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Bastille-Pompeii
Bastille
Writer(s) Dan Smith
Producer(s) Dan Smith, Mark Crew
Length 3:34
From Bad Blood
Singles "Overjoyed"
"Bad Blood"
"Flaws"
"Pompeii"
"Laura Palmer"
"Things We Lost in the Fire"
"Oblivion"
Bad Blood track listing
Things We Lost in the Fire

"Pompeii" is the fourth single from Bastille's first album Bad Blood, released October 11, 2013.The song was released as the album's fourth single on 11 January 2013. It reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart, number 4 in Australian ARIA Chart, and number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Alternative Songs chart. Furthermore, according to the Official Charts Company, it is the UK's most streamed song of all time. "Pompeii" spent exactly a year on the chart, 53 weeks.

Composition[]

Lyrically, the song is about the Roman town of the same name, which met its fate with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

“I guess it was, sort of, at a time when I was like a bit… I felt like my life was slightly in stasis and I was a little bit bored, so I guess I kind of equated that to being a frozen corpse and stuck in an ashy position under a burned down city for a long time. You know, just your average thought. Totally normal. And then it became a pop song, which you know is a bit weird.”[1]

—Dan Smith, explaining the meaning behind the lyrics of "Pompeii"

Music video[]

The official music video was filmed in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. It was directed by Jesse John Jenkins and produced by Tova Dann. The video was first released onto YouTube on 20 January 2013 at a total length of three minutes and fifty-two seconds.

The video follows Bastille's frontman Dan Smith, as he wanders about an empty-looking Los Angeles, before realizing the few people around all have unnatural vacant black eyes. He steals a car and drives into the desert to escape them, but the car breaks down and he soon realizes he's been infected as well. He climbs a mountain and looks out at the view, before turning around to reveal his own eyes meanwhile have turned black as well. The story is an allegory for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii.

Music Video Information
Bastille_-_Pompeii Premiere January 20, 2013[2]
Filmed 2013, Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California
Director Jesse John Jenkins
Producer Tova Dann
Production co
Exec. producer
Editor
Choreographer
Length 3:53
Source

In popular culture[]

Cover versions[]

American progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria released a digital EP via their Facebook on 12 October featuring a cover of Pompeii by The Prize Fighter Inferno/Claudio Sanchez as well as one of their originals and two songs from the band's I the Mighty and Balance and Composure.

Peter Hollens and Kina Grannis made an a cappella cover.

The cast of Glee performed Pompeii for the series' season 5 finale, "The Untitled Rachel Berry Project".

Jasmine Thompson released a cover of the song on her debut album, "Bundle Of Tantrums" on 6 September 2013.

Anthem Lights released a cover of the song on their YouTube page on 5 May 2014.

Media[]

The arcade machine featured in the cover art is Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

The song is featured in the trailer for the 2014 animated film Mr. Peabody & Sherman. The Kat Krazy remix is featured in the 2013 video game Need for Speed Rivals. It was also featured in the British soap opera Hollyoaks and the TV series Reign in the third episode of the first season, "Kissed".

Track listing[]

Digital download[]

  1. "Pompeii" – 3:
  2. 34
  3. "Poet" – 2:44
  4. "Pompeii" (Tyde Remix) – 4:22
  5. "Pompeii" (Monsieur Adi Remix) – 4:23
  6. "Pompeii" (Kat Krazy Remix) – 3:37

7" vinyl single[]

  1. "Pompeii" – 3:34
  2. "Poet" – 2:44

CD single[]

  1. "Pompeii" – 3:34
  2. "Pompeii" (Kat Krazy Remix) – 3:36

BRITs performance download[]

  1. "Pompeii/Waiting All Night" (with Rudimental, featuring Ella Eyre) – 5:47

Charts[]

Cerifications[]

Release history[]

Region Date Format Label
Italy[3] 11 January 2013 Contemporary hit radio EMI
United Kingdom[4][5] 22 February 2013 Digital download Virgin Records
25 February 2013 7" vinyl
United States[6] 25 June 2013 Modern rock radio Virgin Records, Capitol Records
Germany[7] 5 July 2013 CD Virgin Records
United States[8][9][10] 9 September 2013 Adult album alternative radio Virgin Records, Capitol Records
15 October 2013 Contemporary hit radio
29 October 2013 Hot adult contemporary radio
United Kingdom[11] 19 February 2014 Digital download ("Pompeii/Waiting All Night") Brit Awards Ltd.
United Kingdom[12] 31 March 2014 Digital download (Audien remix) Virgin Records
United States[13]

Lyrics[]

eh eh oh eh oh
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
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

We were caught up and lost in all of our vices
In your pose as the dust settled around us

And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

eh eh oh eh oh

Oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?
Oh oh where do we begin?
The rubble or our sins?

And the walls kept tumbling down (oh where do we begin?)
In the city that we love (the rubble or our sins?)
Great clouds roll over the hills (oh where do we begin?)
Bringing darkness from above (the rubble or our sins?)

But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?

If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?

eh eh oh eh oh

References[]

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