submissions
| Mumford & Sons – Hopeless Wanderer Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Tons of Biblical imagery in this song. I think the first verse refers to the Garden of Eden and how Adam and Eve felt shame and wanted to hide, but ultimately it is better to be known fully than to hide. "I will call you by name/ I will share your road" is reminiscent of Saul's conversion into Paul when he is called by name on the road to Damascus. There are other moments in the Bible when people were joined on the road by Jesus. The "click in my head" can refer to how some Christians choose to remember scripture as a way to return to the right course (Prov. 3:5-6).
I think the song shifts in perspective, being a hopeless wanderer in the portions that are "leave that click in my head" and God/Jesus/Holy Spirit in response "When your hope's on fire...I will share your road." I see it as a moment of re-conversion, so to speak.
P.S. Please don't ream me out for seeing Biblical imagery if you don't see it. This is my interpretation of a song, not a diatribe of any sort; I do not deserve a diatribe in response. |
submissions
| Mumford & Sons – Hopeless Wanderer Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Everyone says it is to love the skies I wander, but I've been hearing, "love the skies I'm under." A hopeless wanderer would still be on the ground, yes? I saw it as a different way of saying "Love your ground," except this person has no ground to call his own because he's a hopeless wanderer who hopes to one day at least love the skies he's under. |
submissions
| Mumford & Sons – Lovers' Eyes Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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To me this song is about Wuthering Heights. Heathcliffe and Catherine were too young and had heads too strong. After her death, he pays a heavy price by walking the world in torment and tormenting others. In particular, he is tormented by the eyes of Cathy (Catherine's daughter by another man). He also thinks he sees or hears Catherine's ghost at times. Toward the end of the novel, he seems to seek redemption, but it really seems he wants God to FORGET his sins, not FORGIVE them. Most of the time, people are asking for God's forgiveness, not for Him to forget. |
submissions
| Mumford & Sons – Where Are You Now? Lyrics
| 13 years ago
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Instead of, "You were strangely less THAN pain/ THAN you were cold," I hear "You were strangely less IN pain / THEN you were cold" implying time order, though I could see the lyrics being a comparison too. Either way, "in pain" seems to make more sense to me than "than pain" |
submissions
| Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I too think the song is about Othello. I see the white blank page as the white handkerchief that was used to ignite Othello's jealousy. The beginning stanza could be Iago to all of the various men who are interested in Desdemona. The chorus could be sung by any of the men who were interested in her. It of course, applies to Othello who went mad with jealousy and was sent to the brink by Iago. I think your reading of it being Iago is good too because he is the one who feels his affections have been denied and has also been sent to the brink. |
submissions
| Mumford & Sons – Lovers' Eyes Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I kept thinking of this song when I was reading the ending of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff wants nothing but to be with Catherine again, even after she's been dead for over a decade, and he sees her eyes in the younger generation around him each and every day (Hareton and Cathy are said to have her same eyes). "Do not ask the price I pay for I must live with my quiet rage / Tame the ghosts in my head that run wild and wish me dead" certainly fits what Heathcliff was going through. I think Heathcliff really wanted to join Catherine in death toward the end and took her hand and walked slowly to death until he happily died "'neath the curse of his lover's eyes."
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submissions
| Mumford & Sons – Home Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Something makes me think suicide of his real love too. I don't know why, but there is something vaguely Shakespearean about this song. It reminds me of Hamlet and Ophelia (the suicide by drowning and water taking her home, she's young/ he's not old, feeling all spun around). I know it's not a perfect translation by any means...just what I think about when I hear the song. I like to think this is the melancholy love song Hamlet would have written for Ophelia post suicide were he, you know, not busy pretending to be mad and plotting the downfall of his uncle and all. |
submissions
| Mumford & Sons – Awake My Soul Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I see this as someone who is struggling with real faith. The song seems to be about the contradiction between feeling something and living something. I think he has believed but struggles with following through. "Where you invest your love, you invest your life"-- he has loved and believed in God, but maybe struggles with fully investing.
The verse that begins "Lend me your hand" is about the different ways to live out faith (works, emotions, belief) but then he says, "but your soul you must keep totally free." And then there is the sardonic (and laconic) "har har." The jaded sound of the "har har, har har" is significant. I see this as responding to one of the lies he has heard. I think it may be himself that has been telling these lies. He's been holding back and now realizes that is a lie and sees his "fickle heart" as his "weakness."
Then he calls out to awaken his soul. |
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