“Samson” came out in the year 2002, revolving around the story of Samson and Delilah in the Bible. Many would claim that it was a tragic one-sided love story that fell upon a man who died after being betrayed by the one he loved. However, there is more to the story than what meets the eye. Delilah’s side of the story is something that people in the past have overlooked and brushed aside, not really inquiring about how she might have felt under the circumstance of having to watch her lover die at her own hands. Regina highlights majority of this old story’s perspective and connects it to her own life story. As the artist and songwriter, Regina creates an anti-folkloric song to not only recall and tell an old tale, but also to incorporate how history and religion reflect on our modern contemporary music.
Although Regina doesn’t really consider herself as “religious”, she does take some interest in the existence of a higher power, and allows the idea of faith to be her form of guidance in her life. By writing about Samson and Delilah, it not only allows the modern audience to have knowledge on certain aspects of the Bible, it also lets them relate to people from the past that might have undergone the same tragic fate. When asked about her religion, the artist simply stated “I’m always fascinated with faith, religion, spirituality, and what those things are to each other, or how they come together or don’t come together.” She always mentioned how her life is just about having to live everyday like any other person, but she always finds herself talking, writing, and revolving herself around the topic of faith. “Which is amazing. It wasn’t planned, but it’s one of those concepts that my mind is just fascinated with, always mulling over.”(Murray, 2009)
In the first few lines of her song, Regina starts by captivating the audience by the mention of the term “I loved you first”. Considering how in the story of Samson and Delilah, Samson was the one who fell for Delilah, a Philistine, first. Samson at the time was a judge of Israel, and was greatly hated by the Philistines. In order to capture him, or try to get rid of him, they paid Delilah a huge sum of money for her to betray him and find his weakness when the council learned of his affections for her. Throughout Delilah’s manipulation, she got Samson to confide that his source of strength came from his hair, and that to cut it would break the pact that had been bound by God (Bible, 1973). To have no control over the events happening to one’s body is an implication Regina subtly makes about the difference between what God has destined for a person, and what a person has for himself.
In relation to modern time period, Regina wrote these lyrics to imply that “loss of hair” could also greatly signify that of cancer. “He ate a slice of wonderbread” supports that claim. Wonder Bread, or white bread in general, is said to be the only source of food that cancer patients are able to swallow after chemotherapy and other treatments (UNIH, 1981). So by mentioning the relationship between Samson having eaten a slice of bread, it signifies the idea that this man in Delilah’s life, or in Regina’s life, is said to be sick in a certain aspect. With Samson, this form of sickness might be having an achilles heel as his hair, and for Regina’s anonymous lover, as with his cancer.