Oblivion

by Bastille on their album Bad Blood, published in 2003, London, United Kingdom

[Verse 1]

When you fall asleep

With your head upon my shoulder

When you’re in my arms

But you’ve gone somewhere deeper

[Bridge 1]

Are you going to age with grace?

Are you going to age without mistakes?

Are you going to age with grace?

Or only to wake and hide your face?

[Chorus]

When oblivion

Is calling out your name

You always take it further

Than I ever can

[Verse 2]

When you play it hard

And I try to follow you there

It’s not about control

But I turn back when I see where you go

[Bridge 2]

Are you going to age with grace?

Are you going to leave a path to trace?

[Chorus]

When oblivion

Is calling out your name

You always take it further

Than I ever can

[Chorus]

When oblivion

Is calling out your name

You always take it further

Than I ever can

Listen to the music video here

Analysis

This song is the 8th song off of Bastille’s studio album Bad Blood. At face value this song is merely about someone being oblivious or just an ode to the thought of oblivion and the afterlife. However, I think there is something more to the lyric “Are you going to age with grace? / Are you going to leave a path to trace?” which could represent someone in your life whom you are close with, possibly an intimate relationship or friendship, that lives a much faster paced life than the persona in the song. The person in the song is going places in life that the persona cannot reach yet, but they still want to be in that relationship. Therefore the persona wishes the person would leave a path for them to follow because when the persona turns back they want to see where they went in their life because it is the only thing the persona can do at this point. Whether the persona in the song wants to follow the fast-paced person can only be answered by the questions in the chorus: will that person have a good life which they are proud of and enjoyed, or will it have been full of regret due to their fast lifestyle? Thus, I think this song is really about accepting that you cannot always be on the same track as the people you are close with–people drift apart and there will be differences. However, I believe that in this case, one would fear oblivion and being left behind by the other person in the relationship.

Oblivion is a very monotonous song throughout its entirety–it mainly consists of simple, fluid piano chords to accompany the harsh–almost staccato sounds of the lyrics. However, this drastically changes as the song morphs into a fluid bridge consisting of an ascending, melodic piano and cello duet during the first bridge into the chorus. In my opinion this is the best part of the song, because right as the bridge ends the tempo increases. This creates a cacophony of sound as the chorus quietly explodes with emotion and the tone of the piece is brought forth through the instrumentation; both in the voice of the singer and his words, but also the slowing of the tempo back to the original beat. This repeats again, and the song ends with a duet between two cellos fading into the background–very reminiscent of a memory fading away, in my opinion. This is quite a simple song, but I think that the simplicity of the melody, beat, lyrics, and instruments which leads to a very emotional song. Throughout the song you can feel the emotion written in the song and the performance only amplifies this.

Resources

“Bastille – Oblivion.” Genius, 5 Sept. 2014, genius.com/Bastille-oblivion-lyrics.

BASTILLEvideos. “Bastille – Oblivion (Official Music Video).” YouTube, YouTube, 21 July 2014, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgXOPeobPcI.