Ranking My Favorite Religious and Literary-Themed Hozier Songs
Hozier’s hit song Take Me To Church is not just a religious song that some may think it is. Its narrative is something we should know.
Andrew John Hozier-Byrne with the stage name Hozier is an Irish musician, singer, and composer. His music incorporates R&B, soul, gospel, and blues and is inspired by literature and religion.
The Blues genre includes spirituals, work songs, field hollers, yells, chants, and rhymed short story ballads. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the primary feeling conveyed in blues is typically despair or melancholy. It is frequently brought on by love issues but also by oppression and difficult circumstances.
Know more about his music as I rank my favorite religious and literary-themed Hozier songs!
Take Me to Church
In 2013, Hozier released his first solo EP titled Take Me to Church, a melancholy and soulful rock song. Later on, it became the opening track of his debut album Hozier. The song addresses the discrimination toward LGBT in the Catholic Church. After a year, the music video went popular on YouTube and Reddit and he gained a global audience.
He shared in an interview with CBC News: National in 2015 that there are more references to the Catholic Church in the song. The chorus is a philosophy that would oppose everything good and natural about being a person. Hozier also explains the music video references:
“... these anti-gay propaganda laws kind of prohibited the LGBT community for advocating for their own rights and public places.”
Work Song
Hozier’s second EP called From Eden under his self-titled debut album tackles another love story between two people. This features how the love of a worker’s life gives him courage after a long day at work. The song combines alternative/indie and electropop.
Moreover, the title of this song does not appear in the lyrics. But the title itself, Work Song, has a beat similar to the job pace and includes brief and rhythmic phrases.
From Eden
From Eden is Hozier’s second EP and is also part of his self-titled debut album. He claims that he composed it with humor, from the viewpoint of the devil viewing something harmless and seeing it as a missing piece. The song attempts to court a woman while acknowledging how severely damaged the relationship would be.
A line from the song’s Pre-Chorus 2 was inspired by the poem Chanson by Oscar Wilde. From “And a hempen rope for your own love to hang upon a tree.” to “A rope in hand, for your other man to hang from a tree.”
In addition, Hozier told in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph in 2014 that From Eden is spoken from the viewpoint of the devil.
“I kind of play around with the idea that the song is sang by the snake. That it’s the devil looking longingly at something he desires – for everything that he does not have.”
Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene
This groovy song is the second track in his eponymous album. Codeine, an opiate drug used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhea is the main topic of the song. The phrase “The Angel of Small Death” refers to “La Petit Mort,” which is French for “the little death,” which translates to “orgasms.” Basically, the song is about drugs and sex but Hozier’s writing is so great.
One line from the song was inspired by the literature A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. From “…shaking the wings of their exultant and terrible youth.” to “Shaking the wings of their terrible youths.”
Hozier currently has two studio albums and three extended plays. He released his first single Take Me to Church in 2013 while the latest is Tell It to My Heart with Meduza. Listen to more of his songs on different music platforms!
