Meaning of “Castle on the Hill” by Ed Sheeran

Castle on the Hill is a song that appears on English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran’s 2017 studio album titled  ÷. The lyrics of the song pay homage to the English town Framlingham, Suffolk, where Sheeran grew up as a child. In the song, Sheeran talks nostalgically about his childhood years growing up in Framlingham. He reminisces about a lot of memorable moments he had as a teenager in Framlingham mentioning events such as having his first kiss, watching the beautiful sunset over the “castle on the hill”, finding weekend jobs, getting drunk with his friends and smoking cigarettes (the hand-rolled type) among several other interesting events. On BBC Radio 1, Sheeran said of the song as a love song for Suffolk.

Our Favorite Line from “Castle on the Hill”

There are a number of cool lines from the lyrics of this song, but our favorite is:

Facts about the song “Castle on the Hill”

• Castle on the Hill was written by Sheeran and Benjamin Levin (best known as Benny Blanco). Blanco is a multiple award-winning American songwriter and music producer who has over the years worked with artists such as Rihanna, Katy Perry, Kesha and Justin Bieber among others.
• The production of the song was handled by both Sheeran and Benny Blanco.
• The castle, Sheeran talks about in the song is the famous Framlingham Castle, which is located in Framlingham’s market town. The castle was first built in 1148.
• The “Tiny Dancer” Sheeran mentions in the song actually refers to the 1971 hit song of the same name by Elton John. “Tiny Dancer” is one of Elton’s most famous songs.
• According to Sheeran, the young man, who played him in the song’s music video, attended Thomas Mills High School, which is the same school Sheeran attended.
• The song was a chart success, reaching the number 1 spot in a number of countries, including Scotland. In the UK Singles Chart, the song debuted at the second position.