Aqua Dementia

It certainly does seem to be about pip, but I would also venture that Mastodon might be using it as a metaphor for the earth as well.

It starts out with An invitation to clairvoyance which appears to be a starting point for pips story

next is

It's hard to stand around and watch while they ignore us She is dumped on Used as an ashtray At the expense of an organized association

I have a hard time figuring out what this is if it is NOT in fact about man damaging the planet. I suppose it could very wellbe a reference to a specific person? or mebbe a character from the book (via pips hallucinations or something) but as much as I can recall theres nothing like that from the book. Until more data is present, I will conclude that its about the earth.

I see the stones in the path we laid It's a question of tomorrow We like to breathe the ancient wind that we have followed A perfect fire to burn the land

This section also seems to reference the earth. The path stones are relics of the past. The paths upon which our ancestors tread, and slo the way of life they led (the ancient wind). But our behaviors threaten our history and existence into the future....making existence...a question of tomorrow.

Before they knew it The sun had fallen Boiling the water where the hydra's crawling The righteous go in blazing fury

This section is very much about pip. "they" are the other whalers, busy chasing whales, without time to rescue pip. He treads water by himself for so long he begins to feel the effects of aqua dementia, at first becoming strange and quiet, and then later almost prophetic. The general assumption is that pip began hallucinating and saw things so horrible they scarred him forever. So pip sits all day and into the night in the water, and sees terrible things (boiling the water, pips mind, with visions of monsters ect - thus the hydra). The last line is a reference to pip's prophetic new outlook that leads him to drive ahab on.

And we cleanse the earth to bring it down Bring it down And God will watch it burn Releasing souls

This is the songs tie in. I want to say its the messages about the earth, now originating from pips prophetic dementia. I say this mostly because the speaker used the word "we", suggesting a conversation with a group or preaching like pip began to do at the end of the book. I believe the rest of the lyrics fall in line with this as well.

Generally speaking, pips story is originally separate from messages about the earth in this song, but pip's own sad story, and his mad prophecies become the words of damnation for ahab, and for all mankind.