Mumford & Sons: The Cave Meaning

The Cave Lyrics

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

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the...

1. anonymous

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   Apr 1st 2012 !⃝

   What a song! i think if you lison to the song and raver than thinking hes singing his broken hart out, imagen hes speaking to the human race and there it is, and was always there quite planely. Its all about preception.
2. anonymous

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   Feb 12th 2012 !⃝

   There is nothing in this song that invokes a romantic relationship or breakup. Period. The best interpretations I've read relate to overcoming human weakness and, more specifically, addiction. The lyrics contain overt references to writings of Plato and Homer, but these are symbols for various elements of overcoming weakness/addiction. In the allegory of the cave leaving the cave symbolized becoming aware of the true nature of the world just as an addict must truthfully accept the reality of his/her disease and the damage he/she has inflicted on his life and the lives of those around him. The "siren's call" is the temptation to pursue something that seems attractive on the surface, but is actually deadly and destructive. Every single verse and the chorus describe some aspect of the addiction and the recovery process, some from the perspective of the addict and some from the perspective of a higher being or the sponsor/loved one.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. anonymous

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   Feb 11th 2012 !⃝

   I see this as tying into the Odyssey by Homer. I would have never noticed but my English teacher mentioned it the other day, and listening to it, I completely agree. First, he mentions his men eating food they weren't supposed to, He mentions being tied up to a post, and ignoring the siren's call, and I think coming out of the cave refers to the cyclops' cave that the men come out of upside down tied to the bellies of sheep. And he talks about freedom, and needing to know how to live his life as its meant to be, and finding strength in pain, and not giving up, and changing his ways. Maybe it isn't an exact retelling, but I definately think there are some references to the Odyssey. But these are just my thoughts!
4. anonymous

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   Jan 31st 2012 !⃝

   The reference to Plato's allegory of the cave is probably the most likely of Classical references. While there could be a number of allusions to the Odyssey, it is not like there are no other ways to take the lyrics.
   In recap of Odyssean allusions:
   1. The first stanza could refer to Odysseus' long return, which at some points may seem like he is avoiding (e.g. staying for almost a year at several locales).
   2. Top rated #3 on this page observed the transformation of the sailors to Circe's charms.
   3. There might be something in the line "I will change my ways I'll know my name as it's called again" to Odysseus finally stopping his deceit and telling Penelope who he is in the final books of the Odyssey.
   4. The stanza about the post and blocking ears might lead someone to think of the Siren episode in Book 10 (I'm pretty sure it's 10, I know its in 9-12), but Odysseus very clearly does not block his ears in order to hear the Siren's song and be the only person to have escaped from it.
   5. The bit about widows and orphans could simply refer to Penelope (and by extension perhaps Circe and Calypso?) and the orphans being Telemachus and Telegonus (O's child by Circe).
   6. The siren bit should be obvious, but it is often used in music, etc.
   
   In any case, there is a lot that you can take from this to be referring to the Odyssey, but as with most things you can't be certain. Either way, I will be using this song the next time I teach the Odyssey.
5. anonymous

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   Jan 18th 2012 !⃝

   I think it's about Jesus. He was ties to a post and able to see all and then throw in a cave. And what happened???? The soldiers rolled away the stone and he was gone
6. anonymous

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   Jan 7th 2012 !⃝

   Midnight Oil? It's not about love of a woman or man. Heritage and land.
7. anonymous

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   Jan 6th 2012 !⃝

   First,
   There are many influences in the songs writing, we can see what we want individually, and that is the beauty of music. And more specifically this band.
   
   That being said.
   
   To me the song is more about coming out of a shell, metaphorically. Though it could be seen as several different shells, the overall intent is the same.
   
   For me, the song has come to mean moving from a more solitary existance to an existance full of people.
   
   This song begs us to transpose ourselves into it's meaning. When the artist repeatedly calls to "you" the listener.
   
   The interesting juxtaposition in this song is the constant "toe-tapping, boot stomping" rythym, set with, some rather decidedly oppressive lyrics.
   
   My favorite verse even now,: "So come out of your cave, walking on your hands, and see the world hanging upside down."
   
   To me this has become something of a motto. 'So what if others view you as foolish, you can see things another way.'
8. anonymous

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   Dec 24th 2011 !⃝

   she's someone who is closeminded.
   she seems clueless and backwards in what the world really is.
   she is slow as people would say.
   He is probably singing after they break up how she really is and how she needs to change.
   And how nobody will love her until she does.
9. anonymous

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   Dec 15th 2011 !⃝

   Haha that's rediculous. No way
10. anonymous

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    Dec 13th 2011 !⃝

    It's about drug addiction. Anyone that has been through drug addiction can tell you that almost every line in the song directly relates to some part of addiction but most of the Lyrics are said in a way so that only those ppl that have experienced the hell of addiction can really understand and relate directly to them... Thats my 2 cents
11. shannen123

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    Nov 15th 2011 !⃝

    I don't know anything about Plato's allegory, but I do know something about addiction. To me, this song is about the duality of a human being. There is you and there is I and both reside within. You (ego) is constantly at odds with I (consciousness), but it is not the other way around. The consciousness is letting the ego know, through its "barbaric yawp" that while the ego tries and possibly succeeds at killing its host, through the hardships of life, consciousness will live on because it is the only thing that is real and unchanging. Eventually, the being within will know its name as it is called again, a child of pure potentiality, infinity and eternity, oneness, God.
12. anonymous

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    Oct 20th 2011 !⃝

    Actually, the lyrics are taken almost word-for-word from chapter 5 of G.K. Chesterton's biography of St. Francis. It's available for free online if you google it... Here are a few lines from the book and you'll see...
    
    “The man who went into the cave was not the man who came out again; in that sense he was almost as different as if he were dead, as if he were a ghost or a blessed spirit. And the effects of this on his attitude towards the actual world were really as extravagant as any parallel can make them. He looked at the world as differently from other men as if he had come out of that dark hole walking on his hands…Now it really is a fact that any scene such as a landscape can sometimes be more clearly and freshly seen if it is seen upside down…If a man saw the world upside down, with all the trees and towers hanging head downwards as in a pool, one effect would be to emphasise the idea of dependence. There is a Latin and literal connection; for the very word dependence only means hanging.”
13. anonymous

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    Aug 15th 2011 !⃝

    I don't know but it would be a great song to sing at an AA meeting.
14. anonymous

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    Aug 15th 2011 !⃝

    heroin. addiction to heroin. heroin is the other individual in the song.
15. anonymous

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    Jul 13th 2011 !⃝

    watch the DESCENT it's a horror movie but the main character has a broken life after her husband and child are killed in a car accident and she has to change her ways and find strength in pain to save her friend from hanging herself with rope of lies she has around her neck. i KNOW IT'S CRAZY BUT IT REALLY FITS.

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