Mumford & Sons – Lovers' Eyes

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Well, love was kind for a time
and now it just stays and it makes me blind
This mirror holds my eyes too bright
but I can’t see the others in my life

Were we too young, our heads too strong
to bear the weight of this lovers’ eyes
‘Cause I feel numb beneath your tongue,
beneath the currents of these lovers’ eyes

But do not ask the price I paid
I must live with my quiet rage
Tame the ghosts in my head
that run wild and wish me dead
Should you shake my ash to the wind
Lord, forget all of my sins
Well, let me die where I lie
beneath the curse of my lovers’ eyes

‘Cause there’s no drink or drug I’ve tried
to rend the curse of these lovers’ eyes
And I feel numb beneath your tongue
your strength just makes me feel less strong

But do not ask the price I paid
I must live with my quiet rage
Tame the ghosts in my head
that run wild and wish me dead
Should you shake my ash to the wind
Lord, forget all of my sins
Well, let me die where I lie
beneath the curse of my lovers’ eyes

I walk slow, I walk slow
take my hand, help me on my way
And I walk slow, I walk slow
take my hand, help me on my way

And I walk slow, I walk slow
take my hand, help me on my way
And I walk slow, I walk slow
take my hand, help me on my way

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Lyrics submitted by NomadGal, edited by hallways, goodbit

Track duration: 05:21


Lovers' Eyes song meanings
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31 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:"I believe 'lovers eyes' is used as a romantic synonym for sin"

    I believe spiders are actually alien spies come to steal our bananas.

    Both make equal sense. It's fine, I love that you feel what you feel, I just think it cheapens something so amazingly powerful as love to just shoehorn god into everything. Sorry, I'm a jerk.
    Flagged Ntjordanon March 17, 2013   Link
  • +6
    Song Meaning:It didn't surprise me that the majority of the interpretations for this song were concerned with personal relationships. But it did surprise me that there really are no other insights into this song. Taking into account common themes of Mumford and Sons lyrics, I think the meaning is much more universal and significant...

    This song is about struggling with sin, struggling to be a good person, struggling to live a Godly life. Let me explain through the lyrics...

    I believe the song is a poem which can be applied to anyone, everything he explains is something we all experience in someway in our lives.

    [There are several key errors in these lyrics, I have corrected them in brackets, corrected from the Babel album booklet.]

    "Well, love was kind for a time
    and now it just stays and it makes me blind"

    This man has tried loving, but true and unselfish love has proven too hard. His failures have caused him to give up and finds it hard to love at all.

    "This mirror holds my eyes too bright
    [that] I can’t see the others in my life"

    The mirror is a metaphor for his perception of himself, he (as many of us) can't see, hear, feel the people around him because of his preoccupation with serving himself.

    "Were we too young, our heads too strong
    to bear the weight of [these] lovers’ eyes"

    Now, I believe 'lovers' eyes' is used as a romantic synonym for sin, wrong-doings etc. This lyric questions how God could expect us as humans to completely repent sin? How can we be expected to always do right and be selfless when it is in our nature to be selfish? This man is asking, are we not too weak as humans to overcome sin?

    "‘Cause I feel numb beneath your tongue,
    beneath the [curse] of these lovers’ eyes"

    This man feels numb beneath the expectations of God to do good, he has tried and failed and struggles to see the point in trying to be good when he is destined to fail again.

    "‘Cause there’s no drink or drug I’ve tried
    to rend the curse of these lovers’ eyes"

    He has found that is no physical cure to overcome our nature as humans to be selfish and sinful.

    "But do not ask the [price] I paid
    I must live with my quiet rage"

    He is saying: don't ask me how many times I've tried and failed, too many to count... He now has to live with the frustrating memory of his failures.

    "Tame the ghosts in my head
    that run wild and wish me dead"

    The 'ghosts in my head' is a metaophor the selfish, sinful nature of man which plagues him, like it plagues us all.

    "Should you shake my ash to the wind
    Lord, forget all of my sins"

    '...shake my ash to the wind' becomes a metaphor for his potential death as a Godly man. He is saying: if I make it through this life and repent my sin, please, Lord, forgive me for what I have done wrong..

    "[Or] let me die where I lie
    beneath the curse of my lovers’ eyes"

    In this lyric he is saying: if I don't make it to the end as good as I could have, or I give up now, just let me die here now, don't let it continue.

    "[I'll] walk slow, [I'll] walk slow
    take my hand, help me on my way"

    This lyric turns the song around, much like it does musically. This is the man saying to God: I will try again, please help me, I won't be perfect but please help me on my way...

    If you have read to the end of this, Thank You! I hope there are others out there that agree with me! I have listened to this song many times and I really believe this is the meaning of the song. Of course, other interpretations are valid but I find songs (by quality artists like Mumford and Sons) are very rarely just about personal relationships, it's usually the first layer to something much deeper.
    Flagged theorfordonianon December 20, 2012   Link
    • 3 Replies
  • +1
    General Comment:Sorry this is not really a meaning of any kind but i just need this song. my dad just cheated on my mom after being with her for almost 30 years and everything in this song seems to fit. My mother is so strong and is willing to forgive him and that is crushing my father. He wants her to make him leave but she says that is his choice if he is going to stay or not. "Love was kind for a time". this is something my family never thought would happen and my father says that he is in love with this other woman but he is so confused and he hates himself for what he's done to our family. I just listen to this song because at the end there is hope and that's what i so desperately need right now.
    Flagged girlofhopeon December 06, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • 0
    Memory:this song wraps everything i've ever wanted to say, and still want to say into one thing. "love was kind, for a time" our relationship, "now it just stays and makes me blind, the mirror holds, my eyes too bright, but i can't see the others in my life," i still care for her, and don't care who likes me, i just want her, hence the last part o the quote. "Were we too young, our heads too strong to bear the weight of this lovers’ eyes" means to me the same thing i feel, we got into it too fast, she couldn't take the strain. so she let me. "‘Cause I feel numb beneath your tongue, beneath the currents of these lovers’ eyes" i still care or her, every time we talk i'm dumbfounded and numb because of her. "But do not ask the price I paid I must live with my quiet rage. Tame the ghosts in my head that run wild and wish me dead" i have anger management and suffer from depression. she never asked why i had anger issues, and tamed the "ghosts" of depression. "Should you shake my ash to the wind Lord, forget all of my sins Well, let me die where I lie beneath the curse of my lovers’ eyes" this just kind of speaks about the hope that everything turns out ok, and we grow old together. "‘Cause there’s no drink or drug I’ve tried to rend the curse of these lovers’ eyes" i don't want to get rid of her, honestly. "And I feel numb beneath your tongue your strength just makes me feel less strong" again, dumbfounded by how strong she was (and is) to put up with me, and every time she speaks. "I walk slow, I walk slow take my hand, help me on my way" i want her help, and i want her to take my hand and help me again.
    Flag JohnPCTon November 29, 2012   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +2
    My Interpretation:I think this song is about liking someone in his teens, or early twenties, he liked them so much, there eyes were embedded within him, but nothing ever happened. the 'crush' moved on, forgot about him, went with someone else he says he 'walks slow' this could signify that he waited for her, but she left, she didn't come.
    As he has tried to forget her, he just can't he will forever remember her and she haunts him, as he cannot move on, nothing will add up to her. it shows at the start of the song how bright eyed and bushy tailed he used to be about her, how he wanted her and liked her, they had a connection, but as he goes on he starts to mention 'curse' like she was his siren. His nymph.

    I don't even know, but i would like to think this was it, as I've been through the curse
    Flagged lucy2244on November 28, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:I think this song is about liking someone in his teens, or early twenties, he liked them so much, there eyes were embedded within him, but nothing ever happened. the 'crush' moved on, forgot about him, went with someone else he says he 'walks slow' this could signify that he waited for her, but she left, she didn't come.
    As he has tried to forget her, he just can't he will forever remember her and she haunts him, as he cannot move on, nothing will add up to her. it shows at the start of the song how bright eyed and bushy tailed he used to be about her, how he wanted her and liked her, they had a connection, but as he goes on he starts to mention 'curse' like she was his siren. His nymph.

    I don't even know, but i would like to think this was it, as I've been through the curse
    Flag lucy2244on November 28, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:This screams Laura Marling break-up song to me...I think the person is struggling with cheating, and the consequences that came with it between them and the other person and them and god. Laura Marling and Marcus Mumford apparently broke up because someone cheated. Not sure how true that is! But the song seems to be about something along those lines
    Flag edubbs89on November 07, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:To me, this song is about regretting young and meaningless relationships. The narrator has fallen in love with someone very special but finds himself comparing her to previous lovers, whose eyes are constantly haunting him (he refers to them as a curse). He's asking God to forget about his previous relationships because they did not embody true love. Because of this, his current relationship is unbalanced and he feels burdened by his sins. Taking this a step further, he regrets having sex before meeting this girl because he feels as though he can no longer giver her his whole self.
    Flag pandaa456on November 06, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:To me this song is about cheating. He cheated on her. She is stronger then him and was able to forgive him and stay with him. He feels numb because he knows he did wrong, he has to live with the quiet rage. He doesn't ask for forgiveness but rather to forget him if she chooses to leave. He has thought of suicide to end his suffering from infidelity. And he doesn't want to talk about it. He just lives with his quiet rage. It's an amazing song!
    Flag joecubjron October 19, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:This to me is sung in a first person perspective. He is a man in love singing about a girl. A love he used to share with her. She has left, yet he is still very much in love with her. He is "cursed" with the love for her. She maybe has moved on, and he has respected that. In my opinion, the line, "I must live with my quiet rage" shows that in a way. He respects her moving on, but still is frustrated by it. It is sometimes so frustrating that the "ghosts in his head" drive him to think of suicide. He's tried to forget her by drinking and doing drugs. "I walk slow" is reference to how he is going about life... struggling. He just needs help to move on.
    Flag MarkyMark7on October 18, 2012   Link

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