I
I can't promise you that I won't let you down
And I
I can't promise you that I will be the only one around
When your hope falls down
But we are
Open flowers in the windy fields of this war-torn world
And love
This city breathes the plague of loving things more than their creators

I ran away
I could not take the burden of both me and you
It was too fast
Casting love on me as if it were a spell I could not break
When it was a promise I could not make

But what if I was wrong?
Oh, what if I was wrong?

But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

And oh, hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

And now this land
Means less and less to me without you breathing through its trees
At every turn
The water runs away from me and the halo disappears
I'm not whole when you're not near

So what if I was wrong?
Oh, what if I was wrong?
Oh, what if I was wrong?

But hold on to what you believe in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

And oh, hold on to what you believed in the light
When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight

Hold on to what you believed in the light.



Lyrics submitted by Nobody-special, edited by msudawwg, Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 04:04


Hold on to What You Believe song meanings
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19 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Appreciate what you have.
    That's what Marcus is trying to say.
    Flagged Cris8aon September 20, 2012   Link
  • 0
    Memory:I live in united state, Two years ago i married a lady called saline, we had two children together, we were very happy to be husband and wife, so when i travel on business trip to Brazil, i spent 1 years in Brazil due to my kind of business, i and my wife talked on phone all the time, we chat on the Internet, i never knew that my wife had started cheating on me by going out with her old school friend called mark, i never knew something was going wrong till i came back from my trip, then i and My wife started having problems, she goes out and come back late at night, she changed in a strange way that i could not endure, i tried to do everything to please her but it got worst, so one day she left the house and never came back, i tried reaching her but no way i could reach her, i never knew she traveled with her new lover which was mark, i wanted her so much because of the children she left for me and because i loved her so much too, because of the heart break she put me into, i went into search of a real magic spell caster I was scammed twice by a spell caster, but I never relented in my search because I want a happy life with my wife, so one morning i saw testimony about a spell caster prophet harry, so i contacted him and to my greatest surprise this prophetharry@ymail.com made life manful for me again, my wife came back to me, i took her back and I am now settled with my wife by the magic power of prophet harry spell .
    James moon
    Flagged jamesmoonon September 16, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:okay see i think theres a littttle more to it then most people are saying,
    i do think it was about a guy who had someone he loved very much, ran in the other direction, and then missed them again
    but, people are saying he was running from commitment he wasnt ready to have, yes right, but i also see him being justified in his leaving, like maybe she was asking more then he had to offer, maybe she wanted promises he couldnt make, he knows they are young and maybe nothing is forever, maybe she brought an extra burden to his life, and he was already going through other things so he had to leave her for his own good.

    she was this darkness in his life that at that point in his life he needed to leave behind to feel better, or to reconstruct..

    So what if I was wrong?

    "But hold on to what you believe in the light
    When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight"

    after he says what if i was wrong.. he reminds himself.. no.. stand by your decision .. you made it for a reason, theres no reason to look back and miss the good when there was so much worse going on. that darkness blinded you at one point, and now continues to.. tricking you into believeing.. maybe it wasnt so bad back then, maybe i need you? maybe i want you? when in reality, you know the light is to stay AWAY.

    this is honestly the story of my relationship with my current boyfriend, i didnt stay away and now im realizing things didnt change.. time made me miss him but he continues to be this blinding black hole in my life.. that i need to remove myself from.
    Flag gabort3000on February 05, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I sort of tend to read into all of Mumford and Sons' lyrics with a religious perspective, and this song really comes to me as an examination of one's doubt.

    "I ran away
    I could not take the burden of both me and you
    It was too fast
    Casting love on me as if it were a spell I could not break
    When it was a promise I could not make
    But what if I was wrong?"

    This could, of course, be talking about a love, but from this perspective, it seems like the speaker's afraid of the power of God's love: he wonders why he loves him so unconditionally especially when he thinks that he himself is incapable of reciprocating this. If he does, he could be wrong, and then where would he be?

    Anyway, it's just a really interesting song that can easily be seen from different perspectives. I love it.
    Flag toruletheworld97on February 01, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:As much as I like this song lyrically, it resonates me more on a musical level. Too bad I can't get the fullness of the sound as I only have my laptop and a worthless pair of airline headphones for music listening purposes. Maybe I'll ask for some new headphones for Christmas. Anyone familiar with 4electronicwarehouse.com/c/headphones/…">beats headphones or have another recommendation?

    I think that the lyrics do speak of second guessing. I think it also could be a take on present society and how previous generations seemed less distracted, and therefore more apt to make things work.
    Flagged wonderallon November 08, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think its about someone (boy or girl) who ran away from a relationship because they weren't ready for the commitment that love asks for. But, after time passed and the two grew apart, the one who ran away finds him/herself questioning that decision because he/she now sees that that love was real and he/she now feels empty. So that person says: "But hold on to what you believe in the light
    When the darkness has robbed you of all your sight." Which, I think, means that he/she wants the other to hold on to the feelings he/she had before the other left (the light). The darkness is the feelings he/she had after the other left, and it blinds that person from seeing what they used to have as well.
    Flag wooster229on April 05, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:this song is beautiful
    it starts out sounding like its about a girl, and ends like its about god... probably he means for both interpretations to work
    Flag explosionsofwarmairflowon February 12, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this is honestly one of the best bands iv heard in a very long time. And this is, in my opinion, one of the best songs from them. I could cry from all the passion in their songs. And they have such a unique, charming sound
    Flag heatherrochelle93on December 30, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This song seems like leaving someone at the altar, and also she was forcing him into the marriage and when he says "what if i was wrong" that could be him thinking that running away from her was a bad idea
    Flag QTlanon December 21, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:A lot of their songs are pretty clearly about struggling with faith and this one is more obvious than most.

    The central idea is to "hold on to what you believe in the light//When the darkness has robbed you of all sight". "What if I was wrong?" is coming up, he's wondering if perhaps his whole faith is a lie. He "could not take the burden of both you and I" - he has his own issues, how can he deal with being faithful to God at the same time? But the world means "less and less to [him] without [God] breathing through its trees", so he realises that he must hold on to his faith regardless of what his current state of mind leads him to believe.

    Basically, when you go through tough times, you're not going to be thinking straight necessarily. You might question even your deepest beliefs. The song is simply saying that you should trust your decisions "in the light", you should believe what you believe when life is good, rather than succumbing to doubts that arrive in the dark.
    Flag FuzzyJAMon December 13, 2010   Link

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