This song, for some reason, reminds me of the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son. It mentions there's no food, and discusses dependence which is the essence of the story from the son's point of view, then the chorus, "I will hold on hope" is the father saying that he'll wait and not let the son perish. Because he might have sinned but as long as he repents and comes home, he is welcome. I'm not saying that's what this song is about, especially with one of the last lines being, "and I need freedom now" but it's just a thought. It very much reminded me of that story. The sirens part didn't make a lot of sense either for that. But I like the comment about the Allegory of the Cave that someone posted on the lyrics. It could be about moving past ignorance and the faux things of the world and understanding the original concept or the plan of God, in a way.

Many people have discussed that this song is about sexual lust and desire as well as religious insecurity. I however, think it's neither of those. The singer is saying these things that have very much to do with those things, but the overall idea has to do with an inner self-conflict. The singer is struggling with being a good person. He comes from somewhat of a religious background so he doesn't want to commit sins against "the King" or God. He's trying to find where the line between wrong and right lies. He's basically shouting at himself for his own problems. This is by far the best Mumford song, by the way.