Above the Clouds of Pompeii Lyrics

Lyric discussion by ssadanand 

Cover art for Above the Clouds of Pompeii lyrics by Bear's Den

Bearing in mind that what we see in the masks others wear often reflects our own demons, I'd be inclined to believe the symbolism around Pompeii and her above the clouds lends to his mum being angelic, already dead inside, already empty and depressed, and the father and son yearning to be with her, the fickle, passing lives below, ready to be taken. The son, too young to understand her eventual death, but encouraged that she wants him to continue to hold his head up in spite of it.

Along which lines, "as you end what she's begun" along with "you stay in the car and wait" sounds an awful, awful lot like the father goes to her grave to commit suicide too, unable to bear the grief. The singer now older and more mature, able to understand death, still too young to understand that profound grief, to understand why the flowers were slipping from his father's now dead hands. Hence the redoubled reminder that in light of further hardship, he's more determined to hold his head up, to not succumb to grief.

@ssadanand Hi there, what an interpretation yours... Thx, even harder and maybe more accurate/realistic?.... Now so very tired to write as i'd like, and about the title of the song i had an image of how the son & father were methaforicly all of a sudden burned/destroyed and petrified...as those who died in pompei due to the volcano eruption.... And she's above those clouds of vapor, fire, melted stone.....