I Will Wait

Album: Babel (2012)
Charted: 12 12
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The first single from Mumford & Sons' second album Babel is a rollicking stomp that finds Marcus Mumford singing about the challenges of maintaining a relationship amidst the conflicts of life on the road. It is one of several tracks on the set inspired by the band's busy touring schedule. "We write on the road in these hectic places with lots of people around," Mumford explained to MTV News. "And I suppose we've always put in ideas that we pick up from conversations with people, and things that we read and things that we listen to and feel."
  • The rousing Bluegrass tune is lushly arrayed with horns, bright banjo, stomping drums and fiddle. It reflects the influence of the Nashville sessions the band took part in during early 2011 in a farmhouse when, as Marcus Mumford told MTV News, they "had some friends who are musicians come play with us."
  • Mumford & Sons performed this song at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where Babel won for Album Of The Year.
  • The song presented a huge challenge for the band and producer Markus Dravs to wrestle it into a shape that they were happy with. Marcus Munford recalled to the BBC:

    "I remember Markus Dravs sitting on the end of my bed in a residential studio in Paris going, 'Come on, mate, just come on!' And I was like, 'No, no, no. I can't do it again!' But we kept going and kept going and eventually got there."

Comments: 3

  • Jana Banana from Fresno, CaThis band I love. I could watch the Red Rocks video all day!
  • Sg from Gold Coast, Australia This is magic!!!!
  • Groovy Chic from Cincinnati, OhI adore this song! awesome band
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG's, Blues Brothers)

Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MG's, Blues Brothers)Songwriter Interviews

Steve Cropper on the making of "In the Midnight Hour," the chicken-wire scene in The Blues Brothers, and his 2021 album, Fire It Up.

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde

Johnette Napolitano of Concrete BlondeSongwriter Interviews

The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney Princesses

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney PrincessesSong Writing

From "Some Day My Prince Will Come" to "Let It Go" - how Disney princess songs (and the women who sing them) have evolved.

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Classic Metal

Classic MetalFact or Fiction

Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.

Timothy B. Schmit

Timothy B. SchmitSongwriter Interviews

The longtime Eagle talks about soaring back to his solo career, and what he learned about songwriting in the group.