"Lucretia My Reflection" is a song by the English rock band

the Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock music, rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stop ...

. Released as the third and final single from their second studio album, '' Floodland'', in June 1988, it reached number 20 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Overview

The song was written by

Andrew Eldritch Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew William Harvey Taylor, 15 May 1959) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is the frontman and only remaining original member of the Sisters of Mercy, a band that emerged from the British post-punk scene ...

for the Sisters of Mercy bassist,

Patricia Morrison Patricia Anne Rainone (born January 14, 1962), better known by her stage name Patricia Morrison, is an American bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. She has worked with Bags, The Gun Club, Fur Bible, The Sisters of Mercy, and the Damned. Bi ...

, who, he said, "always strikes me as a Lucrezia orgiatype person". Its lyrics concern the fall of an empire, war and the consequent destruction of other aspects of life. Aside from the reference to Lucrezia Borgia,

Lucretia According to Roman tradition, Lucretia ( /luːˈkriːʃə/ ''loo-KREE-shə'', Classical Latin: ʊˈkreːtɪ.a died c. 510 BC), anglicized as Lucrece, was a noblewoman in ancient Rome, whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius (Tarquin) and subse ...

was a Noble Roman woman, whose rape by Etruscan King Sextus Tarquinius, and subsequent suicide, triggered the collapse of the early Roman monarchy, leading to the Roman republic. The story of Lucretia was primarily used in Rome as a didactic tale, similar to the story of

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus ( – ) was a Roman patrician, statesman, and military leader of the early Roman Republic who became a legendary figure of Roman virtue—particularly civic virtue—by the time of the late Republic. Cincinnatus ...

, to showcase what the archetypal Roman woman should aspire to be.

Track listing

*All songs written by

Charts

References

{{authority control The Sisters of Mercy songs 1987 songs 1988 singles Songs written by Andrew Eldritch