The website from which this photo comes has this to say about the painting: "Samson, the Jewish hero, fell in love with Delilah. She was bribed by the Philistines, and discovered that his strength came from his hair, which had never been cut. While he was asleep it was cut, Samson was drained of his strength and the Philistines were able to capture him. Old Testament (Judges 16: 17-20). Rubens depicts a candlelit interior; the Philistines wait at the door, one of their number cuts Samson's hair, while an elderly woman provides extra light. In a niche behind is a statue of the goddess of love, Venus, with Cupid—a reference to the cause of Samson's fate."
Among other things, Regina mentions in this interview that her performance in Portland, Oregon, was "strange" and everyone seemed "spaced out" but then concedes that it's the "pot capital of America," so maybe everyone was just high. She also talks at length about the trials that female singer/songwriters have to go through to be taken seriously, which ties nicely into "Samson." When she talks about getting compared to countless female artists from Tori Amos to Kate Bush to Fiona Apple, she says: "I understand people's need to classify. I mean, that's what humanity is built on. We'll walk into a new territory and discover a new flower and give it like a seven name Latin title, ya know? And the little flower is like 'What the f---? I'm just a pink with blue spots little flower! And nobody else is like me!' But they totally need to classify and explain."
A great part of this piece is when Regina expresses her confusion over her listeners' need to find personal meaning in her songs: "I don't fully understand the fascination of people wanting to know the 'real' you after listening to your songs," she said. "People always want to know which part of the song really happened, they want to know some sort of a 'Truth'. For some reason they can see the same actor acting in 17 different movies, using 17 different hair colors, using fake props, changing their voice, changing their accent, being evil or being the victim, and they are okay with that. They understand that it's just a movie, they understand that it's an art. But with music they forget. Music, somehow, is life."
Where dedicated Regina fans can come together and wax poetic about their favorite artist.
In case you wanted to dive into the Scriptures that inspired this song.