Not with Haste

In my opinion, this song is a companion song to "After The Storm" from the previous album. There are multiple similarities in the lyrics, and both songs come at the end of their respective albums (excluding the deluxe edition, of course).

In "After The Storm," the writer has come to the end of himself. Whatever you interpret "the storm" as, the point is that he's at the end of his rope. He's on his knees, broken. But he has determined not to abandon hope for himself, as we see in this line:

"But I won't rot; not this mind and not this heart, I won't rot."

Next, he looks out at all he's held dear, all he's stood for, and takes comfort in his hope.

"And I took you by the hand, and we stood tall. And remembered our own land; what we lived for. But there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears And love will not break your heart, Dismiss your fears."

In "Not With Haste," we have a similar scene, but one that is at the same time entirely different. Walking through the fields under a fair sun that he just can't bring himself to notice, the writer is on his knees again, but this time, instead of having lost hope, he's merely "broke." In "After the Storm," we have the encouragement that "love will not break your heart," and now, at long last, the writer is taking the plunge into a life-long love. He's proposing marriage.

"And I was broke, I was on my knees. But you said 'yes' as I said 'please.'"

"After the Storm" is the desperate, lonely cry of a man who has come to the end of his rope, but is not willing to give up hope. "And I won't die alone, and be left there." But in "Not With Haste," we see the conclusion of his story. He had held onto the hope that love would not break his heart, and now he's found that to be true. He's found freedom.

"So we will run and scream, You will dance with me Fulfill our dreams, and we'll be free.

We will be who we are, And they'll heal our scars. Sadness will be far away."

These are such unashamedly hopeful words. It's not a reckless, foolish hope, but a hope that's grounded in what he's learned in the past. He's not throwing caution to the wind, he's believing with faith that the hopes that he's clung to so tightly, even through the through the storms, will now come to pass.

Echoing the cry from the previous song, "I won't rot," he ends this song with the admonishment to himself not to let his flesh go to waste. Whereas before he perhaps loved with haste, which left him broken, desperate, and alone, now he will love not hastily and foolishly, but fervently.

"Do not let my fickle flesh go to waste//As it keeps my heart and soul in its place//And I will love with urgency but not with haste"

We're on earth with a God-given purpose–that's why we have these bodies, this flesh. Our physical makeup keeps us on the physical earth, which is where we are supposed to be at this time. What the first two lines of this last stanza is saying is "don't let my time here on earth go to waste" and acknowledges that in our humanness we tend to be selfish and flighty.

Finally, to love with urgency but not with haste is to invest our love wisely. After all, where we invest our love is where we invest our life.

I think this song is about marriage. Obviously, the part where he is on his knees is referring to a proposal. "We will run and scream/ You will dance with me/ They'll fulfill our dreams and we'll be free/ And we will be who we are/ And they'll heal our scars/Sadness will be far away" refers to a lot of what marriage is about. Marriage is about living life together and supporting each other/fulfilling dreams and just being happy being together.

Speaking to the melody - this song references the theme in "Lover's Eyes", which in turn constructs its tune by borrowing a stanza from "Simple Gifts"/"Lord of the Dance" and slowing it down. That frames "Not with Haste" and "Lover's Eyes" as both anchored firmly in spirituality and thematically linked to each other. So while I don't necessarily disagree with the "marriage" interpretation, I think it's a bit too literal to say the author is singing about his actual marriage proposal. Instead, I'd suggest that the marriage theme should be taken symbolically and applied to the singer's personal feelings toward/relationship with god.

In general, nearly all the main songs on this album heavily reference each other, not just thematically, but both lyrically and melodically as well. Although its most obvious here, that interconnectedness should be taken into consideration when interpreting any given song in Babel.

A few things:

The song is similar to "Attics of my Life" from the Grateful Dead in its redemption theme.

Compare these lyrics to First Corinthians 13.

"Though I may speak some tongue of old Or even spit out some holy word I have no strength from which to speak When you sit me down and see I'm weak"

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

I see the "They" in "They'll fulfill our dreams" as Children.

this song comes to me as something purely spiritual. it makes me think of a great love for God and how things get bad, he gets on his knees and God says yes and fulfills his dreams and heals his scars

"And I was broke I was on my knees But you said yes as I said please"

and "We will run and scream You will dance with me They'll fulfill our dreams And we'll be free

And we will be who we are And they'll heal our scars Sadness will be far away"

also that it's not fake and he's proud of it "This ain't no sham I am what I am I leave no ties For a cynic's mind"

Has anyone noticed that this is essentially the sister song to Learn Me right by Birdie ft. Mumford and Sons, which is on the Brave Soundtrack?

Both are amazing songs <3 It sounds like redemption to me.

I can't believe how well M&S' songs fit my experience of life and love, desperation and faith. Thank you for your thoughts on the meaning of these particular lyrics. I have experienced very much the same journey that you (frank) describe below (in your thoughtful interpretation of the 2 songs you link together). How cool to hear our experiences filtered through song, then through others' experiences of the song. What richness is then added to my own personal journey! Merci beaucoup, mes chéris!

To me this song seems to be about the idea of heaven or a heaven-like place. He seems to be speaking directly to God in certain lines:

Your eyes they tie me down so hard/ I'll never learn to put up a guard

no matter how hard he tries God always knows and see's what he's done/his pain,

Though I may speak some tongue of old Or even spit out some holy word I have no strength from which to speak When you sit me down and see I'm weak

Even though he tries to seem holy and humble on Earth, God see's through him and knows his faults; basically he thinks he's weak and the only one who truly knows this is God.

In the chorus, the idea of heaven is more obvious to me:

We will run and scream You will dance with me They'll fulfill our dreams and we'll be free And we will be who we are And they'll heal our scars Sadness will be far away

In heaven, all will be well, no sadness will exist, no pain, no worry, no woe, God and His angels (they) will make everything alright.

Now to me, this verse removes all doubt about the meaning of the song:

So as we walked through fields of green Was the fairest sun I'd never seen And I was broke I was on my knees But you said yes as I said please

As they walked through heaven, everything was perfect (maybe when he was saved or came to term with God), I was broke and on my knees, I was broken, gave up, and praying, and even though he thinks he didn't deserve it God forgave him (said yes as I said please). Contrary to popular belief, I see no marriage references in this song, and solely interpret it as a song about God's grace and heaven (as we so often hear Marcus referring to.)

I think that when it is said, I am what I am, he is referring to verse which calls the Lord the great I am. I also think that the author could not be referring to two different people in this song. He starts talking about "WE will run and scream YOU will dance with me" that is exclaiming first, the unity of himself and the other, and then just the other when he says you. So, later in the song, when it is said "we walked through" and "you said yes," the author is still referring to that first person. There is one significant other that is talked about in this song and that is God. God walks with him through the fields and when the main person is broken down and falls before the Lord because of things that he done in his human flesh, the Lord says "yes;" yes you can still be my son. This is also making reference to the story, the Prodigal son in the Bible. The son comes to the father asking for forgiveness and pleading with the father and he forgives him for what he has done. This song is most definitely connecting with biblical ideals.