How often do we think about global problems? For example, the ecological situation in the world or worldwide ruthless catastrophes. Not many artists write music on such topics, because it is too responsible. In general, discussing a problem of global importance is a serious matter. But the English indie pop band Bastille, in their track “Pompei”, took up the study of this situation. The track does not say a word about the city, which was wiped off the face of the earth due to a terrible volcanic eruption. But there is a subtle reference to the fact that if people do not understand how they harm the planet, then the hour of the onset of the second catastrophe is close. And it will be even worse.
History of creation
The whole song is an ecological message to the listener, so that he understands how important peace and cleanliness of the planet are. Every year people forget about it, believing that there are already a large number of organizations that are engaged in protecting the planet. But no. The forces of these organizations are too small to unite the people for the observance of cleanliness. And so the track “Pompeii” appeared, as if reminding us of what once was. And once there was, the tone is forgotten. It is likely that such a catastrophe will happen very soon. There will be something worse than a volcano – something that can forever sink the entire planet, and not a single city.
The meaning of the song “Pompeii” – Bastille
Imagine that you can go about your business as usual, live in a routine, but one day the day of the end will come.
“And the walls kept tumbling down in the city we love” – you live in a place that you love very much, you definitely don’t want to leave here. But suddenly a tragedy occurs that affects all the inhabitants. A bunch of thoughts fly through your head about what you managed to do to die. Everything around is collapsing, there is no point in saving. It remains only to wait for a full reflection and talk about what happened, ask yourself questions.
“But if you close your eyes, does it almost feels like nothing changed at all” – when something bad happens, a person closes his eyes so as not to see this world. He wants to imagine everything as it was before. He is saved by closed eyes, because they remember everything as it was. Now transfer these words of the song to the environmental problem. Knowing that there is terrible pollution around because of a person, closing your eyes, you want to imagine a clean world, as if nothing had happened at all.
“How am I gonna be an optimist about this” – the hero of the track asks himself this question, realizing that he cannot react to what is happening calmly, his conscience is tormenting him, and thoughts that were previously suppressed can no longer be stopped. Looking disaster in the face, the hero is aware of its full scale. Is it possible to stand with a smile and look at the perishing world? This can only be done by someone who absolutely does not care about his life and the planet as a whole.
“We were caught up and lost in all of our vices” – human problems become a matter of universal importance, therefore initially there is no case for the whole world. This is normal, since a person is alone, he does not care about other people and other people’s experiences. It seems that the problems of work are much more important than explosions in another country. The problems of lack of funds for living are much more important than a volcanic eruption. The problems of unrequited love are more important than a tornado in some American state. Almost every person is fanned by his personal affairs. But as soon as he stands practically at the epicenter of something more global, then his problems become very small and completely invisible.
“In your pose as the dust settled around us” is another proof that our personal efforts seem super important to us, and everything else global (until it concerns us!) is literally like dust. Financial experience is not such a loss if a terrible tornado goes near your house. Unrequited love becomes nothing compared to if a meteorite falls on your city.
“Oh where do we begin? The rubble or our sins? ” – where should we start in order to pay attention to everything that is happening around us? With the supposed ruins that will remain after the catastrophe, or with their sins, which should be abandoned once and for all? This is a moral choice. Here, either a person puts himself and his own problems in the first place, educating himself anew, or a person starts with those around him, thinking about them first. Here you are either an egoist for yourself, or a compassionate person for other people.
“I was left to my own devices, many days fell away with nothing to show” – everything that is described above is just an idea of the global. Now we need to get back to reality. There is you, and there is your business. There is you and your life. It is important to scroll through everything in your head, to think about whether you behave in this way in relation to the world. And while it’s not too late, you can come to your senses, begin to appreciate the things around you and not get hung up only on yourself alone.
The Bastille group expressed their opinion very well and tried to introduce their listener to questions that few people would think about. Although we are alone at home, it is still necessary to look around and assess the magnitude of the problem. The video filmed on this topic also shows the attitude of people to everything that happens. The black eyes of people are a metaphor for their sinful life, they don’t care about anything else but themselves. The hero of the video looks back and understands that the world is rolling into a deep abyss, from which it is impossible to get out. The track turned out in the style of indie pop, all this was done to make the music known to a wide audience. It’s great that there are still such performers who cover global topics.
