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.
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.