The Lumineers are no strangers to the indie scene. With the celebratory success of “Ho Hey” from their self-titled debut album, they were under a lot of pressure to produce a new album. Despite that, they proved to be no flash in the pans when they came out with “Cleopatra”, of which one of the tracks' titles is drawn from the album name. With an emotionally raw video that touches to the bone, Cleopatra tells the story of a old woman, a taxi driver who ferries strangers around that remind her of her past:
So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me
From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you
[Chorus]
But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life
And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I'll be on time
Genius.com
It goes much deeper than that, the video shifts from her meeting various persons on the boundary of life-changing events, to the band members (Neyla Pekarek, Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites), to the point she picks up her son, which she shares a simple meal with as the sun sets.
When she drops off her son at his father’s house, the man, presumably her ex-husband, looks on and she sees a shadow of herself, a “what-if” if she had stayed with him.
According to Wesley Schultz, the lead singer of The Lumineers, this song was based upon a true story and it affected him to the point of tears during a take:
“It’s inspired by a true story about a female taxi driver who, when she was younger, was proposed to. But her father had just passed away, so she didn’t give her boyfriend an answer. So he left the village broken-hearted and rejected and never returned again. He was her great love and she wouldn’t wash the footprints off the floor after he had left. I knew immediately that I wanted to write a song about the story because it was so haunting and poetic. And I got to meet the lady herself eventually and she was very honest and humble. She really affected me because of the sadness in her story. In today’s world, we are just inundated with images of grandness and how great everyone’s life is. And it’s not true. In fact, it’s depressing. This was a real and honest story.”
much.com
The woman, in her sadness, finally concedes to a death that is timely; the one thing that she won’t be late to. In all her sadness, death has become most welcoming for her:
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 alone, when I die I'll be on time
Genius.com
Finally, when the song finally fades out, one is left with that longing and sadness that translates much deeper than the song itself.
