Awake My Soul

This song is about wanting desperately to love someone, but knowing that either 1) you can't love them as much as they deserve, or 2) they don't deserve your love.

"How fickle my heart" - I often can't make up my mind "and how woozy my eyes," - I have been crying from the pain that has been inflicted upon me. "I struggle to find any truth in your lies" - You have lied to me, and now I don't know what to trust. "And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know, this weakness I feel I must finally show" - I'm struggling with the truth that has come out and do not know who or what to trust anymore. I can't hide that fact, and so must show my confusion and distrust.

"Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all, but lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall" (My favorite line) - As friends, we can do anything and conquer any doubt that we can't do what ever we set our minds to. But if you fall for me, I'll just let you down. I can't be trusted with your heart.

"Lend me your eyes I can change what you see, but your soul you must keep, totally free" - I can show you the world, I can show you things beyond your wildest imagination, but you have to keep yourself free from me. You have to remain independent because I don't know how to care for those who truly love and depend upon me.

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die, where you invest your love, you invest your life" - We have a short life, and who ever you love becomes your home and your life.

"awake my soul, you were made to meet your maker" - Make me come alive, because I feel like I'm dying.

I love this song so much! so beautiful (as all of their songs are) but this one just has so much meaning to me.

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life."

I love this line because it's so close to my reasoning behind abstinence. It's not just from a religious stand point, but also humanistic. We spend out entire lives in these bodies; we can never separate our selves from things we do. M&S is telling us that things matter, that giving ourselves completely to someone should hold more gravity than it does in today's society, that the most intimate sharing of our bodies should be accompanied by the most intimate sharing of our minds, heart, lives.

That, for me, is the strongest lyrical substance of M&S... things should matter, should be sacred: words spoken, people loved, actions taken... we are angels trapped in meat. Awake my soul!

'In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die Where you invest your love, you invest your life' -- the definition of eloquence.

this song is about individualism and finding out who you are. people can help you through tough times , but if you "give them your heart" and have them make your most important decisions it will not work out. " awake your own soul and meet your maker." the singer is saying that people can change the way you see things and your soul is your own so keep it to yourself so you can be self-reliant and a powerful individual.

It sounds like a coming of age song - a struggle with the tension of youthful idealism vs. the reality of getting older and realizing that one day you're just not the person you thought you'd be. It's a personal wake-up call to re-evaluate one's purpose and (re)start living with some intentionality. Awake my soul! Rise from your apathy!

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.

For me, this song is about (recovering from) alcohol addiction. Anyone who has had this baffling love affair with alcohol may be able relate.

"How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes I struggle to find any truth in your lies.. (finally seeing what alcohol has done to the spirit) "And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know This weakness I feel I must finally show" (the not knowing is how to live sober. And the weakness shown is the vulnerability of this new life & honestly revealing & accepting who you became, what you lost, while drinking.)

"Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all But lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall..(this is the alcohol talking, reassuring you that it will indeed take away your inhibitions, your fears, loneliness, sadness, etc. But it is incapable of honoring your heart. Because alcohol is cunning.) "Lend me your eyes I can change what you see ..(again the alcohol talking, making empty promises to change your state & make it all okay)) But your soul you must keep, totally free har, har har, har har, har har." (I view this as a sarcastic joke- Har, Har, yeah right, Good luck keeping your soul free when you have already sold it to your addiction.)

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die Where you invest your love, you invest your life"...( For me, I took it as do I want alcoholism to define me- is this where I want investing my life? And one day the love for it could kill me, because I would have invested my whole life into it.)

"Awake my soul, You were made to meet your maker"...(If any of you have ever done a 12 step program, you will understand that you cannot overcome something as powerful as addiction on your own. You must have a spiritual experience, connect with something bigger than yourself, and ask for guidance. Awake my soul, because this is who I was meant to be and I need help. I was meant to be full of love and light & connect with spirit. I was made to meet my maker."

Divinely, I discovered this song (or the song discovered me) exactly when I needed it, and for me it literally awoke my soul. :)

Well, I think this song is a praise to science:

"How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes I struggle to find any truth in your lies"

It refers to the fact that we can't rely heavily just on what we see, because looks are deceiving, so we have to observe with a critical thinking to avoid being "lied" by our eyes.

"And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know My weakness I feel I must finally show"

This eludes to the humbling experience of thoroughly reviewing our previous conclusions.

"Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all But lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall Lend me your eyes I can change what you see But your soul you must keep, totally free"

All this part tells that there is no place in science to be driven by our emotions, we must be cautious and free of any prejudices of our own conceptions, and the desire of making them true instead of checking that they are, in fact, true. If done right, though, science can get you very far.

"Awake my soul" is the verse that worships science the most: its practice opens your eyes and expands your mind, it is truly an awakening experience.

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die Where you invest your love, you invest your life In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die And where you invest your love, you invest your life"

I must be honest and say that I struggle to connect this part directly to science, other than when you choose to be a scientist you get to be it for your whole life; when you have developed the mindset of a scientist, there's no coming back to any other method.

"You were made to meet your maker"

Clearly a reference to the constant back and forth between God "hiding" the laws of nature and scientists trying to uncover them, getting closer to The Maker.

Anyways, seeing all these interpretations made me giggle. It is so specific and yet so subtle that anybody can find a way in which it applies to their interpretations. It shows that Mumford & Sons did a good job here, as always :)

My honest opinion is its about our God, Jesus Christ :) And we were definately made to meet our maker!

It was so cool just watching the live version at reading festival, the fact that maybe some people may understand the meaning but some might not, and it felt like the words he was singing were so powerful. They were giving me goosebumps and I was just watching it on Youtube! But the coolest thing is that, all I could think of is the fact that there is a lot of pressure on the young generation now more than ever (I should know I'm one of them). And in that one moment from watching that video, I could just feel hope. We need to realise that we are the generation that will shape the future.

This band is amazing.

I love Verse 2. It is all about Christ and how if you walk with him and give him your heart, eyes and soul he will show the way you will be free. Christ is talking to those who struggle in Verse 1. Those that see only lies but realize there are things that cannot be explained. Then they turn Christ weakened, looking for answers.

The meaning of this song is one who is asking Christ to "Awake their Soul" and show them the way.

That is my take.