# Pompeii by Bastille



## Maybe Mercury (Apr 1, 2012)

Anyone else loving this song? It's got a somber vibe to the lyrics although the melody is catchy as hell. 







> I was left to my own devices
> Many days fell away with nothing to show
> And the walls kept tumbling down
> In the city that we love
> ...


I love how deep it is too. That's not very common in a song that's had so much success (even without the album being released in the States yet). ajkpgfoeabivluj :kitteh: I love it.
In a nutshell, this song is about how mankind is so willing (and finds comfort in) ignoring the problems all around us and how it is so much easier to just love in their past and live inside their own egos. It's so perfect too- in the chorus you can tell that he wants to give in (and in the music video) have his eyes turn black and corrupted just like the rest of them. 

That's what so deceptive about this song: the chorus is so catchy and would deceive the casual listener into thinking that closing their eyes is a good thing instead of something with questionable optimism? In the beginning of the song, the speaker is so innocent and as we see in the mv his eyes are his natural blue as he looks down upon the city from a window, physically disconnected from the real-ness of everything. But we follow him down as he descends (instead of, say, ascends) down into the streets and see all of the corruption (the people with black eyes). And he is frightened to find it in so many common places. And the little optimist starts to question everything.

It seems that he's the only one that seems to notice how everyone's just gone and lost "themselves in their vices". But here's the terrible irony- he got lost in his own vice too. He failed to do anything about it. He ran away in fear, ultimately leading up to him being corrupted too as he couldn't get out of his head long enough. It's such a sad truth. So many people are caught up in their own tiny little worlds that they learn that they can't do anything about anything. They become their own prisoners, trapped and corrupted. Such a somber message/ warning from Bastille. But terribly beautiful in its own way. I suppose everyone can relate to being the only clear-seeing person at one point or another.

tl;dr Bastille makes an astute point about the pitfalls in humanity's self-centered-ness.

Agree, disagree, What do you guy think of the meaning? Do y'all like the song?


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## homecoming (Jun 5, 2012)

It's not a bad song. If you know this already (you probably do) I hate to sound like an asshole, but the subject of this song is the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Hence the "great dark clouds", and dust settling people in poses (the volcanic residue froze the residents in the exact position that they died in). Again sorry if you knew this, but you didn't mention the historical significance once and I was hoping that if you didn't know it might give the song a new dimension


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## Maybe Mercury (Apr 1, 2012)

Nah, it's fine. You don't sound like an asshole; I did know about it but I totally forgot to mention the title in the original post...:wink:

I actually read (in a youtube comment, but still) that his inspiration for the song was based on these statues that he saw in the ruins of Pompeii and how he imagined their conversation would go if they saw the ash coming and none of the inhabitants were paying attention. It also plays on the theme on how humanity is not focused on what is going on around them that they keep on making the same mistake and nothing is done about it. Pompeii was already rebuilt once on the same spot after being destroyed before the more infamous incident. Bastille is pointing out that this two thousand year old problem keeps coming back. The dust and the smoke could totally be seen as symbols of the apocalypse, too.

I just got excited that such a deep song is getting so popular!


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## d e c a d e n t (Apr 21, 2013)

Oh, I've been listening to Bastille a lot lately, after a friend introduced me to it. At first I was somewhat put off by the beginning of this song, so I would skip it. It's a good song, though. I like songs with a deceptively upbeat tune, so it didn't take long for it to grow on me once I gave it a try. I haven't payed much attention to the music video yet though. The imagery of the lyrics are effective enough that I don't feel like I need it. :tongue: 

I took the line, "but if you close your eyes, does it feel like nothing changed at all?" to be about how history keeps repeating itself, but I guess in context of the rest of the song (and the video) it makes more sense for it to be about escapism.


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## Maybe Mercury (Apr 1, 2012)

Nonsense said:


> I took the line, "but if you close your eyes, does it feel like nothing changed at all?" to be about how history keeps repeating itself, but I guess in context of the rest of the song (and the video) it makes more sense for it to be about escapism.


It definitely could be that too. Although the music video didn't really touch on it, the fact that is called Pompeii (something that is ancient) and how Bastille singing it to us (the present time), there could definitely be a connection there.

The beginning put me off at first, too. I was expecting it to be some hipster stuff just to be weird but it actually adds quite a bit of significance. The chanting sounds so ominous and ancient. It's like all the dead souls of Pompeii are calling to us from the grave, telling us about their past and warning us about our future~.

I like songs that are deceptively upbeat, too. Ten years ago I was totally into "Semi-charmed life" by Third Eye Blind for the exact same reasons. Come to think of it, didn't they have (kinda) chanting in the beginning of the song, as well? And they were talking about the destruction that his meth addiction was causing his and his girlfriend's life. The layers, man!:ninja:


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## d e c a d e n t (Apr 21, 2013)

Elicit said:


> It definitely could be that too. Although the music video didn't really touch on it, the fact that is called Pompeii (something that is ancient) and how Bastille singing it to us (the present time), there could definitely be a connection there.


Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. It's something that's happened before and it's going to happen again. So it evokes a feeling of deja-vu. Or whatever.

I don't think I've heard Semi-charmed Life before! Nice song, although I don't like it as much as Pompeii.


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