Mumford & Sons have released four studio albums: Sigh No More (2009), Babel (2012), Wilder Mind (2015), and Delta (2018). Sigh No More peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 in the US Read Full BioMumford & Sons are an English folk rock band formed in London in 2007.[2] The band consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, piano), and Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass). Banjo player Winston Marshall left the band in 2021.
Mumford & Sons have released four studio albums: Sigh No More (2009), Babel (2012), Wilder Mind (2015), and Delta (2018). Sigh No More peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and the Billboard 200 in the US, with Babel and Wilder Mind both debuting at number one in the UK and US, the former becoming the fastest-selling rock album of the decade and leading to a headline performance at Glastonbury Festival in 2013. The band has also issued two live albums: Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire (2011) and The Road to Red Rocks (2012).
Mumford & Sons were formed in December 2007 by multi-instrumentalists Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall and Ted Dwane. Band members play acoustic guitar, drums, keyboard instruments, bass guitar, and traditional folk instruments such as banjo, mandolin and resonator guitar. The band name originates from the fact that Marcus Mumford was the most visible member, organizing the band and their performances. Lovett indicated that the name was meant to invoke the sense of an "antiquated family business name".
A handful of similar bands were increasing their visibility in West London around the same time, giving rise to the label "West London folk scene". Mumford downplays that characterisation as an exaggeration—Mumford & Sons and a few other folk acts just happened to be operating in the same general area at the time. In an interview with the Herald Sun, Marcus Mumford said, "It's not folk really. Well, some of it is, and it's certainly not a scene. Someone got over-excited about a few bands who live in a hundred-mile radius and put it in a box to sell it as a package. It's a community, not a scene. It's not exclusive." Having developed in the same musical and cultural environment, Mumford & Sons' sound has been compared to that of artists such as Noah and the Whale, Johnny Flynn and Laura Marling, whose backing band had included Marshall, Mumford, and Dwane.
In early 2008 the band began working with manager Adam Tudhope, who, as part of management company Everybody's, also represents Keane and Laura Marling. It was through Tudhope's connection that Mumford & Sons were exposed to their future A&R at Island, Louis Bloom, who began monitoring the band. Bloom told HitQuarters that they were still at a fledgling state and not yet ready for a label deal: "There was no one there for it, just a few friends, and they needed time to develop. Over the next six months I kept going to see them and they were literally picking up fans every time."
In February 2008, the band completed an extensive UK tour with support from Alessi's Ark, Sons of Noel and Adrian, Peggy Sue and others. June 2008 marked the band's first appearance at the Glastonbury Festival. They also toured Australia with Laura Marling, whose disinclination to interact with audiences encouraged Mumford into the spotlight. The experience helped inform his attitude towards Mumford & Sons audiences, which is to interact frequently and to try to create a comfortable, casual atmosphere. Mumford & Sons' first project was an EP entitled Love Your Ground which took a year to complete and was released in November 2008 on Chess Club Records.
The band began by using bluegrass and folk instrumentation, with the core instruments of acoustic guitar, banjo, piano and a double bass, played with a rhythmic style based in alternative rock and folk. In the documentary Big Easy Express, Marcus Mumford recognizes the Old Crow Medicine Show influence: "I first heard Old Crow’s music when I was, like, 16, 17, and that really got me into, like, folk music, bluegrass. I mean, I’d listened to a lot of Dylan, but I hadn’t really ventured into the country world so much. So Old Crow were the band that made me fall in love with country music." Mumford acknowledges that "the band inspired them to pick up the banjo and start their now famous country nights in London." Ketch Secor, Old Crow front-man, concurs: "Those boys took the message and ran with it.
Much of Mumford & Sons' lyrical content has a strong literary influence, its debut album name deriving from William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. The track "Sigh No More" includes lines from the play such as Serve God love me and mend, For man is a giddy thing, and One foot in sea and one on shore. The title of the song "Roll Away Your Stone" is an allusion to Macbeth; the song includes the line Stars hide your fires/ And these here are my desires which borrows and pares down Macbeth's line in act 1, scene 4: Stars, hide your fires,/ Let not light see my black and deep desires. Additionally, "The Cave" includes several references to The Odyssey, in particular the sirens that Odysseus encounters on his journey home. The song also contains many references to G.K. Chesterton's book, St. Francis of Assisi, in which Chesterton uses Plato's Cave as a way of explaining how St. Francis views the world from God's perspective. "Little Lion Man" appears to be a retelling in dramatic monologue form of Chretien de Troyes' Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, which is the story of a knight who goes mad after betraying a promise to his wife to return to her. Both "Timshel" and "Dust Bowl Dance" draw heavily from the John Steinbeck novels Of Mice and Men, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath.
The band's change in sound on their third album was described by Lovett as a "natural departure." At the end of the Babel tour Winston Marshall traded his banjo for electric guitar in sound checks and Mumford started playing more drums as the band jammed on heavy instrumentals and even some Radiohead tunes. Banjo does not feature on the record, an instrument that had become synonymous with the band. NME reported that the band's sound is "More expansive than ever and decidedly heavier, thanks to the shift in instrumentation." The group also employed a full drumkit instead of kick drum. "We've had our standard line-up of instruments for the last six years and we felt like that was our palette, [but] we started picking up other stuff," said Lovett. "It's a very natural departure from some of that rootsier stuff."
Lovett told NME that working with James Ford for Wilder Mind was part of trying something new. "We felt a need for change. Not from Markus [Dravs], but he was so closely attached to those first two records that as we had taken that time off, we wanted to try doing something new. It felt like, if we do our third record with Markus, does that mean we do our ninth and 10th records with Markus? At some point you have to try different things, as we collectively felt like it was time to try other stuff. Markus knows that we might well make the next record with him. We definitely haven't broken up [with Dravs], we're just playing the field!".
The band have won a number of music awards throughout their career, with Sigh No More earning the band the Brit Award for Best British Album in 2011 and six overall Grammy Award nominations. The live performance at the 2011 Grammy ceremony with Bob Dylan and The Avett Brothers led to a surge in popularity for the band in the US. The band received eight total Grammy nominations for Babel and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The band also won the Brit Award for Best British Group in 2013.
The Wolf
Mumford & Sons Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning | Line by Line Meaning
Your eyes follow like tracers in the night
And the tightrope that you wander everytime
You have been weighed, you have been found wanting
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause you were all I ever longed for
Sheltered, you better keep the wolf back from the door
He wanders ever closer every night
And how he waits begging for blood
I promised you everything would be fine
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause you were all I ever longed for
Hold my gaze love, you know I want to let it go
We will stare down at the wonder of it all
And I-I will hold you in it and I-I will hold you in it
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to look you in the eye
'Cause you were all I ever longed for
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause you were all I ever longed for
The lyrics of "The Wolf" by Mumford & Sons captures the thrill of love and the fear of losing someone. The song begins with a heart full of fright, a feeling of being vulnerable, and the tracers of the night reflecting in the eyes of the person they are addressing. The tightrope is the metaphor of their relationship, where they have been tested and found wanting. Despite this, the person who speaks in the song still longs for the other, leaving behind their ways to learn to love them in kind.
The chorus is a warning that danger lurks nearby. The "wolf" is a symbol of temptation, desire, and everything that can ruin a relationship. The narrator encourages their partner to guard themselves against this threat, promising that everything will be fine. The second verse echoes the sentiments of the first, amplifying the urgency to be with the person they love. The chorus repeats, strengthening the message of protection and sacrifice.
The bridge is a moment of surrender, expressing the desire to stare down at the wonder of it all and hold onto the moment. The final verse repeats the first, emphasizing the longing of the narrator for their beloved. Overall, the song captures the feeling of being lost in love and the fear of losing oneself in the process.
Line by Line Meaning
Wide-eyed with a heart made full of fright
You seem scared and nervous but passionate at the same time
Your eyes follow like tracers in the night
Your eyesight is overcoming the darkness of the night
And the tightrope that you wander everytime
You frequently walk on this metaphorical rope that represents your everyday struggles
You have been weighed, you have been found wanting
You have been evaluated and judged to be lacking
Been wondering for days
You've been thinking and questioning for a long time
How you felt me slip your mind
You're wondering why your presence has not been acknowledged by the person you love
Leave behind your wanton ways
Abandon your undisciplined and promiscuous behavior
I want to learn to love in kind
I want to love you with the same intensity and sincerity that you deserve
'Cause you were all I ever longed for
You're the one I have always wanted and desired
Sheltered, you better keep the wolf back from the door
You need to be protected from any danger or temptation
He wanders ever closer every night
The wolf - symbolizing a threat - is getting nearer and nearer
And how he waits begging for blood
The wolf is waiting and craving for a destructive outcome
I promised you everything would be fine
I have reassured you that everything will go well and to not worry
Hold my gaze love, you know I want to let it go
Focus on my eyes because I want to express my feelings deeply
We will stare down at the wonder of it all
We will contemplate and marvel at the amazing experience we have together
And I-I will hold you in it and I-I will hold you in it
I will cherish and embrace you during that moment
I want to look you in the eye
I want to connect with you emotionally and express my commitment
'Cause you were all I ever longed for
I've always desired you and you're the person I truly want
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BENJAMIN WALTER DAVID LOVETT, EDWARD JAMES MILTON DWANE, MARCUS OLIVER JOHNSTONE MUMFORD, WINSTON AUBREY ALADAR MARSHALL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Work of heart
Wide-eyed with a heart made full of fright
Your eyes follow like tracers in the night
And the tightrope that you wander every time
You have been weighed, you have been found wanting
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
Sheltered, you better keep the wolf back from the door
[Album version:] He wanders ever closer every time
[Music video version:] He wanders ever closer every night
And how he waits, baying for blood
I promised you everything would be fine
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
Hold my gaze love, you know I want to let it go
We will stare down at the wonder of it all
And I-I will hold you in it and I-I will hold you in it
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to look you in the eye
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
love, Damaris
ひゅうが
Wide-eyed with a heart made full of fright
Your eyes follow like tracers in the night
And the tightrope that you wander every time
You have been weighed, you have been found wanting
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
Sheltered, you better keep the wolf back from the door
[Album version:] He wanders ever closer every time
[Music video version:] He wanders ever closer every night
And how he waits, baying for blood
I promised you everything would be fine
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
Hold my gaze love, you know I want to let it go
We will stare down at the wonder of it all
And I-I will hold you in it and I-I will hold you in it
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to look you in the eye
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
Been wondering for days
How you felt me slip your mind
Leave behind your wanton ways
I want to learn to love in kind
'Cause You were all I ever longed for
Razzle
One of the best songs from the album, I don't care what anyone says, this is amazing.
DEU
This one and Ditmas.
DAwn Leister
Totally agree!!!!!
Paul Harding
I don't have the album but the wolf and ditmas are amazing.
Demo Gog
I agree with you
I Firebolt I
Chad Mower Studio version or live version?
NPT Music
This song deserves to be huge - I think this might not chart that high but will be around for decades
Doofing Cookies
Oh yea
Deb NKY
Do you feel that too? From the first time I heard it, it's stuck with me -- one of the greatest love songs of the past decade
Thedubartist
I agree! I have been listening to this song for 7 years and love it.