Mumford & Sons: The Cave Meaning
The Cave Lyrics
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind
The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the...
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I'm currently divorcing my wife who I've come to learn is a narcissist, bi-polar etc. Every piece of this song completely describes what it's like being in and getting out of somebody elses mental illness.
-"It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind"
Other's will agree to the emptyness in a narcissists heart. Divorced life is a new beginning she walks away from her own actions blaming me.
-"The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat"
Over 7 years and "the harvest" of the relationship has produced no "fruit" the fields are empty as they have been. Cannibal as she consumed me over the years. I finally filed for divorce after being consumed (destroyed) she wasn't/isn't happy that I did that, I know the shame in the brutal emotional/psychological beatings I took and now she feels the defeat of me finally leaving.
-"But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck"
I hope for a better future as I always had. Maybe a better person then I, I let her choke herself with the noose of her own actions - it helps me keep custody of kids.
-"And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again"
Self-explanitory. I won't ever let something like this happen to me again. If there's ever someone else in my life I'll know it's the "whole me" they see and know. I won't be fooled/used again to fill someone elses emptyness.
-"Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind
My life has moved on. Take what you want of "stuff" and I'll take mine. Truth is admission or now what must be legal proof of her illness and what it's done to me over the years. Once the truth is out, the valididty of her illness, it will help to heal my mind from the beatings I've had to take - I'm not perfect, but I'm not sick.
-"So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears"
I'm still trapped in her but don't let me absorb it anymore. I see my way out and I see my kids that don't have a mother. I have to be the best person I can be for them, despite my growing fears of her detioriating mental state.
"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"
Her interpretation of reality needs to be turned upside-down for her experience truth of the situation, her illness and actions. Dependence we all have of reality based on the evolution of humanity and sanity.
-"So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say"
Try to lure me into an arguemnt, try to blame me again for her actions. I won't engage I won't hear it. I know better by now.
-"Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be"
I can't wait and am more free now then I've ever been. -
I think it is about a leader or a person who has experienced something or has done a deed that has them in a self induced 'exile' perhaps so they feel alone and separate from the world as if in a cave. He is singing to this person or himself letting them know that someone understands and still has faith and is there to help them through.
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I think that its a mixture of different meanings. Things that will help you be true to yourself and everybody around you: coming out of "The Cave". It really reminds me of a poen called "If" by Rudyard Kipling.
Here it is:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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i think it talks about the poverty and hungry as hard is the life in africa for example
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It's called The Cave, isn't it? Absolutely its a reference to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. He may be continuing it, using it as a reference for a relationship, but ultimately, "so come out of your cave walking on your hands" was the basis of plato's point. To see the world as it was, not how we had interpreted it to be.
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I believe that many of these interpretations are superb and that the person above me is right. Unless you know the band members personally, you can't really know what the true meaning of the song is. You make of the song what you want. I say that as long as one can back up his or her opinion through the text and not just pull their interpretation from thin air, their assertion is very possibly accurate.
The allusions made to the writings of the classical Greeks are strong. They are so powerful in fact, that one can say almost without a doubt that the writer of this song intentionally and meticulously placed them into his work to make his message stronger.
Whether the song is about drug use, depression, or relationships falling apart shouldn't matter. The veracity of any one of these opinions is highly up to debate and, although they should not be taken for absolute fact, the song could very well be about any combination of these things.
As a person who has a book in the works, I know that writers, singers, and artists often present their creations in a way that weaves a blanket of ambiguity. A song, book, movie, video game, or piece of art tends to sell exponentially faster if it can relate to a wide audience. Oftentimes, such universal appeal relies heavily on multiple interpretations. For example, if an artist paints an abstract read blob on a blue canvas, simply for the sake of painting it, it may have little meaning to him. But if he shows it to other people, one person would see a kangaroo holding an umbrella and another would envision a lonely maiden looking out a window hoping that her lost love would return.
Whatever you make of it, it's a clever song that was written to sell. As long as there is textual support, your point of view is as good as anyone else's. So I urge you not to downgrade someone's opinion just because it's not the same as yours or not as popular as the others. If it seems valid based on the text of the song, then it matters. -
I believe any "meaning" in a song comes from the relationship between the song and the listener, rather than the reason or reasons the artist themselves wrote the song. Song, story, painting...they are all but texts which while created by the artist, ultimately belong to the audience, each creating their own meaning according to their own experiences. So yes, many of you ascribe the song to be without a doubt about addiction, some say about a bad relationship, yet others see in "The Cave" a message to someone who deals with depression. All of you are right, according to your own life. The text (and text means any work of art, no matter the form) now belongs to you, not Mumford, and that is the beauty of art. The interpretations are endless.
There is no denying the two obvious literary/philosophical references, those being Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and Homer's "The Odyssey". To truly analyse this song with any scholarly input would take much thought on both of those classic and endearing works that still influence culture today.
But let the grad students do that. Let us experience the song (text) vicariously, and admit our personal world view is the heaviest of a world of interpretations, rather than prescribe our take as The One True Meaning. That is a fallacy.
And myself, admittedly due to my personal life's narrative, see this song as a scream against fallacies of any sort. A scream for truth, and honesty despite the pain of looking at the often painful reality that is life.
For me, I can listen to this song and prescribe very personal meaning. I have had someone I love, later confirmed by the proper MD's attribute my problems in life to a dissociation from something so dark that I experienced that I disassociated, because to look at that darkness, that unspoken and unremembered atrocity is too much for a human brain to handle during such times, and only later, when this disassociation causes maladaptive behavior does the need to look at that darkness, realize it, overcome it, and put it as merely another chapter in my life history. To put it in the past, be able to "know my name as it's called again"; to put history where history belongs, in the past. Scary, painful, tearful (all addressed in this particular song) yes, but necessary for recovery.
And for myself, I sing this song to the one I love, who has felt the stings of my behavior caused by earlier childhood atrocities, and even had the insight to point out to my loud denials that there might be something in my past to look at, something beyond mere brain chemistry to explain my troubled adult life. But he too knows similar pain, and I will not let him choke. Yet he forever will see me as the symptom (evil woman), rather than someone who can remember, realize, and process what happened earlier to cause such pain for myself and those around me, and then by knowing and realizing, overcoming, and being good again, like I was at some young age. So when Mumford sings "I need to know now how to live my life as it's meant to be," I too will tie myself to a post and ignore any suggestion that one cannot change ones character, I will tune out the syrens like Homer did, knowing their alluring yet false cries keep me from the truth, and the me I am meant to be.
So, childhood abuse, truth being too much for those around me to take into their own existence, disassociation, quest for justice, and mostly, a will above all to be a different and good person....these are my personal issues that come up when I hear this song. And the song is beautiful, it is about hope through honesty despite the pain, and the ability to change for the better. At least, that is my personal interpretation of this song, created by me, for me, with some suburb timing of Mumford & Sons. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I definitly think that this song could apply to many different things.... i personally am a recovering addict and this song speaks to my soul and the moment that i found my bottom and was finally able to surrender to my disease and start rebuilding my life....one small step at a time. Amazing song no matter what your interpretation....brings me to tears every time i hear it.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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The spiritual aspect of this cannot be avoided. There is an awakening that has taken place. References to a calling, resisting sirens, the reference to saving another's life (the noose part). Live my life how it's meant to be - a turning away from how it was being lived to a correct way of living. The obvious - "you can know dependence when you know the maker's hand" - is clearly a reference to humanity's belief that one is independent and can live life however one chooses to. The truth, that refreshes the mind, is that one is not independent rather one is dependent on the maker due to the simple fact that the maker made him/her. Though the world has evil and injustice - seeing orphans and widows through tears - he will hold on to hope and live the way he was meant to (which, hopefully, includes assisting those who are in such difficult spots as being parent-less or without their lifelong spouse/best friend.
My two cents. -
The song is obviously about addiction. I know somebody already said it but it really wasnt explained deeply. Anyone who has truly struggled with addiction can pick it up rather quickly. The song cut right through my soul like a chainsaw. I was late to work because I couldnt get out of my car I was crying so hard. The noose around your neck is obvious. You cannibal, refers to the things that addiction makes you do that are totally against your nature but you have to do them for "survival." There is so much pain and dispair, and anyone who has overcome addiction knows that you need to find a way to find strength in your pain and use it in a positive way. You always have to hold on to hope, thats one thuing all addicts have in common. They always have hope. If you could work in a rehab facility for a couple weeks and listen to the stories, really meet and get to know the people, learn their pain and triggers and what made them start and continue on that particular path, you would see that this song is a soundtrack to a place like that. It will give you so much hope, not only that you can get better, but that there ARE other people as real as you are that truly understand what is going on in "the valley of your heart." My God! I literally cant even think about the lyrics without getting a lump in my throat.
-Recovering addict 14months (oxycontin) -
The song is obviously about addiction. I know somebody already said it but it really wasnt explained deeply. Anyone who has truly struggled with addiction can pick it up rather quickly. The song cut right through my soul like a chainsaw. I was late to work because I couldnt get out of my car I was crying so hard. The noose around your neck is obvious. You cannibal, refers to the things that addiction makes you do that are totally against your nature but you have to do them for "survival." There is so much pain and dispair, and anyone who has overcome addiction knows that you need to find a way to find strength in your pain and use it in a positive way. You always have to hold on to hope, thats one thuing all addicts have in common. They always have hope. If you could work in a rehab facility for a couple weeks and listen to the stories, really meet and get to know the people, learn their pain and triggers and what made them start and continue on that particular path, you would see that this song is a soundtrack to a place like that. It will give you so much hope, not only that you can get better, but that there ARE other people as real as you are that truly understand what is going on in "the valley of your heart." My God! I literally cant even think about the lyrics without getting a lump in my throat.
-Recovering addict 14months (oxycontin)
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