Hozier was born in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. His mother is the visual artist Raine Hozier-Byrne (who also designed his latest album cover). He began a degree in music at Trinity College, Dublin, but dropped out midway through his first year in order to record demos for Universal Music. While at Trinity, he became involved with the Trinity Orchestra. He was a member of Anúna from 2008 to 2012, and appears as a soloist on their 2012 release "Illumination" singing "La Chanson de Mardi Gras". He toured and sang with the group internationally including performances in Norway and the Netherlands.
In 2013, Hozier released the EP "Take Me to Church EP" (also containing "Like Real People Do", "Angel of Small Death and The Codeine Scene" and a live version of "Cherry Wine"), with the title track becoming his breakthrough single after it went viral on YouTube. It reached number one on the Irish iTunes singles chart and number two in the official chart on 25 October 2013.
Hozier followed up Take Me to Church with the new EP "From Eden EP" (also containing "Work Song", "Arsonist's Lullabye" and a live version of "To Be Alone"), and a number of festival tour dates and television appearances in the United States. Hozier released his self-titled album, "Hozier" on 19 September 2014. It had five singles including "Take Me to Church", "Work Song", and "From Eden", which were hits on his earlier EPs. On December 2014, it was announced that "Take Me to Church" was nominated at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards for Song of the Year in 2015.
In September 2018, he released an EP titled Nina Cried Power and featured the title track as a single, reaching number one on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart. He released his second album, Wasteland, Baby! in March 2019, which debuted atop the Irish Albums Chart and the Billboard 200, and has since been certified gold in the U.S.
Butchered Tongue
Hozier Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Singing at me as the first thing
How the mouth must be employed
In every corner of itself
To say Apalachicola
Or Hushpuckena like Gweebarra
A promise softly sung of somewhere else
And have my foreign ear made fresh again
On each unlikely sound
But feel at home hearing a music
That few still understand
A butchered tongue still singing here above the ground
The ears were chopped from young men
If the pitch cap didn't kill them
They are buried without scalp
In the shattered bedrock of our home
You may never know your fortune
Until the distance has been shown between
What is lost forever
And what can still be known
So far from home
To have a stranger call you darling
And have your guarded heart
Be lifted like a child up by the hand
In some town that just means home to them
With no translator left to sound
A butchered tongue
Still singing here above the ground
The lyrics of Hozier's song "Butchered Tongue" delve into the power of language, particularly the way in which regional accents and dialects shape our sense of identity and belonging. The opening lines describe how as a child, the singer was captivated by the unique names of places, those names that seemed to sing to him. The ability of the mouth to form and articulate these names, such as "Apalachicola" and "Hushpuckena," is emphasized, highlighting the importance of language in connecting us to a sense of place and heritage. These names become a promise, softly sung, of somewhere else, a reminder that identity and belonging can be found even in unfamiliar or distant landscapes.
As the singer grows older, he reflects on the experience of traveling and encountering different road signs and sounds, finding solace and familiarity in the music of unfamiliar accents. The line "But feel at home hearing a music that few still understand" suggests that while regional dialects may be fading or misunderstood, they are a source of comfort and connection for those who recognize their value. The phrase "a butchered tongue still singing here above the ground" implies that despite the suppression or dismissal of certain dialects, they still persist and resonate, functioning as a reminder of cultural heritage and resilience.
The song takes a darker turn in the later verses, discussing the violent history of a particular place. The ears of young men were chopped off, and if they managed to survive the brutality, they were buried without their scalps. This vividly depicts the devastating consequences of conflict and the human capacity for cruelty. The lines "You may never know your fortune until the distance has been shown between what is lost forever and what can still be known" underscore the importance of acknowledging and remembering the past, as well as the fragility and resilience of collective memory.
In the final verse, the singer reflects on the experience of being far from home and finding comfort in the kindness of strangers who still recognize and embrace the singer's identity, calling him "darling." However, there is a sense of loss and isolation as the singer realizes that there is no longer a translator to convey the meaning and significance of the "butchered tongue." Despite this, the song ends on a note of hope and defiance, with the realization that the butchered tongue still sings above the ground, symbolizing the enduring power of language and culture.
Line by Line Meaning
As a child it was the place names
When I was a child, the names of places fascinated me
Singing at me as the first thing
They captured my attention as the very first thing
How the mouth must be employed
I realized how important it is to use my mouth
In every corner of itself
To explore every part of it
To say Apalachicola
And pronounce words like Apalachicola
Or Hushpuckena like Gweebarra
Or pronounce names like Hushpuckena and Gweebarra
A promise softly sung of somewhere else
They held a promise of a different place
And as a young man blessed to pass so many road signs
As I grew up, I was fortunate to pass countless road signs
And have my foreign ear made fresh again
It revitalized my foreign ear
On each unlikely sound
With every unfamiliar sound
But feel at home hearing a music
But somehow, it made me feel at home
That few still understand
A music that only a few can comprehend
A butchered tongue still singing here above the ground
Despite its imperfections, our language still finds a way to be spoken
The ears were chopped from young men
The ears of young men were severed
If the pitch cap didn't kill them
If they were lucky enough to escape death by pitch cap
They are buried without scalp
They are buried without their scalps
In the shattered bedrock of our home
In the broken foundation of our homeland
You may never know your fortune
You may never truly realize your luck
Until the distance has been shown between
Until you understand the difference between
What is lost forever
What is permanently lost
And what can still be known
And what can still be understood
So far from home
Being far away from home
To have a stranger call you darling
To experience the kindness of a stranger calling you darling
And have your guarded heart
And have your protected heart
Be lifted like a child up by the hand
Be lifted, just like a child, by someone's hand
In some town that just means home to them
In a town that feels like home to them
With no translator left to sound
With no one left to interpret
A butchered tongue
Our imperfect language
Still singing here above the ground
Still being spoken and celebrated
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Andrew Hozier Byrne
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@leenqasim2372
As a child it was
The place names singin'
At me as the first thing
How the mouth
Must be employed
In every corner of itself
To say
"Appalacicola " or "Hushpukena"
Like "Gweebarra"
A promise softly sang of somewhere else
And as a young man
Blessed to pass so many road signs
And have my foreign ear
Made fresh again
On each unlikely sound
But feel at home
Hearin' a music
That few still understand
A butchered tongue still
Singin' here above the ground
The ears were chopped
From young men
If the pitch cap didn't kill them
They are buried without scalp
In the shattered bedrock of our home
You may never know your fortune
Until the distance has been shown
Between what is lost forever
And what can still be known
So far from home
To have a stranger call you "darling"
And have your guarded heart
Be lifted like a child up by the hand
In some town that just means
'Home' to them
With no translator left to sound
A butchered tongue
Still singin' here above the ground
@nadiagabriel-ye2kh
So far from home
To have a stranger call you darling
And have your guarded heart
Be lifted like a child up by the hand
In some town that just means
'Home' to them
With no translator left to sound
A butchered tongue
Still singing here above the ground...
I can, It is ridiculous I've been sobbing for an hour now, it is not an album this is a musical treasure, gem after gem each song speaks to me😢
@spacegalaxy19
for anyone wondering, “pitch-cap” was a torture method that the British used on the Irish during the 1798 Rebellion; typically paper caps would be dipped in tar (pitch) and would be placed on their heads and set on fire, very gruesome and devastating 😢
while the song can represent that forgotten languages of any colonized country, it definitely has a strong link to how the Irish language was forbidden and was stripped from us 😭
@noorabdullah4189
thank you so much for sharing this information :(
@thechicantique4567
Oh wow. Thank you for this explanation. I can just imagine my poor Irish ancestors getting the pitch caps, 😢. Total devastation.
@SaphiraTessa
Wikipedia says: "Pitchcapping is a form of torture which involves pouring hot pitch or tar (mainly used at the time for water-proofing seams in the sides of ships and boats) into a conical paper cap and forcing it onto an individual's head, which is then allowed to cool before being rapidly removed. Typically, victims of pitchcapping suffer loss of skin and tissue around their head"
Either way, it's gruesome
@thechicantique4567
@@SaphiraTessa oh lord! 😨
@crazyearthquakes
@@thechicantique4567felt
This song awakens something in me everytime I hear it
@Apollo_G
i know that this is about irish gaelic, but it really encapsulates how i feel about scottish gaelic as a scottish person. my school didnt even mention that gaelic existed until i was 15, and i have to learn from duolingo. i live in edinburgh, and we werent taught our own fucking language.
@kates8458
This song is my favourite of the album, if not of Hozier's entire discography. Being from a country where our native language suffered a fate similar to that of Gaelic, this song really resonates. Thinking that it was somewhat shameful to speak my language and express my culture when I was a child and seeing a shift now, where people my age slowly understand that it, in fact, isn't...
"A butchered tongue still singin' here above the ground" line made me burst into tears.
@justiceharrison5142
Hello there Kate nice meeting you here
@user-tz8wh9ie1s
I don`t know where are you from but I feel you. Just the same for me and language of my people