I Will Wait

Album: Babel (2012)
Charted: 12 12
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The first single from Mumford & Sons' second album Babel is a rollicking stomp that finds Marcus Mumford singing about the challenges of maintaining a relationship amidst the conflicts of life on the road. It is one of several tracks on the set inspired by the band's busy touring schedule. "We write on the road in these hectic places with lots of people around," Mumford explained to MTV News. "And I suppose we've always put in ideas that we pick up from conversations with people, and things that we read and things that we listen to and feel."
  • The rousing Bluegrass tune is lushly arrayed with horns, bright banjo, stomping drums and fiddle. It reflects the influence of the Nashville sessions the band took part in during early 2011 in a farmhouse when, as Marcus Mumford told MTV News, they "had some friends who are musicians come play with us."
  • Mumford & Sons performed this song at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where Babel won for Album Of The Year.
  • The song presented a huge challenge for the band and producer Markus Dravs to wrestle it into a shape that they were happy with. Marcus Munford recalled to the BBC:

    "I remember Markus Dravs sitting on the end of my bed in a residential studio in Paris going, 'Come on, mate, just come on!' And I was like, 'No, no, no. I can't do it again!' But we kept going and kept going and eventually got there."

Comments: 3

  • Jana Banana from Fresno, CaThis band I love. I could watch the Red Rocks video all day!
  • Sg from Gold Coast, Australia This is magic!!!!
  • Groovy Chic from Cincinnati, OhI adore this song! awesome band
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Second Wind Songs

Second Wind SongsSong Writing

Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.

George Clinton

George ClintonSongwriter Interviews

When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.

David Gray

David GraySongwriter Interviews

David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.

Evolution Of The Prince Symbol

Evolution Of The Prince SymbolSong Writing

The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Rick Astley

Rick AstleySongwriter Interviews

Rick Astley on "Never Gonna Give You Up," "Cry For Help," and his remarkable resurgence that gave him another #1 UK album.