Album: Bad Blood (2013)

Charted: 2 5

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• Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  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
  Grey 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 settles around us
  
  And the walls kept tumbling down
  In the city that we love
  Grey 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-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  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?)
  Grey 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?
  Oh, 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
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh
  Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh Writer/s: Daniel Campbell Smith
  Publisher: Audiam, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 8

• VestageHow am I gonna be an optimist abut this?
• M from FlThe “ayyyy ay yo ayo”s is actually Eheu which is a word that expresses pain or frustration like oh no.
• Anonymous from CaliforniaIt was about climate change.
• T. from To, Ca@Anonymous (first one) Interesting point! Also possibly unintentional but closer to the context of Pompeii, 'eheu' is a word used in Latin that most people translate as the exclamation "Alas!" but could've been used more colloquially (e.g., "oh, man!")
• Anonymous@Anonymous writer:
  In one writing of a man name Pliny was he walking on a road w people trying to escape the explosion who lived a distance from pompeii (he was the only eye witness to write about his experience and have it discovered) and they began lifting up their hands to their gods, but no response. He said in that time many of them began to stop believing. Talk about heartbreak. But God told us that would happen as you mentioned.
• AnonymousIt is worth noting that, probably withot the author meaning it, the hook sounds incredably like "Ey Elo-hey-hem" = the nations saying "where is your god now?" in Psalm 79. Right after the prophet asks the lord to rain his wrath on the nations that will not acknowladge him, stating that god's anger burns like fire.
• Carter from North CarolinaWow thank you for your comment Ryan that really explained everything to me instantly. I've been wondering exactly what it was hinting to since 2013 :)
• Ryan from Cary, NcI think he's saying that the inhabitants of Pompeii were already destroyed even before the volcano. Based on what archaeologists have learned from the ruins it was a city given over to vice and sin. I think the author is saying that given almost 2000 years to reflect, the ghosts of Pompeii might conclude that things had not really changed at all... they were stuck in an existence that lacked development or goodness and with the eruption their predicament simply became literal. I also think that the in the video, they are trying to bring to our attention that many of us are no better off, already burned to ash on the inside by the materialistic and pleasure seeking lives we lead today.

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