Mumford & Sons: Thistle and Weeds Meaning

Thistle and Weeds Lyrics

Spare me your judgements and spare me your dreams,
Cause recently mine have been tearing my seams,
I sit alone in this winter, clarity which clouds my mind.
Alone in the wind and the rain you left me,
It's getting dark, darling, too dark to...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Feb 13th 2011 !⃝

   This song played as I was driving to get to my father. He passed away while I was traveling to get to him. My dad used this song to tell me goodbye. "It's getting dark darling, too dark to see" He had cancer in his lungs and the fluid was blocking his lungs. "and the water creeps to my chest" It was the night of February 1st "winter clarity which clouds my mind" I had really lost hope in many ways because of his illness. He told me while I drove "your faith in shreds, it seems" I had been working so hard at my job that I didn't visit him as much as I should have "Corrupted by the simple sniff of riches blown, I know that you love me more than you have shown." I made it passed the hills to the road into the town where he lived "Look over your hills and be still, The sky above us shoots to kill
   Rain down, rain down on me" He was dying at this moment, I think. Then he said "But I will hold on, I will hold on hope." This whole song was my father's words to me, telling me to hold on hope. "Plant your hope with good seeds. Don't cover yourself with thistle and weeds." I will dad. I will hold on hope. I will take this spade from your hands and fill in the holes I have made. I love you dad! Thank you Mummford and Sons for this beautiful blessing of a song.

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   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Sep 29th 2011 !⃝

   I think this song is the story of a small group of survivors from a zombie apocalypse who have all been let down by one member of their group who let someone bit by a zombie into the group who ended up turning and biting the rest of the group. The song is sung by one member who is slowly dying, and he is singing to the person who let the infected person in, who somehow survived. In the end of this song, the lyrics, "when the dead come out to bury the dead, they will come out in droves" and, "take this spade from my hands and fill in the holes you've made" help reinforce this theory. Zombies are dead and will finish off the dying when they attack in droves and a spade is an okay weapon to use against zombies. The line that says, "I begged you to hear me there's more than flesh and bones" is a way to describe zombies and their impersonation of the living. The first verse is about how the singer knows he is dying and turning into a zombie. He is calm as death approaches, and his last companion is frantic and has no trust in herself as her "faith is in shreds, it seems." the second verse is where the singer forgives his companion for letting the zombie in and how the injured man must have paid her to keep her from letting the others know about his injury. The chorus is when the singer tells the girl to "hold onto hope" even though the zombies continually attack and from over the hills which they watch in case of zombies. This is why she must "look over your hills and be still." He tells the girl to "plant your hope with good seeds, don't cover yourself with thistle and weeds" because he does want her to hope that she will not die a horrible death like him. This is my interpretation of thistle and weeds.
3. anonymous

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   Sep 17th 2018 !⃝

   Another song influenced by his heartbreak over Laura Marling.
   
   I know you have felt much more love than you've shown...he has stated before that she was aloof with him and even went so far as to say that his love for her was unrequited, even though they were in a relationship.
   
   And I'm on my knees with your faith in shreds it seems. I think that may have been when he cheated on her and her faith in his was destroyed or he might be referring to her actually ending the relationship with him. He's clearly angry and hurt in the song and not really accepting responsibility with his part of their breakup.
   
   But he is still finding hope, he can still hold on, in spite of the pain and become a better man.
4. anonymous

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   May 2nd 2014 !⃝

   "look over your hills and be still" seems to me also to be a reference to two powerful bible verses :
   
   Psalm 121.1 "I lift up my eyes to the hills—
   from where will my help come?"
   
   and Psalm 46.10 "Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth."
   
   if you want to read the rest of those Psalms click the links :
   
   http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+121&version=NRSV
   http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+46&version=NRSV
5. anonymous

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   Apr 25th 2012 !⃝

   A powerful song, with a heavy undertone, but you actually listen the song is one of hope... it can be interpreted for many situations for many individuals which all great songs can. But the song is about a relationship, and coming through a bad time within that, focusing on the positive and holding on to what you had no matter what is placed between you...
   
   Whether that's in rememberence of the great of the great times had with people past or whether its couple working through a difficult part in their relationship.
   
   There is a clear powerful message, about turning a bad in to a good... a powerful song that needs to listened to and not just heard.
6. anonymous

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   Sep 23rd 2011 !⃝

   I love this song so much. At first I thought it was a depressing song about suffering i.e. thistles and weeds, ran, winter, water creeping to my chest etc. Although the first two verses are about suffering the rest to me seems to be about hope. He has used the parable of the sower to tell us that we shouldn't let the bad things in this world (the thistle and weeds) choke us. This is reinforced again when it says " Let the dead bury the dead, they will come out in groves" The let the dead bury the dead is a biblical reference which basically means that we should leave all the bad stuff behind and continue into a brighter future (google it if you want to find out more; I was very vague). The coming out in droves part I think means that these bad things will come back but you've got to have hope and be strong.
   "Look over the hills and be still," This show again hope. The hill is all your problems but he is saying to look past that and have hope for a better future.
   
   In conclusion, (there are other references about hope but i need to go to bed now)I thing this song is about having hope through bad times. Even when things are really bad you've still got that.

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