Devil's Spoke

I hate this website. The lyrics are always wrong. Do they have deaf people posting them or something? I mean, some of it doesn't even make sense. It's country gyp. As in in gypsy. Which is understandable seeing as how they are homophones, but 'Many trains and many miles Like you to me on this sunny isle' is supposed to be link you. Not like you. I could go on, but I won't. I'm just saying. Anyone reading these lyrics is enjoying a song that a. doesn't make sense. and b. doesn't exist. It's disrespectful to the artist.

It seems like Laura is really advancing as a songwriter. A few months ago, I wouldn't have believed that it was possible for her to mature any more...she was already so mature before. I can't imagine what she'll be like in a couple years.

This is an amazing song and it's a completely different sound than Alas, I Cannot Swim.

I MAY have found the meaning.. But I may be entirely wrong! Please correct me if you can.

I think that she has some part to play be it big or small in the death of this man's wife. 'Hold your Devil By his spoke and spin him to the ground' is her constantly trying to cope with her guilt. but she sees him and loves his so much and so passionately that she tries to hide her feelings of guilt and just go on loving him. 'I threw creation to my king, A silence broken by a whispered wind'- She got herself pregnant to keep her hold on him thus bringing a bit more excitment into her 'silent' life. 'And the backs have bled, keeping her in tow.'- She's saying that she had to work so hard so he'd love her and forget about his previous wife. 'But I am your keeper and I hold your face away from light'- shes saying that she looks after him and consoles him for the death of his wife. 'I am yours til they come' Is her worry about being found out and taken away

Lovely :)

I am so confused by this part:

But the love of your life lives, but lies no more Than where she lay your flowers grows, The arms that fed and the babes that wed, The backs that bled keeping her in tow,

The next part goes, "But I am your keeper/And I hold your face away from light." It sounds as if she is keeping him from seeing the truth. What truth? You look at the part before this line and it sounds as if the guy thought that the woman he loves was dead because it says, "The love of your life lives but lies no more." So if you put it together, it sounds as if the narrator is keeping this information away from him so that she can be with this man.

The part about "arms fed, babes wed, backs that bled" sounds like it is about the life that the man and his children went through after his wife died (or was thought to be dead). "Backs that bled keeping her in tow" is about the struggle that the family went through to as they lived on after she died. The struggle to live with this memory of her ("Keeping her in tow").

By the way, the lyrics can be found at her website as well: lauramarling.com/ under the Listen link.

This beautiful song is all about her sensing sorry for him in the relationship, as before, he was lonely and forlorn (a fallen tree that witnessed me and, ripple on water from a lonesome drip) and so he came to her, having passionate feelings towards her, she couldn’t deny his affections as she felt so blameworthy for his pain(Let it up I own his fears But someone brought you close to tears.) She passed the time, delaying for him to fall in love with another or for him to leave her (But I am your keeper and I hold your face away from light, I am yours until they come) He never did, and this made her unhappy (But the love of your life, lives but lies no more, and where she lay a flower grows. ), this means, that 'the flower' is a beautiful memory, she is reminiscing back to when she was happy, before she knew him. But then latterly, it all came together and they ended up together, a love assembled. She was like his guardian angel, his protector, she protected him from reality and the truth, but when she confessed they were in harmony because of it?
(Eye to eye Nose to nose ripping off eachothers clothes in the most perculiar way. )

the chorus, (All of this can be broken All of this can be broken Hold your devil by his spoke and spin him to the ground.) is when laura is talking how the relationship will end ultimately, and how it will 'break' [apart], and the last line, is a pun, as speak of the devil! is a phrase where an irrelevant topic is brought up in day to day conversations, so an abrupt change in feeling is what she is talking about here. what i have deduced from the last line is that she is, in simpler words, saying, control the uncontrollable, deny your affections. but she discovers she is wrong at the end verse of the song.

beautiful beautiful song :)

Also, I think it's "interred" not "in tow", but I could be mistaken. There's a lot going on at that point in the song.

nah it is "in tow". theres a couple of words here and there that are wrong but its pretty close.

AMAZING song! Loving the Mumford & Sons influence! I agree with Tatterdemalion44, just when you think shes as mature as she is going to get...she matures some more! I mean shes only like what 18? 19? WOW!

I am your keeper not I am keeper :) oh, it's a lovely song!

Soooo anyone care to explain the meaning of this song? Because I am very confused.

So, here's my interpretation:

Laura Marling is water and water is life. She wants to become one with nature and so she tears off her clothes to experience an industrial-free life ... to live her life as something pleasing to nature. Yes. That's what I believe. Yes.