Ghosts That We Know Analysis

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Ghosts That We Knew is a popular song from the album, Babel that was written and performed by the folk rock band, Mumford & Sons. The band consists of four members – Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, Winston Marshall, and Ted Dwane who all emerged from what some refer to as “West London’s folk music scene” in England. Their debut album, Sigh No More was released in February, 2010 in the United States. Their newest album, Babel was released in September of this year. Ghosts That We Knew is an absolutely haunting song that punctuates the importance of hope in spite of being surrounded by pain and sadness. I believe that it tells the story of the speaker with his significant other and how she’s trying to help him. When the song begins, the speaker is at his lowest – “You saw my pain, washed out in the rain/Broken glass, saw the blood run from my veins.” There is just nothing left for him to live for basically, until her – “But you saw no fault no cracks in my heart/and you knelt beside my hope torn apart.” The singer's significant other is someone who "saw [his] pain" yet she loves him anyway. Despite what I assume are his mental issues, she doesn't see him as a broken person - she sees "no fault, no cracks in [his] heart." She has seen every bad part of him but still sticks around, she leads him away from his “recent disgrace” and gives him hope. The chorus of Ghosts - “So give me hope in the darkness that I will see the light/Cause oh that gave me such a fright/But I will hold on with all of my might/Just promise me that we’ll be alright” makes me feel that he really cares for her and doesn’t want her to leave. He asks her for help because he’s scared – of both himself and her leaving. He is hoping that she won’t leave because she is the “light” in his darkness, the speaker depends on her. The most telling parts of the song are, the lines - "But I will hold on as long as
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