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Meeting Cleopatra

The Lumineers

By Andie RooneyPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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Cleopatra: a woman of surpassing beauty, and at that time, when she was in the prime of her youth, she was most striking; she also possessed a most charming voice and knowledge of how to make herself agreeable to everyone. Being brilliant to look upon and to listen to, with the power to subjugate everyone.

If you've ever listened to this album all the way through, at some point during one of the songs you might start to wonder, who and what are these songs about? The first time listening, you may not have caught all the lyrics and how they match up to make one big story. In the video above, we finally get those answers. We hear a testimony from lead vocals, Wesley Schultz; not about the historical figure we are all imagining, but rather, a taxi driver. Not just any taxi driver, a female, a seasoned veteran in the misfortunes of life, or as Schultz says, "a hardened woman by life."

The first song of this album is "Sleep on the Floor." It's young, its daring, its hopeful, and it's brave. It is the familiar "I want to be free", rebellious feeling we've all had. Like Schultz said, it's about "wanting to escape" those literal or metaphorical "small towns". We pursue things that we believe will assist us in this process, throw on some blinders, and head on out to the road where we think we belong. We become so focused and comfortable with the plan, that we forget that life will sometimes take you on an alternate route. The second song, "Ophelia", while mostly loved for the vintage piano solo, brings us into another phase of this mysterious automobilist. Her life begins to take a turn, and love runs out on her. In the song, Schultz sings, "you can't see past my blinders"; reminding us just how little we prepare for, and taking this story down another road.

Title of the album, "Cleopatra," seems to be oddly placed as number three on this track, considering what it reveals in relevance to this story. So is it over? Not quite. This part of the album is that scene in the movie where all of a sudden there's a flash back and you finally start getting some explanations. In this song, it is revealed that this woman, our main character, was engaged and grieving the loss of her father. If one person leaving your life for good isn't hard enough, her fiancé skips out, and is never heard from again. The second verse brings us back into the present day, where she discloses her occupation. Schultz sings, "while the church discouraged, any lust that burned within me. Yes my flesh, it was my currency, but I held true. So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me from the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you". In those few words, we get a pretty good idea of what life looked like on that alternative route life threw her on. Driving that yellow car around causes her to reflect on those now just a memory in her life and everything she has encountered. She explains how she was late for all of the things that were supposed to happen to in her in life, marriage, a father in her life, and happiness, and missing them completely. The only thing she will be on time for is the end of everything, her death. She remembers her "Cleopatra" like ways- charming, bold, and a force not to be reckoned with. But thats gone now- she sits in a nursing home, laughing at the disbelief of her tales from the nurses, where she hits a fork in the road. She can either continue on and be stuck in a state of grief and disharmony, or she can move on. So she sits, reflects, and willingly chooses the direction that leads to the end of her life.

So what could the rest of the songs on the album possibly have to contribute to this story? "Gun Song," song number four, perhaps gives us some insight into the background of her fathers death. Although the song is composed of beautifully strung together "la la la la la's," they bring about a feeling of deep mourning, and attempt to come up with answers to the "why" questions of death. Song five, "Angela", my personal favorite, helps us understand our main character a little bit better. Her soul is wild and curious, but is discovering as a young adult that people will try to "cut you down". The harmony of the band singing, "home at last", is perhaps a moment in her life where she feels at home, not through something or someone in the outside world, but with and within herself.

The next two songs, "In the Light" and "Gale Song," are delving deep into her mourning about the loss of her father. "Gale Song," seems to be from the perspective of her father, written to her, considering the last line of the song is, "And this blood, this blood, this blood. Oh, it drains from my skin, it does".

The first line from the eighth track, "Long Way from Home," is "held onto hope like a noose, like a rope". Depressing right? Maybe, but maybe its more complicated than that. Hope itself can give you a bigger high than any drug, but losing those drugs and not being able to take them, makes a noose seem appealing. Losing hope is lethal. Schultz points out that oddly, her most treasured moments were some of the most depressing, and to him, that was beautifully raw. Sometimes the most painful moments in our life are what wakes us up and breaks those blinders. The song isn't here to sugar coat anything or hide the truth, just like the rest of the album, but rather to give you the realities of getting lost and feeling convinced you'll never find your road again.

"Sick in the Head", is her in present day, back in the nursing home. She may be old, but eternally, her spirit is still young. She refuses to go out like the rest of them, for how could she? She is Cleopatra- "taller than the rafters".

Second to last,"My Eyes"- an authentically, beautifully confusing, understanding of the moment when you are ready to reach the end of your life.

And finally, track number 11, "Patience." One minute and thirty-seven seconds of a simple, classically meditative piano tune- no words, just music. Or maybe, the sound of a lost hope regained, the afterlife.

While the story of the song is sad, the way it makes us feel while listening to it is blissful and happy. The perfect irony, kind of like life. The tune we hear in our head is hopeful, alive, and rehearsed. But if we look closer, and really examine, we can see that things are not always going to stay on that desired road, in that desired pitch. So cheers to The Lumineers. For without them appreciating the power of story-telling, and investing themselves with this story about "evolving and devolving", we would have never had their best album yet, and the incredibly honorable character of "Cleopatra."

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