This presentation consists of my analysis of the lyrics from Hozier's song 'Take Me to Church'. Much of the song is symbolic, with a number of religious and sacrificial references.

1. HOZIER – TAKE ME TO CHURCH
LYRIC ANALYSIS

2. CONTEXT
• "Take Me to Church" is a song by Irish recording artist Hozier for his debut extended play Take Me to Church (2013), as well as
his self-titled debut album (2014). The song was released as his debut single on 13 September 2013. Hozier, a struggling
musician at the time of its writing, wrote and recorded the song in the attic of his parent's home in Bray, County Wicklow,
Ireland. A mid-tempo soul song, its lyrics detail Hozier's frustration with the Catholic Church and its stance on homosexuality. It
first caught the attention of independent label Rubyworks, where producer Rob Kirwan overdubbed the original demo with live
instruments. Only two musicians feature on the track, Andrew Hozier-Byrne (Hozier) and drummer Fiachra Kinder.
• The song's music video has contributed to its widespread popularity. The clip, directed by Brendan Canty and Conal Thomson of
the small production company Feel Good Lost, follows the relationship between two men in a same-sex relationship and the
subsequent violent homophobic backlash. Upon its YouTube release in September 2013, it quickly began to go viral, leading to
Hozier's license with Columbia Records.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_to_Church

3. Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your
knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
No masters or kings when the ritual begins
There is no sweeter innocence than our
gentle sin
In the madness and soil of that sad earthly
scene
Only then I am human
Only then I am clean
Amen. Amen. Amen
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your
knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your
knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
My lover's got humour
She's the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody's disapproval
I should've worshipped her sooner
If the Heavens ever did speak
She is the last true mouthpiece
Every Sunday's getting more bleak
A fresh poison each week
'We were born sick,' you heard them say it
My church offers no absolutes
She tells me 'worship in the bedroom'
The only heaven I'll be sent to
Is when I'm alone with you
I was born sick, but I love it
Command me to be well
Amen. Amen. Amen
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your
lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen
your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your
lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen
your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
If I'm a pagan of the good times
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice
To drain the whole sea
Get something shiny
Something meaty for the main course
That's a fine looking high horse
What you got in the stable?
We've a lot of starving faithful
That looks tasty
That looks plenty
This is hungry work
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your
lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your
knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
HOZIER – TAKE ME TO CHURCH

4. My lover's got humour
She's the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody's disapproval
I should've worshipped her sooner
If the Heavens ever did speak
She is the last true mouthpiece
Every Sunday's getting more bleak
A fresh poison each week
'We were born sick,' you heard them
say it
My church offers no absolutes
She tells me 'worship in the bedroom'
The only heaven I'll be sent to
Is when I'm alone with you
I was born sick, but I love it
Command me to be well
Throughout the song, religious references are made frequently within
the verses. This reflects the purpose of the song; Hozier wrote this
song to express his frustrations of the Catholic church’s attitudes
towards homosexual relationships. The lexical set of religion:
‘Worshipped’, ‘Heavens’, ‘Every Sunday’s’ and ‘church’ signify the
messages that Hozier is trying to get across to the church, already
within the first verse. In previous years, decades ago, the audience
may have been more offended and insulted by these subtle remarks,
given that Hozier’s music is mainstream and has gone viral,
particularly within western society, i.e. the UK and the USA. These
nations are predominantly Christians and it this market which Hozier
would be targeting, and indirectly insulting as a result of his choice of
subject matter.
Interestingly, the song also consists of dialogue. The phrase ‘we were
born sick’ and ‘worship in the bedroom’ have allegedly been voiced by
the lover.
The juxtaposition between humour and funeral is also something
worth mentioning, given that they connote two different ideas.
Whereas the giggle indicates something fun, light-hearted and
joyous, a funeral connotes death – the end of a life, negativity and
sadness. These opening lines therefore foreshadow the concept that
this relationship between the singer and the ‘lover’ must therefore
be something rather unconventional.
Further, the personal pronouns used in the song include ‘she’, ‘you’
and ‘I’ demonstrating the switch between the narration of the song.
Whilst the song is mostly in first person, through the use of ‘I’, the
narration switches to ‘you’ to suggest that he is speaking/singing
directly to his lover. Similarly, as he quotes from his lover ‘we were
born sick’, it is almost as though the lover is trying to combine the two
bodies together through the collective personal pronoun ‘we’, as
opposed to the singer himself who only goes on to express ‘I was born
sick’, suggesting that he is trying to distance himself away from the
lover.
These personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’ may also allow the audience to
relate to the song’s message, particularly given that there are no
concrete nouns – names – and the themes within the song are
therefore relatable with other individuals. It is no surprise that
perhaps Hozier is trying to bind like-minded people with this song.
The idea of ‘fresh poison each week’ may further indicate the way
in which Hozier believes the Catholic Church is corrupting the minds
of individuals in society. The ‘mouthpiece’ with the pre-modifiers
‘last’ and ‘true’ further relates to the ‘poison’ in the sense that
every week, Catholics are expected to consume the daily bread in
their church masses ‘Every Sunday’. The oxymoron of ‘fresh poison’
reflects that of the juxtaposition between ‘humour’ and ‘funeral’ in
the sense that Hozier has combined the notions of positivity and the
joys in life with negativity and the end of life and darkness.
In essence, Hozier is suggesting that the Catholic church are simply
narrow minded in terms of accepting homosexuality into their
community. In effect, Hozier’s song has cultural relativeness in the
sense that the zeitgeist for some time has been that of the Catholic
Roman church accepting homosexuality, and nations around the
world, too.
Another interpretation could be that the ‘poison’ actually refers to
homosexuality, and therefore it is the church’s viewpoint and
attitude towards this choice as it is unnatural and potentially
corrupting.
The last line is something of a contradiction in itself, given that
‘command me’ is an imperative sentence along, and beside
message that is tried to be sent across to its audience, the word
‘command’ itself is an imperative. The fact that Hozier is
commanding his lover to command him is therefore the ironic
contradiction, which leaves the audience wondering who has the
most amount of power: him, his lover, or ultimately the Catholic
church? It is possible for the latter to be the most powerful and
relevant, provided the prior-knowledge that ‘command’ may also
relate to that of the 10 commandments within Christianity – further
implying that God thereby is always all-consuming.

5. Amen. Amen. Amen
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of
your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can
sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of
your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can
sharpen your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
This body of text is the chorus to the song and is therefore
repeated a number of times. In some ways, the chorus is where
the primary message of the song is.
As seen in the previous verse, there are many religious
references made within the song to accentuate Hozier’s
frustration towards the Catholic church for its hostility towards
homosexuals. The refrain ‘Amen. Amen. Amen.’ is an echo of
the concluding line to poems and dialogue between man and
God. Other words within the religious lexical field include ‘sins’,
‘Good God’, ‘worship’ and ‘shrine’. The repetition of ‘Amen’ is
effective, since it almost cries out that of many oppressed
people; it reflects the voice of those who are in need of help
and support, or perhaps forgiveness.
Predominantly within this chorus, there is the highlighted
contrast between life and death through ‘deathless death’ and
‘let me give you my life’ as touched on in the previous verse.
The lines may suggest sacrifice, in the sense that a ‘deathless
death’ is not a conventional and perhaps painful death, but one
that does not deserve to have their life ended as is therefore
rewarded with the lack of negativity and such that is associated
with death. Similarly ‘le me give you my life’ explicitly indicates
that they value their beliefs more than their own life;
suggesting passion and devotion to their conflict between their
own beliefs and that of the Catholic church. Hozier’s use of
‘God’ makes this song perhaps even more blasphemed and
conflicted against the general hegemonic views of
homosexuality. The sacrificial imperative ‘let me give you my
life’ thereby indicates the extent to which Hozier would go to
voice his anger and outlived beliefs of accepting homosexuality
into the Christian church.
This verse is repeated a number of times at the very end to
ultimately reiterate these feelings of anguish, sorrow,
frustration and anger which are so evident within the
chorus.
The dynamic verb ‘sharpen’ may perhaps alarm the
audience in that this connotes violence and aggression; the
use of weapons. This is a very emphatic word, one which
will almost cut through the dimension of the song, given
that it is an onomatopoeic word.
The non-demanding tone of ‘you can’ and ‘let me’ are also
mentionable. They may suggest how weak Hozier is
becoming in proving his beliefs to the Catholic church, and
to society in general.
The line ‘I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies’ is
representative of the fact that Hozier appears to be de-
humanising himself by comparing himself to that of a dog.
This reflects his desire to distance himself away from
humanity and the high social seriousness and values
towards homosexuality and how rigid and hostile they are.
Hozier clearly does not want to be a part of these ideals.

6. If I'm a pagan of the good times
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice
To drain the whole sea
Get something shiny
Something meaty for the main course
That's a fine looking high horse
What you got in the stable?
We've a lot of starving faithful
That looks tasty
That looks plenty
This is hungry work
Take me to church
I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of
your lies
I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen
your knife
Offer me that deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life
This last, main verse before the end of the song delves further
into the explicit issues and prejudices highlighted within the
entire song. For example, Hozier introduces the idea of being a
‘pagan’. A pagan is an individual who holds religious beliefs other
than those of the main religious beliefs, such as Christianity or
Islam. This may relate to those being agnostic. The significance of
this is that for centuries, the hegemonic views of the world were
predominantly Christian. Hozier himself was born in Ireland, a
heavily conflicted nation due to dividing views in Christianity. In
many ways, ‘Take Me to Church’ embodies this struggle to
appear different and ‘other’ from these dominating beliefs.
Interestingly, ideals of the natural world are touched upon in this
verse. The ‘sunlight’, the ‘Goddess’ and ‘the whole sea’ are
somehow connected to the Hozier and his relationship and the
oppression he experiences. The weather and other natural
bodies such as the ‘sea’ are often suggested to be interlinked
with humans and their life cycles and routines.
The ‘whole sea’ is also reminiscent of escapism, which further
reflects the theme of sacrifice which was mentioned in previous
verses. Sacrifice in itself is a biblical reference; a way of pleasing
God and showing him love and devotion.
There is also an analogy of the human body being considered as
meat through ‘something meaty for the main course’. This
metaphor is further developed in ‘that looks tasty/that looks
plenty/this is hungry work’