London Grammar - "Oh Woman, Oh Man" lyric interpretation

I've found two interpretations of the song. —

The line about taking 'a devil through yellow sands' probably relates to the temptation of Jesus.

The lyrics seem to compare how Adam and Eve gave in to the temptation, and how Jesus did not give in, specifically because He knew what happened to Adam and Eve, and because He was part of a ˇgreater plan to redeem humanity.

'Taking a devil through the yellow sands' could be interpreted as Jesus driving the devil away — so the lyrics refer in some way for the listeners to drive the evil away by avoiding temptation.


At the time, Jesus was fasting in the desert, and the devil tempted him to eat in return for kingdoms of the world and in return for avoiding God, but Jesus rejected the offer. After Jesus drove the devil away, the angels came and tended to Jesus.

'Choose a path or a child' might relate to choosing the narrow road (path) to reach salvation, and the child is more-or-less a literal construct. Or even the Child of God, which is Jesus.

The 'path or a child' are not so much the choices, but outcomes of choices.

Because the implication is, that a good person can drive the evil away by being responsible by avoiding temptation by choosing the narrow path (presumably safe sex), or choosing a child if they literally give in to temptation (unsafe sex).

Ergo, evil can be avoided by making a conscious choice towards either outcome, and then responsibly living with it.

The particular verse reinterprets giving in to temptation as abandonment of responsibility, and the next verse laments, that many do not understand; or, alternately, posits a question from a man and a woman, as to whether they understand this situation.

Now, the first verse of the lyric refers to a man giving up on a relationship with a woman, and the man does not seem to have been up to any good in the first place, per others' observations, but love can be so blind.

The woman in the song pursues her lost love, and she'd do anything to get her man back, but it seems, that the relationship is beyond repair.

I can infer form the second part of the lyric, that he woman is pregnant from that man, and so the song criticizes the man as being irresponsible for having left the woman.

There's another and a more darker implication with the "And I don't know where the rest go" line, that the woman was pregnant, but did not carry it to term (against the advice of her friends). The woman contemplates, that 'it should not mean that much to her', but it does, and she now has regrets. The woman apparently did everything she thought she could to please the man she loved, but he did not return anyway. In this light, it's a tragic case of unrequited love.

Because of all this, the man is impossible from the outset (as told by the friends), and the victimised party would be wise to drive that man away, with the song excoriating him for his evil of total neglectfulness and complete lack of responsibility. Not just because the man left the woman once, and so would not be able to come around in the future, but because the woman made a sacrifice, and would make them again.

The song laments the men and women failing to understand such situations, one another, and their inner selves enough to make a conscious and responsible choice on the possible outcomes.

The two parties are a man, who was looking for a fling, and a woman, who having misinterpreted it as a serious relationship, had become far too attached.

Do note, that since 'oh woman, oh man' are on the same line, then the roles can be reversed. though a woman is singing the song, and so the other party in the song can often be interpreted to be a man.