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Hold on to What You Believe Lyrics

I
I can't promise you that I won't let you down
And I
I can't promise you that I will be the only one around
When your hope falls down
But we are
Open flowers in the windy fields of this war-torn world
And love
This city breathes the plague of loving things more than their creators

I ran away
I could not take the burden of both me and you
It was too fast
Casting love on me as if it were a spell I could not break
When it was a promise I could not make

But what if I was wrong?
Oh, what if I was wrong?

But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

And oh, hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

And now this land
Means less and less to me without you breathing through its trees
At every turn
The water runs away from me and the halo disappears
I'm not whole when you're not near

So what if I was wrong?
Oh, what if I was wrong?
Oh, what if I was wrong?

But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

And oh, hold on to what you believed in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

Hold on to what you believed in the light.
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Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

A lot of their songs are pretty clearly about struggling with faith and this one is more obvious than most.

The central idea is to "hold on to what you believe in the light//When the darkness has robbed you of all sight". "What if I was wrong?" is coming up, he's wondering if perhaps his whole faith is a lie. He "could not take the burden of both you and I" - he has his own issues, how can he deal with being faithful to God at the same time? But the world means "less and less to [him] without [God] breathing through its trees", so he realises that he must hold on to his faith regardless of what his current state of mind leads him to believe.

Basically, when you go through tough times, you're not going to be thinking straight necessarily. You might question even your deepest beliefs. The song is simply saying that you should trust your decisions "in the light", you should believe what you believe when life is good, rather than succumbing to doubts that arrive in the dark.

No. Not even a little bit. And Heather Rochelle nailed exactly why it's not about religion.

He clearly defines who "we" are in the second line (ie, himself and the subject of the song).

"But we're young" clearly refers to him and the subject of the song.

Also, Mumford has very clearly expressed in this article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/feb/11/mumford-sons-sigh-more - and elsewhere) that their lyrics are "a ­deliberately spiritual thing but ­deliberately not a ­religious thing."

So reading [him] and [God] into his lyrics is completely incorrect.

Yeah, so this is so obviously about faith, as are most of their songs. Genuinely mate, listen to The Cave, Roll Away Your Stone, even Winter Winds and its pretty clear that his feelings about love are wrapped up in his feelings about God or Christianity or Spirituality or whatever you wanna call it.

In that article you quoted he says "We all have our ­separate views on religion, but I think faith is something to be celebrated. I have my own personal views, they're still real to me, and I want to write about them." - he literally says...

@paulney - yes, because "a deliberate spiritual thing" could not mean "faith" or "God". (You may want to catch up on your theology a little.)

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

This is one of my FAVORITE Mumford songs. It's so beautiful. "Now this land means less to less to me without you breathing through it's trees."

Not hard to decipher--he runs away from being in love but begins to miss the one he ran from and starts to realize that he made a mistake. Oh Marcus Mumford. You're beautiful.

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

I can't believe no one has commented ... These guys are amazing!

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

are the lyrics not 'I'm not whole when you're not near' ??? (thats what i hear when i listen to the song? AMAZING underrated band though!

Could be Jo, I transcribed these from the original Love Your Ground EP version in which I always heard 'and the hole', but listening to the B-side version on the Winter Winds single it could be really be either, depending on what you listen for. But yeah, fantastic band.

it is 100% definitely "I'm not whole when you're not near"

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

in my opinion, this song is about a guy who was with a girl but he ran away from their relationship because it became too much for him. it was happening too fast and he got scared of even the littlest bit of commitment. now that he is alone, he is questioning whether he made the right decision, because he misses her and feels 'not whole' when she's not near.

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

I think he's just afraid of falling in love, but then he realizes that there's nobody else he would rather be with and he'll take the chance.

I totally agree!

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

I think this song is as said he ran away because he was afraid, he does hate being on his own and being without her but he still believes he made the right decision by holding onto what he believed was right for him.

this song is beautiful it starts out sounding like its about a girl, and ends like its about god... probably he means for both interpretations to work

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

okay see i think theres a littttle more to it then most people are saying, i do think it was about a guy who had someone he loved very much, ran in the other direction, and then missed them again but, people are saying he was running from commitment he wasnt ready to have, yes right, but i also see him being justified in his leaving, like maybe she was asking more then he had to offer, maybe she wanted promises he couldnt make, he knows they are young and maybe nothing is forever, maybe she brought an extra burden to his life, and he was already going through other things so he had to leave her for his own good.

she was this darkness in his life that at that point in his life he needed to leave behind to feel better, or to reconstruct..

So what if I was wrong?

"But hold on to what you believe in the light When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight"

after he says what if i was wrong.. he reminds himself.. no.. stand by your decision .. you made it for a reason, theres no reason to look back and miss the good when there was so much worse going on. that darkness blinded you at one point, and now continues to.. tricking you into believeing.. maybe it wasnt so bad back then, maybe i need you? maybe i want you? when in reality, you know the light is to stay AWAY.

this is honestly the story of my relationship with my current boyfriend, i didnt stay away and now im realizing things didnt change.. time made me miss him but he continues to be this blinding black hole in my life.. that i need to remove myself from.

i found something that could be spiritual the lyric "but hold on to what you believe in the light in when the darkness has robbed you of all your sight." the bible says to jesus is the way the truth and the light. and the darkness could also be used as a reference to satan. Not trying to argue anything but that line could be spritual

Cover art for Hold on to What You Believe lyrics by Mumford & Sons

to AMillionThingsToBe: I think you're right. Hence the chorus: hold on, because it's gonna be alright between the two of us. :))) I love this song.

 
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