Summer Deep Dive: Mumford And Sons "I Will Wait"

Remember 2012? The London Olympics? When The Fastest Sprinters In The World Took Turns Losing To Usain Bolt?

Author’s Note: 2024 is the summer of “Deep Dives” here at Media Room. We recently took an in-depth look at Hall and Oates’ 1973 classic “She’s Gone,” and Box Scaggs’ 1976 hit “Lowdown.” Today we plunge into Mumford and Sons’ 2012 hit “I Will Wait.”

---

Remember 2012? Mumford and Sons? “I Will Wait.” No, not “Ho Hey.” That’s also 2012, but it’s The Lumineers. I know, right?

“I Will Wait" was a bunch of Brits with acoustic guitars and banjos. It was a whole big thing.

A Gospel Tune

“I Will Wait” is a gospel tune with banjos and horns instead of church organ and a choir. Lyrically, the song is unambiguously Christian prophecy (I don’t want to be THAT guy but the words are a ripoff of Pslam 130. Just sayin’.)

Raise my hands
Paint my spirit gold
And bow my head
Keep my heart slow

But I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you, etc.

Musically, “I Will Wait” uses many of gospel’s conventions.

Dark Then BRIGHT, Soft Then LOUD

The video (above) begins in a dark, quiet, awe-inspiring Red Rocks Amphitheater.

Suddenly it is LIGHT and LOUD. The band and audience are bathed in impossibly bright light, a God-Calling-Paul-on-the-Road-to-Damascus bright light.

The band is feeling the spirit, struggling to stay grounded in what my southern grandmother would call the “throes of Jesus.” They are grimacing in a Pentecostal spell, raising bass fiddles off the ground like snake charmers in a hot revival tent.

Plagal Cadence (Amen Chords) - IV to I.

Simple music theory lesson. There are 8 notes in a major scale. “I Will Wait for You” is in C (it’s actually recorded in C# but let’s ignore that for now). The one (I) chord is C and the four (IV) (2,3,4 - D,E,F) chord is F.

Going from F to C (IV to I) are the “Amen” chords; (when you sing “Amen” at the end of a church hymn that is plagal cadence: “A” is F “Men” is C); those chords are in every verse of “I Will Wait for You.” That’s all you really need to know, but here is more if you want.

Trumpets Instead of a Gospel Choir

The climax in gospel songs often feature a choir entrance, i.e., the voice of the angels, taking you home. “I Will Wait” follows this in form, but uses horns. It sounds great and allows for more dynamic variance (softer . . . then slowly LOUDER, a.k.a, crescendo) in the gospel style.

You can see it in the video at 3:49 as Mumford sings “Raise my hands!” The horn section is two trumpets (instead of the standard 3 horn section, tenor sax, trombone, and trumpet) playing a “fanfare.” Trumpet fanfares are all over the Bible and herald the coming of God — or the King — or the final approach to Alderaan.

Taking it Home With A Rising, Octave Jump Without Rushing the Tempo

The singer finishes strong by taking the melody an octave higher in the final verse (4:10). Here, I offer a shout-out to the drummer who avoids the common musical mistake of rushing the beat at the musical climax.

That is, it’s hard not to go faster when you’re really excited and about to finish (get your mind out of the gutter. That’s not what I mean. Also, I don’t know what you mean. Also, what did you hear?). The band stays at a good allegro, about 130 beats per minute.

Great tune and a great performance. This is why people go to concerts.

Or church.