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.
De Selby
Hozier Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When all of the world is asleep
You take in the blackness of air
The likes of a darkness so deep
That God at the start couldn't bare
And sit unseen
With only the inner upheld
Your reflection can't offer a word
With all mirroring gone from the world
But still the mind
Rejecting this new empty space
Fills it with something or someone
No closer could I be to God
Or why he would do what he's done
Bhfuilis soranna sorcha
Ach tagais 'nós na hoíche
Trína chéile
le chéile claochlaithe
Bhfuilis soranna sorcha
Ach tagais 'nós na hoíche
Is claochlú an ealaín
Is ealaìn dubh í
Bhfuilis soranna sorcha
Ach tagais 'nós na hoíche
Trína chéile
Le chéile chlaochaithe
Bhfuilis soranna sorcha
Ach tagais 'nós na hoíche
Is claochlú an ealaín
Is ealaìn dubh í
In Hozier's song "De Selby," the lyrics convey a sense of darkness and longing for escape. The opening lines suggest that we are influenced by the environment and experiences we are given, with the darkness within our hearts finding a way to inhabit us. The mention of feeling it in the corners of the room suggests a haunting presence that cannot be escaped. The repetition of the line "if I fade away, let me fade away" speaks to a desire to detach from oneself and merge with someone else, perhaps to escape the darkness within.
The chorus expresses the desire to be consumed by the night, to be far from sight and mind, to "kill the lights." This can be interpreted as a yearning for freedom and liberation from the constraints of reality. The longing to run against the world turning and outpace the dawn signifies a desire to escape the passage of time, to go beyond the limitations of everyday life. The lyrics suggest a willingness to do whatever it takes, even blocking the sun, to accomplish this escape, if that's what the person they are addressing desires.
Line by Line Meaning
What you're given
The circumstances and environment that you are born into
What you live in
The world and society in which you exist
Darling, it finds a way to live in you
These external influences and experiences shape and become a part of who you are
And your heart, love
Your emotions and desires
Has such darkness
There is a deep melancholy and pain within you
I feel it in the corners of the room
This darkness permeates and fills every aspect of your life
(If I was any closer) after the gloom
If I were able to fully immerse myself in this darkness
(I could only lose me) I wanna lose me
I would lose my sense of self in the process
(If I fade away, let me fade away) I
If I gradually disappear, allow me to do so
I wanna fade away with you
I desire to vanish from existence alongside you
(If I was any closer) if I was any closer
If I were even more deeply entangled in this darkness
(I could only lose me) I could be lost
I would risk losing my sense of identity entirely
(If I fade away)
If I disappear
No more than I was or than I (let me fade away)
I would not be any less significant than I already am, so allow me to vanish
Want to be when you fall on me like night
I long to experience the weight and intensity of your presence like the darkness of night
Every time
Each occasion or interaction
And I want to be so far from sight and mind
I desire to be distant and removed from the thoughts and perceptions of others
I wanna kill the lights
I wish to extinguish the brightness and visibility around us
I wanna run against the world that's turning
I yearn to resist and rebel against the relentless flow of time and the world's constant motion
I'd move so fast that I'd outpace the dawn
I would move with such speed that I would surpass the arrival of morning
I wanna be gone
I want to disappear or escape
I wanna run so far, I'd beat the morning
I desire to distance myself so greatly that I would greet the day before it even arrives
Before the dawn has come, I'd block the Sun
I would obstruct the rising of the sun, preventing its light from reaching and illuminating the world
If you want it done
If you desire this to be accomplished
Let all time slow
Allow time to decelerate and pass at a leisurely pace
Let all light go
Allow all illumination to diminish and fade away
I don't need to know where we begin and end
I do not require knowledge of the starting and ending points of our journey together
I'd still know you
I would still possess a deep understanding and connection with you
Not being shown you
Even without external proof or display
I only need the working of my hands
I solely require the ability to act and create with my own hands
(If I was any closer) you understand
If I were intimately closer to you
(I could only lose me) I wanna lose me
I would risk losing my sense of self in the process, and I desire this loss
(If I fade away, let me fade away) I
If I gradually disappear, allow me to do so
I wanna fade away with you
I desire to vanish from existence alongside you
(If I was any closer) if I was any closer
If I were even more deeply entangled with you
(I could only lose me) I could be lost
I could risk losing my sense of identity entirely
(If I fade away)
If I disappear
No more than I was or than I (let me fade away)
I would not be any less significant than I already am, so allow me to vanish
Want to be when you fall on me like night
I long to experience the weight and intensity of your presence like the darkness of night
I wanna kill the lights
I wish to extinguish the brightness and visibility around us
I wanna run against the world that's turning
I yearn to resist and rebel against the relentless flow of time and the world's constant motion
I'd move so fast that I'd outpace the dawn
I would move with such speed that I would surpass the arrival of morning
I wanna be gone
I want to disappear or escape
I wanna run so far, I'd beat the morning
I desire to distance myself so greatly that I would greet the day before it even arrives
Before the dawn has come, I'd block the Sun
I would obstruct the rising of the sun, preventing its light from reaching and illuminating the world
If you want it done
If you desire this to be accomplished
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Andrew Hozier-Byrne, Daniel Tannenbaum, Peter Gonzales
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@blitva1
The Irish part according to hozier at a live concert:
Although you are light and bright,
You come to me like nightfall(/like night),
You and I mixed up together metamorphosised, it's a dark art, the art of shape-shifting
@Oliver-ob8pc
Thanks for sharing, it's much appreciated.
@SnailReader
Bless you! I've been hoping someone would have a translation for this somewhere!
@renssea
o wow
@sproutpearson8429
thank you!
@primitivedogs4638
Pretty voice.
@plenty-of-stardust
The moment when he's singing in Gaeilge and then the harmony comes in... my brain just exploded
@tairae8319
That part makes me leave my body 😍
@ryunosukeakutagawa7325
It's called Gaeigle btw, not Gaelic! Gaelic is used more for the scottish language than irish.
@plenty-of-stardust
@@ryunosukeakutagawa7325 good point, thanks for the info!