Après Moi by Regina Spektor

Album: Begin To Hope (2006)

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The Russian lyrics in this song are from a poem written by Boris Pasternak, who also wrote Dr. Zhivago. While translations differ slightly, the most common is as follows:
February. Get ink, shed tears.
Write of it, sob your heart out, sing,
While torrential slush that roars
Burns in the blackness of the spring. >>
Suggestion credit:
Kimmie - Dallas, GA
"Après Moi" is French for "After Me."

Comments: 1

Stephen from Beloit, WiThe full phrase, "Apres moi le deluge," is translated (by Regina in the song) as "after me comes the flood." The history of this phrase is a bit muddled, but it usually means "I won't worry about the consequences, because after me, everything will be destroyed." Mostly-irrelevant history to follow:

The saying is frequently misattributed to Louis XV of France, the second-to-last ruler of France before the aristocracy-destroying French Revolution. Louis XV and his father, Louis XIV (the "Sun King"), were fond of great extravagance at court and fighting expensive wars which eventually bankrupted France, providing one of many catalysts for the French Revolution. Thus, "after me (Louis XV), the flood (the Revolution)." Louis XVI, his son, was executed at the guillotine.

The more probable and slightly-less-romanticized story is that the words were uttered by Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's chief mistress. She supposedly said this after a particularly crushing military defeat at Rossbach - during one of those expensive wars, noted above - to console the king (i.e. "It's all right, after us, nothing matters").

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