Caesar on a TV Screen (song)

Caesar on a TV Screen

Single
by The Last Dinner Party

Released

January 4, 2024

Recorded

2023

Writer(s)

Abigail Morris
Georgia Davies
Aurora Nishevci
Emily Roberts
Lizzie Mayland
Rhys Downing

Producer(s)

James Ford

Length

3:49

Album

Prelude to Ecstasy

Label

Island Records

Singles chronology

← Previous	Current	Next →
On Your Side	Caesar on a TV Screen	Nothing Matters (Acoustic)

*Prelude to Ecstasy* chronology
"Burn Alive"	"The Feminine Urge"

Music Video

"Caesar on a TV Screen" (originally titled Leningrad) is the fifth single by The Last Dinner Party from their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, released January 4, 2024 through Island Records. It serves as the third track from the album.

“Caesar on a TV Screen is a vessel for the expression of power through the character of a despotic ruler. It makes fun of and lays bare the kind of masculine fragility and subsequent rage that comes from a place of deep insecurity and a need to be loved.”

―The Last Dinner Party via email announcement

Background[]

Originally titled "Leningrad", the song has been part of the bands setlist since the beginning. The title was changed in 2022 around their performance at XOYO.^[1]

On November 22, 2023, the band posted pictures of all of them in dress up on their instagram story, teasing the music video. ^[2]

Just like My Lady Of Mercy, The Last Dinner Party started to tease "Caesar on a TV Screen" by posting a video of their live performance of it on their socials on December 5, 2023,^[3] then on December 29, 2023, the band re-posted the video on their instagram story with the caption "Beware the ideas of January", hinting at the release of the song in January of 2024.^[4]

On January 2, 2024, The Last Dinner Party posted a video to their socials,^[5] one day after they posted a video shorts to YouTube of Polaroid photos with the band and the character they would portray in the video,^[6] then they posted the single cover announcing it's arrival on the morrow of the fourth.^[7]

“Harken ye noble denizens, Romans all We humble players ask you to lend us your eyes, your ears, a tenner, and marvel on our retelling of Julius Caesar and his comely downfall.
Mark well the date, for when the cock crows thrice on the morrow of the forth moonrise in this the year of our lord 2024, the curtains shall rise, unveiling the tragic tale of ambition, betrayal, and the perils of power.
Let us attend, a battle betwixt the granite thighs of that empiric colossus where perhaps more than swords shall be unsheathed…
Cry; infamy! INFAMY! They’ve all got it IN FOR ME!”

―The Last Dinner Party via Instagram caption

When a fan asked what that meant in the comment section the band clarified that it would be released the day after on January 4, 2024.^[8]

The beginning of the song was written by Abigail Morris over the COVID-19 lockdown, and came in inspiration after her then-boyfriend lent her his suit when she would get back home from his place.^[9]

“When I met him, I didn’t just find him attractive, I wanted to be him—he was also a singer in another band and he had this amazing confidence and charisma in a specifically masculine way. Getting to have his suit, I was like, ‘Now I am a man in a band.’ It’s this very specific sensuality and power you feel when you’re dressing as a man. I sat at the piano and had this character in my head—a Mick Jagger or a Caligula. I thought it would be fun to write a song from the perspective of feeling like a king, but you are only like that because you’re so vulnerable and so desperate to be loved and quite weak and afraid and childlike."
Lizzie Mayland: “There was an ending on the original version that faded away into this lone guitar, which was really beautiful, but we got used to playing it live with it coming back up again. So we put that back in. The song is very live, the way we recorded it.”

―Abigail Morris and Lizzie Mayland for Apple Music

Lyrics[]

Every night when we say goodbye
I know that I can see myself as a man
When I put on that suit
I don’t have to stay mute
I can talk all the time
‘Cause my shoulders are wide

And I’m falling like the leaves on Leningrad
I follow your footprints when I can’t hold your hand
My darling believe me I was born to be with you
But it’ll be me that the world will answer to

And just for a second I could be one of the greats
I’ll be Caesar in a TV screen
Champion of my fate
No one can tell me to stop
I’ll have everything I want
Anyone
And everyone will like me then

Everyone will like me then
When I was a child
I never felt like a child
I felt like an emperor with a city to burn
I got down on my knees
Begged the men in the trees
To give me an answer
Je ne veux pas penser

And it’s raining like it did in Leningrad
My lover would like to buy a flat in Leningrad
And I’d trade my tongue in just to hear him every night
To talk about Red Scare and how they got it right

And just for a second I could be one of the greats
I am Caesar on a tv screen, champion of my fate
No one can tell me to stop
I’ll have everything I want
Anyone
And everyone will like me then
Everyone will love me!

Music Video[]

A music video for the song was released with the single on January 4, 2024. The video is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar", with Abigail Morris playing the role of Julius Caesar, Georgia Davies as Brutus, Emily Roberts as Casca, Aurora Nishevci as Mark Antony and Lizzie Mayland as Cassius.

It takes place in a theatre and is split up into three acts, where the band plays out Cassius' conspiracy to assassinate Caesar to prevent him from becoming a tyrant.^[10] In the video Brutus (Georgia) is hesitant in joining but in the last act joins Casca (Emily), Mark Antony (Aurora) and Cassius (Lizzie) in killing Caesar.

Behind The Scenes[]

Photographer	Harv Frost & Elenora Nishevci
Date	Unknown
Location	Unknown
Camera	Unknown
Stylist	Rubina Marchiori
Assistant stylist	Francesca Russo, Erica Welhenage, Lily Maguire, Anastasia Ivanova, Urielle & Enrica Mosch
Make-up artist	Grace Ellington
Assistant make-up artist	Dakota & Hannah Isobel Busst
Hair stylist	Hannah Godley
Assistant hair stylist	@feelbreezee
Producer	Lily Roberts
Art director	Murdo Hepburn
Editor	Geri Docherty The Quarry

Critical reception[]

Robin Murray of CLASH described the song as bold, literate, and theatrical. "Reminiscent of Kate Bush in places, that soaring vocal also puts us in mind of Anna Calvi, or even the melodrama of Rufus Wainwright."^[11]