Monday, June 14, 2010

Mumford & Sons - The Cave




This song - and the accompanying video - by Mumford & Sons first came to my attention when one of my housemates had a kind of binge, playing it over and over. My first comments were of gentle mockery for his obsession, but I have come rather to enjoy it. Was that an allusion to Book XII of the Odyssey (and do I catch some Republic as well) that I heard? In any event, I am keen to see another folk-rock band - making use of banjo, mandolin, dobro and accordion - making a splash.

And if you liked "The Cave," give a listen to "Winter Winds" or "Little Lion Man". (Warning: the chorus of the later does contains language which may not be appropriate for children.)

3 comments:

Margaret E. Perry said...

Oh! I just discovered them. I like.

Anonymous said...

Actually, The Cave is a reference to G.K. Chesterton's Biography on St. Francis of Assisi

First, from Mumford and Son's "The Cave"

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the Maker's hand

Now, the passage from Chesterton's Saint Francis of Assissi

Francis, at the time or somewhere about the time when he disappeared into the prison or the dark cavern, underwent a reversal of a certain psychological kind...The man who went into the cave was not the man who came out again...He looked at the world as differently from other men as if he had come out of that dark hole walking on his hands...This state can only be represented in symbol; but the symbol of inversion is true in another way. If a man saw the world upside down, with all the trees and towers hanging head downwards as in a pool, one effect would be to emphasise the idea of dependence. There is a Latin and literal connection; for the very word dependence only means hanging. It would make vivid the Scriptural text which says that God has hung the world upon nothing.

Nothing like smart and well-read musicians!

Aaron Linderman said...

Awesome. Truly awesome.