2019Released
3:44

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Blind Leading The Blind. By Songfacts®.

The phrase "blind leading the blind" refers to someone giving advice or taking the lead who is unfit to do such a thing. The allusion is biblical; Jesus is telling his disciples to leave the Pharisees alone as they are blind to God's truth. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15 v 14 New International Version). This song's grim message pours scorn on the way we treat the poor and vulnerable. Humanity today is not learning from their mistakes and we keep digging bigger holes for ourselves. Only by building communities based on the value of mutual respect will we prosper.

My generation's stuck in the mirror Forget about the poor, 'cause I don't like the word. Mumford & Sons had the song up their sleeves several years before they recorded the tune. First played live in October 2016, it was cut from the track list of their Delta album in the final stages of mixing. The folk rockers continued to re-write and re-imagine the track as tragic events such as the Grenfell Tower block fire shaped their thinking. Seventy-two residents died because corners were cut and health and safety checks were not carried out. Marcus Mumford personally witnessed the tower block being consumed by flames from the window of his London apartment.

The song was finally released as a standalone single on October 23, 2019. Said Mumford of the completed track: "We're proud that we've finally finished it, as it feels like one of the most challenging songs, thematically, that we've put out there, both for ourselves and our audience. It feels it's becoming harder and harder to coerce yourself into a listening, present and unafraid disposition, but that's the gauntlet we're throwing down for ourselves."

Top Listeners

Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Blind Leading The Blind.
F♯Key
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
104BPM

Album

The album Blind Leading The Blind is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Blind Leading The Blind.
Universal-Island Records Ltd.
© 2019 Mumford & Sons, under exclusive licence to Universal Music Operations Limited
℗ 2019 Mumford & Sons, under exclusive licence to Universal Music Operations Limited

See your Spotify stats (with number of plays and minutes listened) and discover new music.

Music data, artist images, album covers, and song previews are provided by Spotify. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB.

5.8MArtists
73.6MSongs
12.3MAlbums
6.3KGenres
2.5MLabels
493KPlaylists