After Me Comes the Flood

Regina Spektor – “Après Moi” – Begin to Hope (2006)

Be afraid of the lame
They’ll inherit your legs
Be afraid of the old
They’ll inherit your souls
Be afraid of the cold
They’ll inherit your blood
Après moi, le déluge
After me comes the flood

The phrase “Après moi, le déluge” is supposedly something Louis XV said, interpreted to mean “I am rich and important and everybody else can drown once I’m gone for all I care.” But I’m sure some historian out there would tell me that I’m being uncharitable.

Regina Spektor was introduced to me by my friend Alexis somehow in our first summer back from college (and she always had good taste in music). It was songs from this album, Begin to Hope, with my favorite “On the Radio.” She would pop up again here and there throughout my college music days. I eventually saw her in concert with Ben Folds at Wolf Trap on an early date with Erin.

You’ll hear her use Russian fluently in the song above. She was born in the actual to goodness Soviet Union and grew up for nine years there but her parents brought her to New York when I was in diapers.

I’m almost sure she’s said something problematic and I want to say it’s concerning Israel. I don’t know specifically what she’s said regarding Gaza in the past few years, but I’m hesitant to look it up because of how much I like her songs.