Mumford and Sons: Sigh No More

A couple months ago, I bought the song “Little Lion Man” by Mumford & Sons. You may have heard it on the radio; it’s a really catchy, quick song that will likely inspire you to get out of your seat and do a little jig, if only you knew how. The lyrics in the refrain feature prominently a certain “F” word commonly used on Jersey Shore, though the radio excludes the whole word (“And it was not your fault but mine, and it was your heart on the line, I really f%*&ed it up this time, didn’t I, my dear?”). Due to the heavy English accent of the band members, the word at issue sounds almost elegant in the unedited version. Anyway, I like the song so much that when I was idly looking through the top albums on iTunes earlier in the week and noticed “Sigh No More” by Mumford & Sons in the top 10, I decided to give it a go.


Wikipedia characterizes Mumford & Sons as a folk band and iTunes classifies their songs as “alternative.” Based solely on “Little Lion Man”, I would call the genre “Lively English Pub”. After listening to the entire album for a few days, however, I am changing that to “Gloomy English Pub.” “Little Lion Man” brings to mind an image of a pub full of happy, drunk, knee slapping Brits getting caught up in the energy of the music. Most of the rest of the songs bring to mind a rainy English day with those same drunk patrons sadly drowning their misery in endless pints of stout. Taken individually, the songs are quirky and some start slowly and pick up the pace midway through, but many are slow and depressing throughout- and that’s before you listen to the lyrics.

This is the debut album from Mumford & Sons, and it was actually released last year. “Little Lion Man” saw a lot of success overseas much earlier than we Americans picked up on it. It was voted the number one song on an Australian music poll in 2009 (by a large margin, supposedly), and they also performed the song on David Letterman earlier this year. A couple songs have been on Grey’s Anatomy, I’m guessing either during death or breakup scenes.

If you do not already have “Little Lion Man” on your iPod, fork over the $0.99 to buy it (really, it’s like a couple sips of a Starbucks latte). I can attest that it is the perfect song to belt out in the car to pick up your mood a little, especially if you bravely use the entire “F” word (Not with the kids in the car, of course. My 14-year old son actually uses the word “bleep” instead, which is almost more annoying than if he actually sang the swear word itself). As for the rest of the album, I’ll take a pass for now and save it for a bad day on my next trip to England.

I've posted this video before, but I'm putting it up again in case you don't know the song.  If you like this blog, join me on Facebook.  Enjoy!