Apes moi". |
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| Regina Spektor – Après Moi Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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As someone else stated, it certainly has the rhythm of a march, though I also thought of it as dying words. "I must go on standing" is so broken as to make it almost painful to hear. I don't think it's the word "are" like stated hear since that makes no sense, and it doesn't sound like it in any studio or live version. More of an "ugh". The allusion to the words of (or associated with) such a leader as Louis XV further strengthen my thoughts that it is something of a dying leader (or era). The line "you can't break that which isn't yours" can be either taken as a retort (you can't break my will) or as a pledge to the people. The leader cannot let the nation be destroyed - it's not his it's the people's. After the threat of those taking you apart (that you must resist) we get the "Apres moi le deluge". Whether or not this is to directly refer to Louis XV I'm unsure, however I think this again can refer to our dying leader. He knows that at his fall the collapse of a nation will come (as Louis' death brought through the revolution). |
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| Regina Spektor – Just Like the Movies Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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I took it to be about a girl desperate to believe that someone loves her. Or, perhaps even Eve considering her punishment from God. "It's just like the movies, i eat from the trees" I quite like the above suggestion of reference to Eden. That Eve brought the downfall of Adam may be of significance to the rest of my interpretation. She appears to be wiithout care for the outside world, she quickly discards them in the next line, and the rest of the song is focused entirely on the man (God?). "Don't say goodbye like you're burying him" I love this line. Clearly it maintains a level of hope, but also a dejected sentiment. We aren't left with any particular reason to believe that he's going to return, but the desperation and desire to believe is ever present. Perhaps this refers again to Eve being cast from Eden. She still holds hope for forgiveness and reacceptance, but God has banished her. |
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| Regina Spektor – Paris Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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There are two obvious things to take into consideration. She cites two authors: Virginia Woolf and Margaret Atwood. Both were feminist writers. I have no idea about Atwood, but despite marrying a Jew Woolf was criticised as being anti-semitic (bearing in mind Regina's Jewish descent). There is a possible hint of the obvious, that she is singing about a woman with feminist ideals who would rather not break free as she cares too deeply for the man she's with. This could be reflected in the line "He told me that he couldn’t live without me And I told him the same thing too And though we knew it wasn’t true We both knew it wasn’t a lie" Perhaps she is implying that they love each other too much to be apart, but there is a chauvinist attitude that she is dependent on a man (the lie). There are also certain religious connotations I could read into her talk of the afterlife. There are complaints amongst certain Jewish sects of being rather restricting of their women, and perhaps she is alluding to wanting to stick with her traditions and religion despite Woolf's writings of the oppression women suffer. She is tempted by feminism, but again, Woolf and Atwood can't stop her from remaining religious - she'll be rewarded or "comforted" in the next life. |
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