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Bear's Den – Pompeii Lyrics 11 years ago
The vibe I got from this song is that the first half tells the story of this child's mother and I got the feeling that she suffered from depression and committed suicide and the second half tells about the father and how he doesn't know how to deal with outward expression of emotion and only knows how to grieve on his own.


We built our home out on the slopes
Pompeii beneath, she lay above
How she haunted our home
How she haunted our home


This is symbolic because she is the volcano and her sadness is the lava that was cooking beneath the surface the whole time. On the outside she was stoic, but on the inside she was trying her best to push forward and keep the feelings at bay for as long as she could, but she was already a ghost. That's what it feels like when you're depressed. It's as if you are a ghost just floating along while life passes you by and happiness is this elusive thing that you feel you can never reach. Pompeii is symbolic of the life they knew before her death.


You were a god in my eyes
Above the clouds, above the skies
You were a god in my eyes
You were a god


Most children see their parents as some variant of a god. Especially when a parent dies at a young age, their children tend to aggrandize the idea of the person rather than who they actually were. They will ask their ghost for guidance or say "what would mom/dad say/want me to do?"


You took me walking through the town
Showed me the statues underground
Said just don't they look in peace
Sometimes I wish that was me


Yet another more obvious hint at her suicidal feelings. In my head I see a scene where they are visiting the grave of someone they knew, but it was a front for her to see where she would like to be laid to rest. This was something she had been planning for some time, but it was in the final stage.


And I was the son you always had
Tugging at your coat when you were sad
I was the son you always had
I was the son you always had


I feel that this tells a little about one of the reasons behind her depression. Maybe she had made some not great choices when she was young and had an accidental pregnancy that she went through with because she knew she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she had terminated the pregnancy. This in turn caused her to settle down before she was ready and before she could find and fix herself. She had to devote her life to her family which in turn led her to not helping herself.


Oh please, just don't cry
Hold your head up high
She would want you to
She would want you to


Just don't cry
Hold your head up high
She would want you to
She would want you to


This is the child saying it to himself trying to comfort himself after losing his mother.


You said stay in the car and wait
There's just some things I have to say
Don't you know I miss her, too
I miss her just as much as you


The father wants a moment alone with his now late wife. He doesn't want his son to see him be "weak" but the son wants to express his sadness with his dad instead of either of them going through it alone.


So my father and my son
As you end what you've begun
You'll lie patient by her side
Roses red and lilies white


This one is pretty self explanatory


I was too young to understand
The flowers slipping from your hands
I was too young to understand
I was too young to understand

I was too young to understand
The flowers sleeping in her hands
I was too young to understand
I was too young to understand


People don't give kids enough credit. If you explain it to them in a soft, but real way, children understand death. It's a sad lesson that everyone has to learn eventually, but even worse when you're a child. I think as a child he understood that his mother died and would never come back, but as it shows he is grown now, he understands something different now that they wouldn't tell or show him when it happened. He sees his mother's depression in himself, but knows that she would have wanted him to beat it like she never could. He acknowledges his depression, but doesn't let it win.


Don't cry
Hold your head up high
She would want you to
She would want you to

Please, just don't cry
Hold your head up high
She would want you to
She would want you to

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