Song Lyric Sunday

Have you seen this? Over at Helen Vahdati’s site? If you’re a lover of music and enjoy thinking about the meaning behind certain songs I think you’ll enjoy it :O) The subject for this week is songs with a metaphor in the title and I’ve chosen to go with Broken Crown by Mumford and Sons, firstly because I love, love, love the song and secondly because the lyrics fascinate me:

Touch my mouth and hold my tongue
I’ll never be your chosen one
I’ll be home safe and tucked away
Well you can’t tempt me if I don’t see the dayThe pull on my flesh was just too strong
Stifled the choice and the air in my lungs
Better not to breathe than to breathe a lie
‘Cause when I open my body I breathe a lie

I will not speak of your sin
There was a way out for him
The mirror shows not
Your values are all shot

But oh my heart was flawed I knew my weakness
So hold my hand consign me not to darkness

So crawl on my belly ’til the sun goes down
I’ll never wear your broken crown
I took the road and I fucked it all away
Now in this twilight how dare you speak of grace

So crawl on my belly ’til the sun goes down
I’ll never wear your broken crown
I took the road and I fucked it all away
Now in this twilight how dare you speak of grace

So crawl on my belly ’til the sun goes down
I’ll never wear your broken crown
I can take the road and I can fuck it all away
But in this twilight our choices seal our fate

[Songwriters: Benjamin Walter David Lovett / Edward James Milton Dwane / Marcus Oliver Johnstone Mumford / Winston Aubrey Aladar Marshall]

At first glance, the lyrics appear to be about a man’s desperate struggle with religion and accepting God into his life. At the start of the song he appears to be angry with God, citing the pull of the flesh and the temptation of evil as being too strong for him to resist; he is determined to hide from the ‘light’ if you will. However, maybe as he feels the chance of redemption slipping away from him he beseeches:

“But oh my heart was flawed I knew my weakness
So hold my hand consign me not to darkness”

There is such desperation in those few words, he knows that he is weak but he is begging, almost in terror, not to be left alone in the dark…..

Sadly, almost immediately afterwards, he is defending his decision to reject God with even more anger than he had at the beginning and this is demonstrated with the use of profanity:

“I’ll never wear your broken crown
I took the road and I fucked it all away”

At this point he speaks of twilight which can be taken as a metaphor for the end of life and I think that this idea is reinforced by the very last line.

“In this twilight our choices seal our fate”

When you listen to the song you’ll notice that, after a big crescendo the music quietens and this line is sung with infinite sadness, with the acceptance of a mistake made by someone who still has too much pride to ask for the help that he so obviously needs…..

Which leads me on to, in my opinion, the more subtle metaphor which is that of Life. The struggle that the man is having is obviously an internal one; he is trapped in a struggle and knows that there are only 2 paths that he can take. On a intellectual level he knows that he needs help and he begs for it but he just doesn’t feel worthy of ‘saving’ so he continues on his path of self-destruction. I believe that he entered onto this path after a failed relationship with someone who destroyed his self-esteem and his belief in himself; he knows this and knows that he must keep away from them for the sake of his own sanity but he loves them and therefore lives in torment……

I don’t know if my interpretations are as the writers intended but I never tire of this song because of its musical and lyrical complexities.

I really hope that you enjoy it and, please, let me know what you think

Have a wonderful Sunday

Lisa x