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.
Dustbowl Dance
Mumford & Sons Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The days were short and the father was gone
There was no one in the town and no one in the field
This dusty barren land had given all it could yield
I've been kicked off my land at the age of sixteen
And I have no idea where else my heart could have been
I placed all my trust at the foot of this hill
So collect your courage and collect your horse
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse
Seal my heart and break my pride
Nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
Align my heart, my body, my mind
To face what I've done and do my time
Well you are my accuser, now look in my face
Your oppression reeks of your greed and disgrace
So one man has and another has not
How can you love what it is you have got
When you took it all from the weak hands of the poor?
Liars and thieves you know not what is in store
There will come a time I will look in your eye
You will pray to the God that you've always denied
Then I'll go out back and I'll get my gun
I'll say, "You haven't met me, I am the only son"
Seal my heart and break my pride
I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
Align my heart, my body, my mind
To face what I've done and do my time
Seal my heart and break my pride
I've nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
Align my heart, my body, my mind
To face what I've done and do my time
Well, yes sir, yes sir, yes, it was me
I know what I've done, 'cause I know what I've seen
I went out back and I got my gun
I said, "You haven't met me, I am the only son"
Thank you very much.
The lyrics of Mumford & Sons's song "Dustbowl Dance" present a tale of desperation, tragedy, and revenge in what appears to be a Great Depression-era setting. The song begins with a young man standing on his porch, reflecting on the bleakness of his surroundings. The days are short, and his father is gone. The town and the field have yielded no life, leaving the barren wasteland, and the young man feels like he has nowhere to go.
As the song progresses, the young man reveals that he has been kicked off his land at the age of sixteen, leaving him with no sense of purpose or belonging. He had placed all his trust in the foot of this hill, and now his heart will never be calm. His emotional turmoil becomes clearer in the chorus as he pleads for his heart, body, and mind to be realigned so that he can face what he has done and do his time. He feels as though he has no choice about where his life has taken him, and he has nowhere to turn.
In the final verse, the young man becomes a vengeful figure, pointing a gun at someone with unknown grievance. He has been accused and oppressed by greed, leaving him with a feeling of outrage. The chorus repeats again, alluding to his inevitable fate. Never to be free or have the ability to hide, the young man faces his destiny knowing that his heart, body, and mind will always be aligned towards the consequences of his actions.
Line by Line Meaning
The young man stands on the edge of his porch
A young man is standing at the edge of his porch, perhaps contemplating his situation.
The days were short and the father was gone
The days passed quickly and the young man's father was not around.
There was no one in the town and no one in the field
The town was empty, and there was no one working in the fields.
This dusty barren land had given all it could yield
The dry and barren land had given everything it could, and there was nothing left.
I've been kicked off my land at the age of sixteen
The young man was forced off his land when he was just sixteen years old.
And I have no idea where else my heart could have been
He doesn't know what else he would have done if he couldn't work on the land.
I placed all my trust at the foot of this hill
He had all his faith in the land he lived on.
And now I am sure my heart will never be still
The young man's heart will never be at peace because he has been forced off his land.
So collect your courage and collect your horse
The young man is encouraging someone to gather their strength and get ready for a difficult journey.
And pray you never feel this same kind of remorse
The young man hopes that the person he is speaking to will never have to feel the same pain and regret that he has experienced.
Seal my heart and break my pride
The young man is asking for his heart to be protected and his pride to be taken away.
Nowhere to stand and now nowhere to hide
He has no place to go or hide anymore.
Align my heart, my body, my mind
He wants his heart, body, and mind to be focused and unified.
To face what I've done and do my time
He wants to face the consequences for what he has done and serve his time.
Well you are my accuser, now look in my face
He is speaking to his accuser and asking them to look him in the eye.
Your oppression reeks of your greed and disgrace
He accuses his oppressor of being greedy and shameful in their actions.
So one man has and another has not
One person has more while another does not.
How can you love what it is you have got
He questions how someone can love what they have, given the inequities in society.
When you took it all from the weak hands of the poor?
He accuses his oppressor of taking everything from those who are weak and poor.
Liars and thieves you know not what is in store
He warns them that liars and thieves do not know what the future holds.
There will come a time I will look in your eye
He knows that there will come a time when he will confront his oppressor face-to-face.
You will pray to the God that you've always denied
He predicts that his oppressor will turn to the God they have previously denied.
Then I'll go out back and I'll get my gun
He will take action against his oppressor.
I'll say, 'You haven't met me, I am the only son'
He declares himself as the only son and a force to be reckoned with.
Well, yes sir, yes sir, yes, it was me
He admits to being the one responsible for his actions.
I know what I've done, 'cause I know what I've seen
He is aware of his actions and the consequences because of his life experiences.
I went out back and I got my gun
He got his gun and is preparing to take action.
I said, 'You haven't met me, I am the only son'
Again, he declares himself to be the only force in his own life.
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
@cuteis147
god how much i wish they still played this live
@nullinf
lovely.