As April showers us in its welcome, it’s a clear indication that Spring is on its way! As we draw closer to the end of Lent and also closer into Holy Week, we’re reminded in church of Jesus’ life from Palm Sunday, leading up to His crucifixion on the cross, and finally, His resurrection on Easter Sunday. On Maundy Thursday, we observe the origin of Holy Communion just before Jesus is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane which is what leads to His crucifixion. Throughout the month I try to find a song to review, this one stayed hidden until I found myself in a restaurant that I go to frequently earlier this week.
“Welcome to the revelation”
The song instantly stood out to me with its captivating tribal sounding drums in its verses and energetic chorus. Mumford & Sons is a British folk band that formed in 2007 and rose to fame around 2009. I was surprised to see that Pharrell Williams, who has made a multifaceted career from music, to fashion, and acting, also had credits on this song. After listening to the song closer, the spiritual connections weren’t hard to find in “Good People” by Mumford & Sons and Pharrell Williams.
“And in my soul
Something is stirring now”
The song opens with Pharrell’s signature four count just before the first verse starts with Mumford & Sons vocalist, Marcus Mumford, with Pharrell providing light background vocals alongside unnamed Native vocalists that respond to Mumford’s vocals with “Welcome to The Revelation,” which ties into the theme of the chorus and bridge. The lyrics of the chorus are optimistic of a better day coming after “Good People” have been through so much and finally coming out on top and capturing that feeling. I really liked how this song tied into the theme of Holy Week. Imagine experiencing Jesus being betrayed by one of the disciples and then He is put on trial for His death. Jesus spent a lot of His time with the disciples during His ministry and even though he had told them that this would be the outcome for Him, it must have felt hopeless after He died on the cross. They all saw him as not only a great teacher but The Messiah, but now their direction was lost. They would feel hopeless for three days until His resurrection on Easter morning when He rolled away the boulder that held Him in the tomb. That is the feeling that this song conveys for me; the moment when the disciples realized that Jesus did what He said He would in conquering death and rising from the dead. The Bible is a library of books that describes a pattern in the way that God works and the way God is in addition to His promise to His people. This feeling that the disciples felt on the first Easter is the same feeling that we all will be able to feel once Jesus returns, just as He said to them, and in the same way the disciples did, we too will all know that He is Lord in the time of the Revelation. This is also the time that Jesus has described as when “The first will be last, and the last will be first,” just as the song states.
“Good people been down for so long
And now I see the sun is rising”
This song is full of spiritual themes within the lyrics, but even if I were to take my theological glasses off, this is still a song of perseverance through time where, “you’ve been through it all and it can’t get go worse,” as Mumford sings, but then being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel; or like the sun finally rising. It’s also good to note that at the end of the song Mumford sings about how nothing can get in the way of this feeling – which, by putting our theological glasses back on – we know that God is able to move mountains for us.
“The sun is rising
It’s coming, it’s on its way
So nothing tonight is
Getting in the way”
It’s in the ordinary and everyday that we’re able to find the extraordinary; just like going to a place you go to regularly and finding a great song playing on the speaker, or even finding the Son of Man amongst a group of fishermen 2000 years ago. I hope that this is another song you’ll enjoy being added to the playlist of songs we’ve been building. As we draw closer to Holy Week and Easter I hope that you find yourself relating to this song more and more as we build in anticipation of the resurrection of our Lord, but most importantly, that we are being “Good People” while we eagerly wait.
References:
“Mumford & Sons & Pharrell Williams – Good People Lyrics | Genius Lyrics.” Genius Lyrics, 16 Jan, Accessed 02 Apr. 2025.
Mumford & Sons, and Pharrell Williams. “Mumford & Sons, Pharrell Williams – Good People (Lyric Video).” YouTube, Accessed 03 Apr. 2025.
“Mumford & Sons.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Apr. 2025, Accessed 03 Apr. 2025.