Babel (song)

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"Babel"
Mumford-&-Sons-Babel.jpg
Single by Mumford & Sons
from the album Babel
Released9 July 2013
Recorded2011–2012
Genre Indie folk
Length3:29
Label Island Records
Songwriter(s) Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford and Winston Marshall
Producer(s) Markus Dravs
Mumford & Sons singles chronology
"Whispers in the Dark"
(2013)
"Babel"
(2013)
"Hopeless Wanderer"
(2013)

"Babel" is a song performed by British folk rock band Mumford & Sons, released as the fourth single from their second studio album Babel (2012). It was released on 9 July 2013 as a digital download. The song was written by Mumford & Sons and produced by Markus Dravs.

Contents

About the name

"Babel" is the name of both the song and the album on which their song appeared. The title is a reference to the story known as the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11:1–9 in the Bible. [1] The song features numerous other biblical references too, which is common for music by Mumford & Sons. [2]

Still, they maintain that their message is not intended to be explicitly religious in nature. [3] Rather, their bassist, Ted Dwane, noted in a Rolling Stone interview that the song is more generally about human striving and discontentment: "As humans, we’re such a discontented species. We’re always trying to further ourselves, and you get all the way to the moon and then it’s just discontent. You want to go to Mars." [4]

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Babel" was first released onto YouTube on 8 July 2013 at a total length of four minutes and five seconds. [5] The video shows the band performing the song in the former 16th Street station in Oakland, California. [6] [7]

Track listing

Digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Babel"3:29

Charts and certifications

Release history

RegionDateFormatLabel
United Kingdom9 July 2013Digital downloadIsland Records

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References

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