Ward was previously with the band Rodriguez, which included bassist Kyle Field (of Little Wings fame) and drummer Mike Funk. They recorded and released on cassette Box Plots and Cash Crops and then the album Swing Like a Metronome in 2000. Duet for Guitars #2 was released on Howe Gelb's Ow Om record label. Ward's 2001 album, End of Amnesia, was released by Future Farmer Records, and his subsequent albums have been released on Merge Records. A collection of live recordings, Live Music & the Voices of Strangers, was a self-released disc that was sold at his shows. His next album, Transfiguration of Vincent, was released in 2003, followed by Transistor Radio in 2005. A year later, Post War was released.
In 2006, he contributed a song to, and helped produce, the John Fahey tribute album, I Am the Resurrection. He also contributed the song "Transfiguration #1" from Transfiguration of Vincent to the Brushfire Records soundtrack for A Brokedown Melody, a Jack Johnson surfing film.
His album, Hold Time, was released in 2009. The album A Wasteland Companion followed in 2012. The album title alludes to T.S. Eliot's 1922 modernist poem, The Waste Land. In 2016, he released More Rain. On June 8, 2018, M. Ward released What a Wonderful Industry.
Side Projects
In 2008 M. Ward combined forces with Zooey Deschanel and became She & Him. They have released two albums so far, Volume One in 2008 and Volume Two in 2010. He is also one fourth of the folk supergroup, Monsters of Folk, alongside Jim James from My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst & Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes. Their self-titled release, Monsters of Folk, was released in 2009.
* Official website
Lullaby + Exile
M. Ward Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With a thrill wrapped up inside it
And try as you might to fight it
Love will get you in the end
And then the sound of a bell
Could sound like angels crying
Or sunlight multiplying
And then a lullaby on Broadway
Could sound like an exile out on Main
Oh when that curtain closes
You'll be back in your seat again
And then the band starts the ball
When the chandelier starts glowing
With or without you knowing
Who the partner, what the dance
Oh a trance is a spell
With a thrill wrapped up inside it
And try as you might to fight it
Love will get you in
Love will get you in
Love will get you in
The end
The lyrics of M. Ward's song "Lullaby + Exile" speak to the power of love to entrance and transform us. The opening lines describe a trance as a spell with a thrilling quality that draws us in, despite our efforts to resist it. It is presented as an inevitability that "love will get you in the end." Further on, the lyrics meditate on the transformative quality of sound, with a bell capable of evoking both heavenly sorrow and transcendent beauty. The comparison to stained glass brings to mind religious iconography, emphasizing the deep emotional resonance that music and art can have.
The song's chorus contrasts the idea of a lullaby, which tends to conjure feelings of comfort and safety, with the image of exile. In the context of the song, the idea seems to be that the comforting embrace of a lullaby can be an escape from the harsh realities of life, but ultimately this escape is temporary. When the song ends, we are back to our everyday lives, symbolized in the lyrics by the return to our seat after the show is over. This is followed by a description of a lively ball, where the music serves as a catalyst for even greater transformation than the lullaby. The partner and dance are left undefined, which could be interpreted as an invitation to listeners to insert their own experiences and fantasies into the song.
Overall, "Lullaby + Exile" is a song that speaks to the power of art and love to transform us, albeit briefly, and to provide us with a sense of escape from the mundane realities of everyday life. Through evocative imagery and a haunting melody, M. Ward creates a dreamscape that encourages listeners to let go of their inhibitions and embrace the enchantment of the moment.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh a trance is a spell
A trance-like state is an enchantment that consumes us
With a thrill wrapped up inside it
The trance has a sense of excitement intertwined in it
And try as you might to fight it
Although we try to resist, we are still powerless against it
Love will get you in the end
Love will reach you regardless of what you do
And then the sound of a bell
Following the trance, the sound of a bell rings
Could sound like angels crying
The bell could resemble weeping heavenly beings
Or sunlight multiplying
Or it may seem as if the sun is multiplying in every direction
Through Virgin Mary in stained glass
As it resonates through the stained glass of the holy mother
And then a lullaby on Broadway
Later, a soothing song echoes through the streets of Broadway
Could sound like an exile out on Main
The song may make one feel like they are in a distant land far away
Oh when that curtain closes
As the curtains fall down
You'll be back in your seat again
You will end up in the same place you started
And then the band starts the ball
Next, a musical composition creates an atmosphere of joy and splendor
When the chandelier starts glowing
As light radiates from the dazzling chandelier
With or without you knowing
Maybe you are aware, or maybe you are not conscious of it
Who the partner, what the dance
But it doesn't matter; what's important is the partner and the dance
Love will get you in the end
The spell of love that was hinted at in the beginning will eventually take hold.
Love will get you in
It will envelop you until it has fully claimed you
Love will get you in
There is no escaping its grip
The end
All of it leads to this end.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@gianewton1236
Oh, a trance is a spell
With a thrill wrapped up inside it
And try as you might to fight it
Love will get you in the end
And then the sound of a bell
Could sound like angels crying
Or sunlight multiplying
Through Virgin Mary in stained glass
And then a lullaby on Broadway
Could sound like an exile out on Main
Oh, when that curtain closes
You'll be back in your seat again
And then the band starts the ball
When the chandelier starts glowing
With or without you knowing
Who the partner, what the dance
Oh, a trance is a spell
With a thrill wrapped up inside it
And try as you might to fight it
Love will get you in, love will get you in
Love will get you in the end
@whoopswrongplanet.9647
"It turns out Zahid was right about love. Sometimes you just know."
- Sam, Atypical.
@BrokenSharpie35
Kelly Valor Sam didn't deserve to have his heartbroken....
@lamaksewell907
Kelly Valor woow so you gonna just do me like that
@MsAnneGreen
ATYPICAL Sam and Julia slow dance in the parking lot brought me here!
@iceevice
MsAnneGreen I need season 2 right now
@vincentguingab2391
Mcat Draft SAME that show is sooooooo good
@siralexanderiii5778
Same
@BIGHEBZ
Season 2 is comin tomorrow... Like if yall ready
@jestermantv9571
Same
@sherwinconde2248
Thanks, Atypical for letting me know this beautiful song.