Hozier - De Selby (Behind The Song) 

dude......... the gaelic lyrics talking about a metamorphosis at the point of the song where it transitions seamlessly into de selby part 2..................... fuck yes i love this album so much

I always come away from Hozier music with a reading list of poetry and literature. Thank you, Andrew, for thr broadened horizons and reading lists that never fail to inspire my darkest corners of creation

Can't wait to hear these back to back on the album... and repeat them an obscene amount of times 😂 2 more days!!

You can’t understand the level of obsession I have with these two songs back to back.

I think De Selby Pt 1 is among the greatest songs of all time. How he taps into the soul there is beyond words. People in 1000 years time will still be talking about this song, that’s how powerful it is🙏

He’s so awkwardly adorable, I just want to give him a big hug.

I love the experimentation with the sounds in the selby part 2, i freaking love it

The way ‘no closer could I be to god’ has been in the back of my mind for WEEKS this song shook me in a real way

thank you hozier for sharing your art, gratitude for your existence.

his mind is so powerful

i could listen to him talk for hours.. and im so grateful for the ability to listen to hours of his music whenever i please. i cannot wait to see him (in less than a month!!) beyond excited for part 1. i often feel "kind of part genius, part lunatic." every album, and single, of his seems to find my ears exactly when i need it.

The freedom of darkness - this is a powerful trope for the descent into the circles of Hell. Can't wait for this album.

Deeply in love with this man’s intellect

I love you andrew the entire lore of your albums are so beautifully constructed 💯💯

I cannot wait for a Hozier song in Irish! I’m a little emotional about it haha

I honestly have to say that I have been waiting with baited breath for this new Album. and after spending the morning here in sunny Johannesburg South Africa, I have come to the realization that you are my favorite Male musician/artist. It's you Hozier and Florence and the Machine, now imagine that as a collab. In a perfect world, that collaboration would come to South Africa to play a few shows! I Absolutely love the new album. Thank you for singing to my soul today.

always a treat to know what inspired the lyrical poetry.

If I had Hozier as a Math teacher, he explains everything so well and and so calm❤️❤️❤️

This mans mind is so beautiful 🥹

i haven't heard de selby pt1 in it's studio version, and it has already distroyed me, like, wow, I cna't even put it into words, thsi relation with darkes, being blissful of the world arround you, and andrew talking in Iris Gaelic, please, I'm about to spontaneously combust. I'm going to die with this album

I’ve never seen ANYTHING before that has my birth name in or on it, so imagine my surprise when Hozier releases not one but two songs with Selby as part of the name!! My family is Irish and Scottish and I always knew it was an old family name, but it never really set in the history it has ❤ So excited to listen to the whole album!!!

This man’s beautiful mind…can’t wait for the album!

I thought I was the only one listening to these songs on repeat, every fucking day. I'm in love with them and how amazing Hozier and his lyrics are, damn ❤

This song / these songs are currently on my heavy rotation. Such a great album! Hozier's voice is so calming, both singing and speaking, and he's handsome too.

i could watch these all day everyday

Mentally preparing for the emotional tidal wave that is to come

Such genius. Can’t wait for the album!!

De Selby pt 2. Is another repeat song which I love. I can’t stop listening to it. Very funky

The music video was incredible! This is my new favorite song

Andy, this album is going to be my favourite for years and years. ❤️

What a beautiful explanation, love part 2 so much!!! My preferred! So 80's-isch😍

I love Hozier’s music, but my favorite thing about him is his love for literature and poetry. You can also feel it in his lyrics and I think a great chunk of his fans are lovers of literature. Most people appreciate the sound of music most and I do greatly appreciate it, but I have always been most impacted by lyrics. To me, it is the most important part of a song. The better the lyrics, the more precious that song is in my life. It’s why Hozier is probably my favorite music artist. Both the sound of his music and the lyrics of his music are phenomenal enough to impact you deeply.

This song just arises something in me. Super excited for this autumn season with this album in the background!

These two parts are perfection. I love the intimate part and the funky one. And I love his explanations. We are so blessed having Andrew among us 😊

I love that Hozier is a true artist & storyteller, taking inspiration from classic music & literature

There are still artists in this era.

De Selby kind of reminds me of a similar character in arabic litterature called Abu Huraira. He goes on a journey to try and understannd the meaning of the world.

ok well this song made no sense to me at first but now that i've looked into it HOLY SHIT ITS AMAZING??? i love his music but i hate that being stupid limits my appreciation and understanding of the songs (also the part at the end in gaelic made me want to cry, it was so beautiful! it's the first time i've heard gaelic ever and i was so stunned)

He is just purely a precious and beautiful man 🙂🎼🎵🎶❤️

Hozierrrr we need a whole album in Irish please

He has such a beautiful mind I love how he can break my heart while wearing funky socks and high tops

You are poetry🖤

I can't wait to hear the album. Thank you for sharing your art with us. With love from Russia ❤

Oh my god i cannot wait for part 1 now

I'm a Christian, and God has been speaking to me through your music you are a lifesavor thank you for all you provide for your fans. My brother is your hugest fan we live in Iowa.

Woooowww such a interesting creative process!!

Two forces clashing/ crashing like thunder and lighting in darkness⛈⚡💚

both are so so beautiful

Hoziers like Yeh happy with it... Um it's only bloody brilliant! 🎉❤❤❤❤❤

The third policeman is my favorite book, I am so glad that Hozier made a song inspired by it!

Ma quanto sei bravo tu e tutti quelli che hanno collaborato al video❤

Fantástico, fantástico. Excelente. Bravo 👏👏👏

i had to watch this three times to hear what he was talking about… god bless

Omgggg it’s the same as I thought 😮❤❤❤❤❤

This has got to my favorite song from the new releases so far. It just reaches something in you.

man I wish Hozier was real 😩

your mind.. ❤❤❤

Shar and Selune have entered the chat. In all seriousness though thank you so much Andrew for writing such compelling songs and helping me through hard times and good times alike.

I was *just* wondering if hozier knows any Irish language/Gaelic, such a beautiful language!

Oh!!!! I didnt knew this!!!!

Musically, when I first heard part one and two, I immediately had a vision for each. For part one, I imagined a traveller that has arrived not very far from home but thinks he has. Kind of like the traveller didn’t have to go far to see something fascinating. In the setting, the traveller is physically exhausted but his curiosity overtakes him anyways. Obviously, this scene is very moonlit and beautiful. He reaches a stream with healing powers, but to heal him, the water has to note all the pain he has been through and he has to remember them when the water accesses those memories for whatever reason. This part of the story lines up with the intense and dark section of Part One where the music is less calm. For De Selby Part Two, I imagined the same man from the stream in the sky sprinting off of clouds (to the beat of the chorus lol) to race to just right of the sun in the sky. He is being observed in this vision of mine by beings like humans but not quite. I imagined that he either was trying to become a god or run from gods in the heavens (clouds) and is successfully getting away but is only proving how powerful and fitting he would be as a god since he is outpacing them and so he’s getting annoyed that they are only feeling impressed by him. “I wanna kill the lights” in my head gave me thoughts of him turning even more right and going a full 90° away from the sun (north) so the gods can’t see him as well and can’t see how quick he is compared to them and impressing them more. Basically, De Selby Part One in my head was a mortal man seeking a discovery but nature forcing him and helping him to take a rest and then De Selby Part Two in my head was him later in his life trying to avoid the responsibility that comes with being powerful in many ways and avoiding adventure now.

Amazing! Thank u! ❤❤❤

I knew he understood god, there's no other way one can sing with so much soul.

Thank u so very much for sharing this!

You, quite literally, NEVER cease to amaze. Thank you so much and job extremely and otherworldly well done!

I adore both of these songs, going to paint a canvas today with the gaelic lyrics on it today 🌱🍀 so I can see them everyday and try and pronounce them correctly haha

Amazing 🥰

You're the best.

This is my mindset

I need to see this man groove at some point 😊🥰

De Selby Part 1 is something that, regardless of the lyrics in Gaelic, which I don't speak, plus English, which is not my native language - I understood everything just through the singing, the way of singing, the music... this is the music and these are the lyrics that it's impossible not to feel it... It's so intense, it's so high and climacteric, layered, and yet somehow intoxicating and seductive, it pulls you into unfathomable depths - and that's what always "blind buys" me, personally. Then the transition to Part 2 and again the climax, this time stronger, more concise because in the first part we felt the layering of the songs and their opening... I could write books based on the analysis of each album, each song individually, from multiple perspectives, from multiple emotional points angles, with diametrically opposed philosophical views and it would always be both a fairy tale and a nightmare at the same time...

De Shelby 1 is in Gaelic? Oh yeah this album is going to murder me

Thank you more🎶🌈🌻

Anyone else's mind go to Victor Frankenstein when he described someone as both a "genius" and "lunatic"

ждём альбом с нетерпением

god i can't wait for my vinyl to ship

i love him so much im physically ill

Bellissimo questo pezzo, Andrew Hozier Sorridi pero😊❤❤❤❤❤

So interesting! And by the way De Selby 2 is my total favorite ❤

🌟I’m an obsessed fan of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ so ‘The Third Policeman’ sounds super fascinating. It’s weird that I’ve never heard of it. I read so many comparatives on it (Alice), I would think someone would have referenced it by now - well, on that note, I guess somebody did…😉💫

Us Irish speaking fans are going to go feral for de Shelby pt 1 I can't wait 1:52

Realized midway through that him and I are wearing the same socks

Very very good 😂 👀

Could we get proper closed captions and not just the automated ones, pretty please? Native English speakers just casually expecting everyone will understand them enough to spot where the automated transcription made an error and get the sentence correctly feels like a death of thousand papercuts some days...

Hozier is Orpheus himself reincarnated

I thought I was having a stroke and I no longer understood English until I realised he was speaking in Gaelic asdhasdkhj you go you funky little irish gremlin

❤❤❤❤❤

❤

💚💚💚💚

Most times i don’t understand what Andrew is talking about but i agree. Cos he’s probably right

♥️🇻🇪🇻🇪🇻🇪🇻🇪🇻🇪🇻🇪

🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽❤❤❤

I hope Hozier and my ultimate crush Dua Lipa will cross paths to make a song in the future, to do a collab💯🎤🎼 that would be a massive explosion

Part genisus part lunitic Isn't that usually the case

I’ll save myself*

I love the whole album and the 2 songs. I have an issue with what god created and seem not be able to forgive what he has done.

How did he know what God felt? 🤨 Hozier is never beating the Angel allegations

Mente Brilhante Andrew Hozier 💖👌👌👌 Grata 🙏🙏

Those shall be save through the blood of Christ I’ll be free

AAAAAAAA