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.
Only Love
Mumford & Sons Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I was stuck to the spot without a friend
Alone again
And I hunger and I thirst
For some shiver
For some whispered words
And the promise to come
And you saw me low
Alone again
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
I didn't fool you but I failed you
In short, made a fool out of you
And a younger heart
And I rage and I rage
But perhaps I will come of age
And be ready for you
And you saw me low
Alone again
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
And you saw me low
Alone again
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
The lyrics of Mumford & Sons' Only Love describe the feeling of loneliness and the yearning for love and companionship. The singer feels stuck and without any friends, searching for connection with someone or something that will bring a shiver and whispered words. The promise of love is what keeps them going, even when things seem bleak.
The second verse is a confession of sorts. The singer acknowledges that they didn't fool their love interest, but rather failed them and made a fool of themselves. They rage against the situation, but there is hope that they will come of age and be ready for love. The chorus repeats the idea that only love will win in the end, emphasizing the transformative power of this emotion.
Line by Line Meaning
Loneliness and all
Despite being alone, with nothing but my loneliness keeping me company
I was stuck to the spot without a friend
I was paralyzed and immovable without anyone to support or guide me
Alone again
Once more, I find myself isolated from the world
And I hunger and I thirst
I long for something, a craving that I cannot seem to satisfy
For some shiver
A shiver of delight or excitement that will give me a moment of joy
For some whispered words
Whispers of affection or reassurance that will fill the emptiness inside me
And the promise to come
The assurance that something better lies ahead, a better future than my current lonely state
And you saw me low
You noticed my despair and sadness
Alone again
Once more, I find myself isolated from the world
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
A reminder that ultimately, only love will triumph over all else and bring us to a better place
I didn't fool you but I failed you
I couldn't deceive you, but instead disappointed or let you down
In short, made a fool out of you
I embarrassed or humiliated you and disrespected your trust
And a younger heart
A more optimistic or naïve heart that believed in the goodness of the world
And I rage and I rage
I feel intense anger and frustration
But perhaps I will come of age
But maybe I will mature and outgrow my current state of mind
And be ready for you
And be prepared to show you the love and care that you deserve
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
A reminder that ultimately, only love will triumph over all else and bring us to a better place
And you saw me low
You noticed my despair and sadness
Alone again
Once more, I find myself isolated from the world
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
A reminder that ultimately, only love will triumph over all else and bring us to a better place
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BENJAMIN WALTER DAVID LOVETT, EDWARD JAMES MILTON DWANE, MARCUS OLIVER JOHNSTONE MUMFORD, WINSTON AUBREY ALADAR MARSHALL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
tomy roberto
Loneliness and all
I was stuck to the spot without a friend
Alone again
And I hunger and I thirst
For some shiver
For some whispered words
And the promise to come
And you saw me low
Alone again
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
I didn't fool you but I failed you
In short, made a fool out of you
And a younger heart
And I rage and I rage
But perhaps I will come of age
And be ready for you
And you saw me low
Alone again
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
turbo 68
So much emotion form the crowd, it's beautiful to see
Jonah Kane
“Didn’t they say that only love would win in the end”. Very profound words indeed!
mattmusc
Wow. Impressive performance. Impressive song. Impressive silence in the audience. Simply Amazing :)
Ah, does anybody know the tuning of the guitar?
Frank Bernal
The tuning is C A C G C E, just like Guiding Light ;)
tomy roberto
Loneliness and all
I was stuck to the spot without a friend
Alone again
And I hunger and I thirst
For some shiver
For some whispered words
And the promise to come
And you saw me low
Alone again
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
I didn't fool you but I failed you
In short, made a fool out of you
And a younger heart
And I rage and I rage
But perhaps I will come of age
And be ready for you
And you saw me low
Alone again
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
Didn't they say that only love will win in the end
Abu Bardewa
Walking down the London tube with this song . So glad I had a chance to see them live at BST 2016. Amazing experience
Jennyffer Sabarrete
Essa música é linda demais!
Alan Guedes
BR 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼
Jo F
They might even sing the alphabet and I'd still be totally into it... but this level of lyrics is something else!
Zaine Rij Videaa
have seen them sing Woman and it moved me. Didnt read the desciption. I mean wow, Just wow. When you love someone, youd go lengths, cross boundaries. It's amazing. Well done Jasper