The Queen and Me

Song Meaning

The lyrics construct a peculiar, almost devotional relationship with Queen Victoria, framing her as an idealized, almost mythical figure. The narrator begins by listing various forms of Victoria, from a "slim and lovely virgin" to a "mean governess" and a "solitary mourner." This multifaceted portrayal suggests a complex admiration, perhaps seeing historical weight and personal resonance in each iteration. The opening lines, "My father and all his tobacco loved you / I love you too in all your forms," establish a lineage of affection, linking the narrator's feelings to a past generation and a specific, tangible product. The narrator then pivots to a starkly personal, melancholic self-description: "I am cold and rainy / I am dirty as a glass roof / In a train station." This imagery of bleak, transient spaces underscores a profound sense of emptiness and desolation, directly attributed to romantic loss: "Because my love, she gone with other boys." The desire for "ornaments on everything" becomes a desperate plea for beauty and substance to fill this void, a stark contrast to the perceived emptiness of their current emotional state. A significant shift occurs as the narrator addresses Victoria directly, posing a series of questions about punishment and purity for an unspecified "her." The imagery becomes intensely physical and almost punitive: "Will you spank her with a mechanical corset," and a desire for her to be "pure as power" with a "skin slightly musty with petticoats." This section seems to project the narrator's own anxieties and desires onto the historical figure, seeking a form of control or purification that is absent in their own life. The plea for Victoria to "wash easy bidet out of her head" is particularly striking, suggesting a desire to erase a perceived stain or impurity. The lyrics culminate in a desire for a shared, almost anachronistic existence with Victoria, a retreat from "modern love." The narrator envisions them as "two severe giants" who disrupt conventional spaces like "halls of Science" and "World's Fair[s]." This shared identity is defined by an "incomparable sense of loss," echoing the earlier personal sorrow. The repeated phrase "With our incomparable sense of loss" becomes an anthem for a shared, profound melancholy, a bond forged in the absence of love and the weight of history, all under the banner of "The Twentieth Century belongs to you and me."