Ever heard of Regina Spektor? What about Mumford and Sons? If you have heard of either of these two musical legends, then your probably wondering why I am writing about them on a page about haunted things. You see, I was told today that I needed to pick to songs and figure out what the singers were haunted by. Example:Taylor Swift is haunted by her many many many past relationships. So wha did my detective work reveal about the hauntings in The Cave and Samson? Way to much to put in one paragraph that’s for sure! I will also be comparing and contrasting my two artists and songs.
Truthfully, before today I had never even heard of Regina Spektor, much less listened to her music. Thankfully, a friend of mine recommended the song Samson to me and I was able to get a pretty good grasp on Regina’s life and music through research. I found out that Regina Spektor is originally from Moscow, The Soviet Union. She learned to play piano on a Petrof upright that her mother received from her grandfather. She was born into a musically gifted family: her mom was a music professor and her father is an ammeter violinist, and she emigrated from Russia with her parents and her brother, Bear, in 1989 due to religious reasons. Sadly, she had to leave her piano behind, but once in America Regina practiced on hard table tops, furniture, and a piano in the basement of her synagogue. While attending camp in her teenage years, Regina realized that she was really good at writing songs as well as playing them, and so her stardom began. Now, she is happily married to Jack Dishel. The song I chose, Samson, to me shows the narrator and maybe even the narrator’s love being haunted by both the disease that they had – cancer – and the knowledge that they were probably going to die. Also, i think the singer may be haunted by the fear that she didn’t get to make a mark on the world before leaving it. The words go
You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth
I have to go, I have to go
Your hair was long when we first met
This is the opening stanza in which the singer is talking to her lover about how she loved him first, but she has to go. I interpreted this as she was going to die, and she wanted him to know she loved him.
Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
And history books forgot about us and the bible didn’t mention us
And the bible didn’t mention us, not even once
This is the point where I began to think that maybe Samson has cancer to because of his lack of energy and hair. Also, this is the point where the singer reveals the fear that they didn’t map their mark on the world.
You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the stars came fallin’ on our heads
But they’re just old light, they’re just old light
Your hair was long when we first met
This is the part where the singer is, once again, telling Samson how much she loved him, but also that it’s time for her to go. I think this means she will die soon.
Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
Told me I was beautiful and came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors in the yellow light
And he told me that I’d done alright
And kissed me ’til the mornin’ light, the mornin’ light
And he kissed me ’til the mornin’ light
This solidifies my theory that they both have cancer because Samson tells the narrator that her hair was red, as in saying that it isn’t their anymore. The part where the narrator talks about cutting Samson’s hair can refer to the fact that when cancer patients go through chemo, they often shave their head before it all falls out. This song has very sad lyrics that help add to the depressing mood and the tune of the song is kind of calming, like the narrator is trying to accept the inevitable.
This is the official music video of Samson by Regina Spektor.
This is a Petrof Upright, like the piano Regina Spektor first learned to play on
This is a picture of a Petrof Upright Piano, regina Spektor’s piano may have looked something like this.
Mumford and Sons are a band that not only have I heard of before, but that my dad and I both listen to obsessively. So, I had a little more knowledge on these guys going into this , but not by much. I knew already that Mumford and Sons was a British folk rock band, and that they played quiet a few instruments. What i didn’t know, however, was that they could play the keyboard, the guitar, the drums, the bass guitar, the banjo, the mandolin, and the resonator guitar. I also didn’t know that the reason they are called Mumford and Sons is that Mumford, one of the members of the band, was most visible when they performed so his name got put in the title of the band. The and Sons part is meant to evoke a sense that the band is family. The song I chose, The Cave, shows that the narrator is haunted by something that isn’t even his fault. From what I interpreted from the song, the narrator is talking about someone who did something bad and now won’t own up to it, so the narrator has to help them. The words go:
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you’ve left behind
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat
On the noose around your neck
I’ll know my name as it’s called again
This is the boys of Mumford and Sons
thehauntedllama 
Very nice, Athena. A few typos but nothing too bad, and I like your analysis. Adding some more paragraphs would probably make it easier to read, though. 🙂
Good job, but why didn’t you talk about the obvious biblical reference in Samson? Just wondering. I think that maybe just mentioning that could give you a more reputable feel. You have lovely voice here! I’d like to see the paragraphs separated a little bit more clearly, though, especially during the stanzas. I could barely tell what was part of the song and what wasn’t. Great job! -Thalia