Florence + the Machine is a London, UK, art pop band led by singer-songwrit… Read Full Bio ↴Florence + the Machine is a London, UK, art pop band led by singer-songwriter Florence Welch and formed in 2007. The band consists of: Florence Welch (vocals), Robert Ackroyd (guitar), Isabella Summers (aka Isa Machine - keyboards), Tom Monger (harp), Mark Saunders (bass, percussion), Christopher Lloyd Hayden (drums, backing vocals), Rusty Bradshaw (keyboard, backing vocals) and Sam White (backing vocals).

Lead singer, Florence Welch, was an art-college drop-out, from Camberwell (London), who was discovered singing Motown covers in a nightclub toilet, drunk. ”The Machine” name originated with an in-joke between Welch and Summers. Musically, Florence + The Machine's sound is sometimes referred to as soul-inspired indie rock. Welch grew up listening to The White Stripes and Kate Bush and says she writes metaphorical songs that are "stories with consequences and weird morality issues."

2008
Florence + The Machine's music has received praise across the British music media, especially from the BBC, who played a large part in their rise to prominence, by bringing them into the spotlight as part of "BBC Introducing" (a program to support unsigned artists) - firstly at South By South West (SXSW) in Austin, Texas in March 2008 and later that year (Sept 2008) the band recorded a full session for the BBC at their Maida Vale studios.

2009 - 2010 - first awards and first studio album - "Lungs"
At the Brit Awards 2009, Florence + The Machine received the Critics' Choice Award at the Brits in the UK. The award was introduced in 2008 (when it was awarded to Adele) and focuses on new and emerging British talent, voted for by a panel of music industry experts.

The band's début album was "Lungs" (Jul 2009, Universal), preceded by third single Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) (Jun 2009, Moshi Moshi). "Lungs" went on to become number one in the UK album charts in January 2010, and won the MasterCard British Album award at the 2010 Brits, where they performed a hugely popular collaboration, You've Got the Dirtee Love (live at The Brit Awards 2010) with Dizzee Rascal - a mix of You've Got the Love, the Candi Staton cover from "Dog Days Are Over" (Nov 2008, IAmSound), and Dizzee’s Dirtee Cash (Sept 2009, Dirtee Stank).

2011 - second studio album - "Ceremonials"
The second album "Ceremonials" (31 Oct 2011, Island) - with which Welch was inspired for the title and some themes from a '70s Super 8 film of an art installation, she recalls: "... this big procession of kind of coquette-style hippies and all these different coloured robes and masks, and it was all to do with colour, really saturated, brightly coloured pastas and balloons. I saw it a couple years ago, and it was called 'Ceremonials' and then, like, Roman numerals after it. And the word sort of stuck with me, and I think the whole idea of performance ...". The album is also influenced by hymns, poems and church bells.

2012 - MTV Unplugged album - "MTV Unplugged"
In 2012, the band released a live album - "MTV Unplugged" (Apr 2012, Universal) - as part of the MTV Unplugged series. It was filmed in December 2011 in New York’s oldest synagogue building, Angel Orensanz Center, with the band being backed by a ten-person choir.

2015 - third studio album - "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful"
The band's long awaited third studio album is called "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful". It was released on May 29, 2015 on Island Records.

2018 - fourth studio album - "High As Hope"
The band's fourth studio album is called "High As Hope". It was released on June 29, 2018 on Republic Records.

Drumming Song
Florence + the Machine Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

There's a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you're around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound

There's a drumming noise inside my head
That throws me to the ground
I swear that you should hear it

It makes such an almighty sound

Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell

I ran to a tower where the church bells chime
I hoped that they would clear my mind
They left a ringing in my ear
But that drum's still beating loud and clear

Louder than sirens (louder than sirens)
Louder than bells (louder than bells)
Sweeter than heaven (sweeter than haven)
And hotter than hell (and hotter than hell)

Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell

Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell

As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat, it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder

I run to the river and dive straight in
I pray that the water will drown out the din
But as the water fills my mouth
It couldn't wash the echoes out
But as the water fills my mouth
It couldn't wash the echoes out

I swallow the sound and it swallows me whole
'Til there's nothing left inside my soul
I'm as empty as that beating drum
But the sound has just begun

As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat it fills my head up
And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder

There's a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you're around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound

There's a drumming noise inside my head
That starts when you're around
I swear that you could hear it
It makes such an almighty sound

Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell

Louder than sirens
Louder than bells
Sweeter than heaven
And hotter than hell

As I move my feet towards your body
I can hear this beat it fills my head up

And gets louder and louder
It fills my head up and gets louder and louder

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Florence + the Machine's song Drumming Song describe the overwhelming feeling that the singer experiences when they are around someone they love. The "drumming noise" in their head is a metaphor for the pounding of their heart and the intensity of their emotions. The sound is so powerful that it "throws" them to the ground and "fills" their head until it's "louder than sirens" and "hotter than hell."

In an attempt to escape the overpowering feeling, the singer runs to a tower where church bells are chiming, hoping they will "clear" their mind. However, the drumming noise is still present, "beating loud and clear." Even submerging themselves in a river doesn't wash away the echoes of the sound.

As the song progresses, the singer seems to give in to the feeling, "swallowing the sound," until it becomes all-consuming. The repetition of the chorus emphasizes the intensity of the emotion, growing "louder and louder" until it fills their entire being.

Overall, the song captures the overwhelming feeling of love, and the inability to escape it even when it becomes too much to bear.

Line by Line Meaning

There's a drumming noise inside my head
The singer is experiencing a loud and persistent beat in her mind

That starts when you're around
This beat is triggered by the presence of another person

I swear that you could hear it
The singer believes that the other person can hear the beat as well

It makes such an almighty sound
The beat is extremely powerful and overwhelming

Louder than sirens
The beat is louder than emergency sirens

Louder than bells
The beat is louder than ringing church bells

Sweeter than heaven
Despite being loud and overwhelming, the beat is still pleasurable to the singer

And hotter than hell
The beat is intense and passionate

I ran to a tower where the church bells chime
The artist tried to escape the beat by going to a place of calm and tranquility

I hoped that they would clear my mind
The artist hoped that the church bells would help to rid her mind of the persistent beat

They left a ringing in my ear
Although the church bells did ring, they did not have the desired effect on the singer

But that drum's still beating loud and clear
Despite the attempts to escape the beat, it is still present and strong

As I move my feet towards your body
The singer is approaching the other person

I can hear this beat, it fills my head up
The beat becomes even more intense as the singer gets closer to the other person

And gets louder and louder
The beat continues to grow in intensity

I run to the river and dive straight in
The artist tries to escape the beat by jumping into water

I pray that the water will drown out the din
The artist hopes that the sound of the water will drown out the beat

But as the water fills my mouth
The singer becomes overwhelmed by the water

It couldn't wash the echoes out
The beat persists despite the singer's efforts to escape it

I swallow the sound and it swallows me whole
The beat becomes all-consuming for the artist

'Til there's nothing left inside my soul
The artist feels empty and drained by the beat

I'm as empty as that beating drum
The artist feels as though she has been emptied out by the beat

But the sound has just begun
Despite the singer's feelings of emptiness, the beat continues to play on

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Crispin Hunt, Florence Welch, James Ellis Ford

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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