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.
Beloved
Mumford & Sons Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But tired and shift
A whisper of wayward silver hair
From your eyes
I'd never seen you unkempt before
As you whisper "Darling close the door"
How have I not made a note of every word
You ever said
But I'll pretend that it's alright
She says the Lord has a plan
But admits it's pretty hard to understand
Before you leave
You must know you are beloved
And before you leave
Remember I was with you
Are you afraid
However could you not be
In this rosy light
This is strange
I see a hand come through the mirror
Pointing at the light
Pointing at the light we never see
As you put your feathered arms over me
Before you leave
You must know you are beloved
And before you
Leave remember I was with you
And as you leave
I won't hold you back beloved
We'll sit
And talk the stars down from the sky
And I'll not forget the chaos in your eyes love
And as you leave
You must know you are beloved
And as you leave
I can see the wild has come for you
And as you leave
I won't hold you back beloved
And as you leave
See my children playing at your feet
The lyrics of Mumford & Sons's song "Beloved" seem to be about bidding farewell to a loved one. The first verse describes a scene where the person being bid farewell to is tired and disheveled, which is an unusual sight, and they are requesting to close the door. The singer reflects on how they have not paid enough attention to the words this person has spoken in the past. However, they know that time is running out, and that they need to pretend that everything is alright. The person being left behind mentions that God has a plan, but admits that it is hard to comprehend.
The chorus acts as a reminder that the individual who is departing must know that they are beloved, and that they will not be held back. The second verse is where things take a surreal turn. The singer acknowledges that the person who is leaving is afraid, and the room is lit in such a way that it appears rosy. Suddenly a hand comes out of the mirror, pointing towards a light that they never see. The person who is leaving puts their arms around the singer and comforts them. The final verses describe a moment where the two of them sit together and make small talk. They share a moment of closeness before the person leaves. The final line is about the singer's children playing at the feet of the person leaving.
As for the meaning of the song, it is about loss and how difficult it is to let go of someone we love. The person who is departing may be dying or moving on, and the singer is struggling to come to terms with it. The song is also about finding solace in the knowledge that the person being left behind is beloved and is not alone. The surreal imagery may represent the idea that, in moments of farewell, reality can seem twisted and distorted. The song acknowledges that life can be frightening, unpredictable, and messy, yet reminds us that love and connection endure.
Line by Line Meaning
Sit enthroned in white grandeur
You seem to be in control and grand. You sit in a grand room and in a white throne.
But tired and shift
But I can see that you are tired and restless.
A whisper of wayward silver hair from your eyes
Your hair is silver and flowing in every direction from your eyes.
I'd never seen you unkempt before
I have never seen you this disheveled before.
As you whisper "Darling close the door"
You ask me to close the door as you whisper this to me.
How have I not made a note of every word you ever said
I can't believe I have not written down every word you have ever said to me.
And time, is not on our side
We are running out of time.
But I'll pretend that it's alright
But, I will fake it and pretend everything is alright.
She says the Lord has a plan
You say that God has a plan.
But admits it's pretty hard to understand
But, you admit that it is hard to understand his plan.
Before you leave you must know you are beloved
Before you go, you must know that you are loved.
And before you leave remember I was with you
Before you go, remember that I was with you.
Are you afraid? However could you not be in this rosy light
Are you scared? How could you not be in this bright and rosy light?
This is strange I see a hand come through the mirror
I see a hand coming through the mirror, which is strange.
Pointing at the light we never see
The hand points at a light that we can never see.
As you put your feathered arms over me
As you put your arms around me like wings.
We'll sit and talk the stars down from the sky
We'll sit and talk for a long time, until dawn breaks and we can see the stars disappearing.
And I'll not forget the chaos in your eyes, love
I will never forget the chaos in your eyes, my love.
And as you leave, I won't hold you back, beloved
As you leave, I won't hold you back, my beloved.
And as you leave, you must know you are beloved
And, as you leave, you must remember that you are loved.
And as you leave, I can see the wild has come for you
And, as you leave, I can see that the wilderness is calling for you.
And as you leave, I won't hold you back, beloved
And, as you leave, my beloved, I won't hold you back.
See my children playing at your feet
See my children playing at your feet, as you leave.
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
@bradenreiter1052
Holding my wife's hand with my two children as she passed away is etched into my being. This song has brought softness and light back into that hard reality. The grief has lightened but there is no end to grief because there is no end to love.
@hamnurgler5901
I'm sorry for your and your children's loss. I pray that you find some level of comfort in things like this song and knowing that you're never alone. I'm praying for you and your children right now. God bless you.
@jesseslad6623
Beautifully put!
@r_dubs90
😭
@kevineubanks859
Braden that is so beautiful. I pray for your peace and your children's as well. Much love brother.
@cheapsundaze967
I’m so sorry you had to go through that pain
@DieboldTSZ
They played this at my sisters funeral. She loved this group. Now this song is all I have.
@jennyhong6746
❤
@angelikahermann2358
❤❤❤😢❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
She is always with you oltough you can only see her when you close your eyes. Love never ends All the best for you from Germany
@effiemooney8477
OMG,one of the most beautiful song and video that I have seen in forever. I am 67 and would love to do that,one more time with my precious babies! TY guys!!!❤😢😊