Whispers in the Dark

Album: Babel (2012)
Charted: 81
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Songfacts®:

  • This anthem call finds Marcus Mumford singing: "I'm a cad but I'm not a I'm not a fraud. I set out to serve the Lord." Speaking to the Big Issue, Mumford responded to the interviewer's question about the seeming religious undertones to the lyrics. "The lyric you said, 'I set out to serve the Lord,' no-one realizes it's pluperfect tense," he said. "The lyric is, 'I had set out to serve the Lord.' It's looking back at a time when that happened."

    "I don't even call myself a Christian," he added. "Spirituality is the word we engage with more. We're fans of faith, no religion. We're just writing songs that ask questions. Sometimes the best way to go about exploring a question, things we wouldn't necessarily talk about in conversation, is by writing a song."
  • The song has been played live by the band since before their debut album Sigh No More was released.
  • The Jim Canty directed music video was filmed during Mumford & Sons' tour stop in Camden, New Jersey as we see each band member make their way to their arena show. The tongue-in-cheek clip action is split into four screens, with Marcus Mumford cruising to the gig on a bike and Ben Lovett waking up in a parked car then finding himself in bumper-to-bumper traffic, meaning he has to race the rest of the way on foot. Meanwhile, Ted Dwane looks contemplatively at the sea before hitching a ride aboard a naval vessel and Winston Marshall steps out of a suit into a ragged costume with the addition of some fake facial hair to complete the Depression-era look the band is often noted for. Mumford & Sons tour openers, Haim, have a cameo role helping to outfit Marshall in his tattered ensemble.

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