Mumford & Sons are an English folk rock band formed in London in 2007.[2] T… Read Full Bio ↴Mumford & 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.

Not with Haste
Mumford & Sons Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Your eyes, they tie me down so hard.
I'll never learn to put up a guard.
So keep my love, my candle bright.
Learn me hard oh, learn me right.

This ain't no sham.
I am what I am.

Though I may speak, some tongue of old
Or even spit out some holy word.
I have no strength from which to speak
When you shoot me down and see I'm weak

We will run and scream.
You will dance with me.
They'll fulfill our dreams
And we'll be free
And we will be who we are
And they'll heal our scars.
Sadness will be far away.

So as we walked
Through fields of green,
It was the fairest sun I'd ever seen.
And I was broke,
I was on my knees.
You said yes as I said please.

This ain't no sham.
I am what I am.
I'll leave no time
For a cynic's mind.

We will run and scream.
You will dance with me.
Fulfill our dreams
And we'll be free
We will be who we are
And they'll heal our scars.
Sadness will be far away.

Do not let my fickle flesh go to waste
As it keeps my heart and soul in its place.

And I will love with urgency
But not with haste.

Overall Meaning

The song "Not With Haste" by Mumford & Sons features lyrics that convey a deep sense of love and vulnerability. The opening lines convey the singer's inability to guard themselves against the impact of their lover's eyes. They recognize their own weakness, but instead of closing themselves off, they ask their lover to teach them how to love fully and deeply. The lyrics also emphasize the importance of authenticity, even in the face of vulnerability. The lines "This ain't no sham. I am what I am" express the singer's refusal to conform to societal expectations or present a certain type of image. They will embrace who they are, and will only leave "no time for a cynic's mind."

Line by Line Meaning

Your eyes, they tie me down so hard.
Your gaze has such an effect on me that it's difficult for me to resist, and I don't think I'll ever learn to defend myself against it.

I'll never learn to put up a guard.
I'll never be able to build a barrier around my heart to protect myself.

So keep my love, my candle bright.
Hold on to my affection and make sure it's always glowing brightly.

Learn me hard oh, learn me right.
Teach me how to love wholeheartedly and correctly.

This ain't no sham.
This is not a deception or trickery.

I am what I am.
I am genuine and authentic.

Though I may speak, some tongue of old
Even if I use an ancient language or speak religiously,

Or even spit out some holy word.
Or recite a sacred text,

I have no strength from which to speak
I do not possess the power or ability to express myself,

When you shoot me down and see I'm weak
Especially when you reject me and expose my fragility.

We will run and scream.
We'll escape and let out our emotions loudly.

You will dance with me.
You'll join in my euphoria and dance with me.

They'll fulfill our dreams
Our aspirations will come true,

And we'll be free
And we'll feel liberated.

And we will be who we are
We'll be true to ourselves,

And they'll heal our scars.
And our wounds will be mended by others.

Sadness will be far away.
We won't feel sad anymore.

So as we walked through fields of green,
As we strolled through verdant fields,

It was the fairest sun I'd ever seen.
It was the most beautiful sunlight I'd ever witnessed.

And I was broke, I was on my knees.
And I was defeated, I was humbled.

You said yes as I said please.
You agreed to my request when I pleaded with you.

This ain't no sham.
This is not a deception or trickery.

I am what I am.
I am genuine and authentic.

I'll leave no time for a cynic's mind.
I won't allow negativity or skepticism to enter my thoughts.

Do not let my fickle flesh go to waste
Don't let my weak and mortal body be in vain,

As it keeps my heart and soul in its place.
Because it holds my emotions and spirit in check.

And I will love with urgency
And I will love fervently and with great intensity,

But not with haste.
But without impulsiveness or recklessness.

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

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