about the lines "pretty as a vine, sweet as a grape, if you could sit in a barrel maybe I'll wait -" you put sweet grapes in a barrel, over time they age and turn into bitter wine
In Nobody, Hozier says, "I wouldn't fall for someone I thought couldn't misbehave." I feel like this is pretty similar to what he's saying in Too Sweet. He admires his partner's optimism and sweetness, but he prefers someone who's a little rough around the edges. Great vid as always!!
With the TSA reference, it could also be alluding to a bit of irony because the TSA is known to be ineffective and actually doing its job. It's basically a facade of security for airports. If I think of this longer I might actually have a decent explanation of where my mind is going
I think that would imply that his lover wasn’t actually taking care of herself. Which wouldn’t be the case, I think I agree the interpretation of his lover just not allowing destructive things into her life.
@@harrison3910I actually agree with the original commenter here. Throughout the song he makes several jabs at her lifestyle and this seems like it could easily be another one, almost like why are you even trying to guard yourself when it’ll find its way in regardless. Like it’s another point towards embracing everything, which would go along with “fare well”
I obviously don't know what he thinks, but in the US, for some people (especially those of us who remember before it existed), it's both an ineffective joke and a sign of the ongoing militarization of our society. Like, when Honor said "to protect" in connection to the TSA, I actually physically did a double take because protection is so far from that agency in my mind. So I took it as a very sour line where TSA is either contrasting sharply with the gates of heaven or underlining a critical view of them--or both.
Omg yes I was gonna say this! For me I see it kinda like the TSA is a show and there’s a lot of shit that’s “banned” that’s allowed in and perfectly safe things that get flagged, so it’s like she says she’s super strict about what goes in her body and how she treats herself and is all about “clean living” which links back to the “if your drunk on life” line but in reality she’s talking this big talk but she doesn’t know the good that she’s missing out on and the bad she’s still allowing in. This might be a bit of a reach though and just kind of a stream of consciousness I had lol
the first time i heard wildflower and barley, i thought two things: 1. 'this is going to break me' 2. 'i can't wait to see honor's video about this song' and you DELIVERED. also, not-so-fun fact that i thought you'd enjoy about 'empire now' from an irish gal: when i first heard that line, 'the martyrs of our revolution' i immediately thought of (as you talked about) the 16 rebels that were executed during the easter rising, but in particular the story of joseph plunkett. he was one of the 16, but his story is particularly heart-breaking because on the night before he was executed, he married his fiancee grace gifford in the chapel in kilmainham gaol. he left everything in his will to her and she never remarried. there is a beautiful song written about their love called 'grace' and it's kind of a staple in irish music. if you haven't heard it before, you should definitely give it a listen. there are many versions by different artists but my personal favourite is the version by jim mccann and the dubliners. anyway back to the point i was trying to make lmfao. that song is written in the perspective of joseph plunkett to his fiancee and though it's heart-breaking, it's optimistic because he's dying for a cause he strongly believed in. in the same way, though it's a massive reach, i almost feel like this song is written in the perspective of grace to joseph (or any couple that was separated by death due to the violence). it feels like she's telling him that his sacrifice 'caused the earth to shake' and that finally, 100 years later 'the future is so bright that it's burning'. she's saying, 'look what you did for the future of your country' and i think that's beautiful. of course, i don't think hozier wrote the song with their story in mind, but it hits so much harder when you think about them as you're listening.
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for your comment. I knew the story of Joseph Plunkett, and I know the song 'Grace' but never managed to pair the two together. I'm definitely going to have to give it a good listen back now I know the meaning behind it. Again, thank you! ❤️
this is mostly just a little PSA - if you like the vocalist featured on wildflower and barley, she did a spotify sessions cover of take me to church! plus she has a duet with brandy carlisle
I hope he never let's us rest!!! couldn't wait to get home to this today. On my walk this morning spring in full bloom in the city I was listening to Wildflower and Barley. I felt the closest I'll ever to heaven. Can't wait to see them sing my favorite song in May!! Another great Hozier video Honor!! Thumbs up everyone our girl deserves to soar in the algorithms👑💐💚
Ooo, I love your interpretation of Too Sweet. I never considered the image/legacy side of it, especially the line "but who wants to live forever, babe?" I hear it pretty literally, like why deny yourself your preferred vices just because they're unhealthy, we don't live forever anyway ("you don't gotta pretend" being less about a projected image, more about her lying to herself about what would make her happier). But I love that second layer, that she makes all these lifestyle choices based on other people's perception of her. It changes the meaning of "I aim true and the ground's where I go" as well. He works in the darkness where he's free from the phone (not just calls but social media) and it worries her, not just because of the general isolation or bad sleep habits, which was my interpretation, but because his day-to-day life isn't being documented online. This whole time I was thinking of aiming at the ground as heading to an early grave with your bad habits (and he aims true because he understands and accepts it, as seen in many of his songs, but especially Fare Well), but he's also aiming to live underground to avoid the spotlight on his personal life. I'm excited to re-listen with this spin in mind. As for the TSA line, I don't think it's much deeper than what you said. She's on guard against unhealthy or dangerous things and, like the TSA, won't let them past a certain point into her life. It's very controlled and impersonal with no in-the-moment consideration for the things she's denying, just sticking to a list of what's permitted and what's not. Maybe you could argue that the TSA is less about true protection and more about the image of tight security, too, but I'm not so sure about this one. I think I'm going to have to make a whole new comment for each section of the video, lol, this is already getting too long. Loving it so far!
WILDFLOWER AND BARLEY!! Thank you for your love of that one, I don't see people talking enough about it! I guess it gets hidden behind the sexy sound of Too Sweet and the powerful sound of Empire Now, but it's so, so beautiful! Their voICES. I don't have much else to say about the lyrics, you covered them perfectly. The trolley part made me laugh out loud. I'm so close to getting a "like grief and sweet memory" tattoo. That line hits me every time.
I had a different interpretation of a lyric in Too Sweet: "I aim low. I aim true and the ground is where I go." I immediately thought he was saying that he doesn't sugar-coat his words when speaking to someone. Like throwing "low blows" or aiming "below the belt" during an argument. But, your interpretation is entirely possible too, since he uses the imagery of being underground or buried in a ton of his songs!
The line about the barrel, I think he's referencing the process of grapes fermenting to make wine. I took it to mean that if she would exchange some of her sweetness for bitter, he would stay and wait to see that
Loving the 3x3 (9) bell tolls in Sweet to Me. Three and pause, thrree and pause, three and pause. Nine is for the death of a man, six for a woman and three for a child. She'll be the death of him. 😂
Fare Well is one of my favourite songs right now! I love the examples he gives of animals seeking comfort, safety, pleasure, etc. in very physically dangerous ways, then "critic hoping to be remembered" as the last example. Get 'em, lmao. I love the guitar throughout the song. It starts off with slow strumming, and when he says "out here tryna feel good again" the guitar plays a little jaunty tune, which to me sounds like someone doing a little dance for the fun of it. The song constantly switches between kinda flowy, slower moments and that same guitar line, which keeps getting stuck in my head and I'm not mad about it, and which I interpret to be the little moments of thrill-seeking, getting high, or otherwise living it up. And I agree with you about the Cranberries comparison re: his vocals on this track. Love it! Someone pointed out that "solitary pleasure that was sorrow in disguise" could be drawn from Stephen Dunn's poem, Sadness, which Hozier read on Instagram Live a few years ago: "...mostly I was inured and out to make a decent buck or in pursuit of some slippery pleasure that was sadness disguised." It's a good little poem, I recommend a read! Anyway, I can't really put into words how happy this song makes me. It's so dark, so silly, embracing that a human as just another animal living life with all the good and bad. It's so fun to sing along to. I love the harmonies and runs. It makes me want to learn guitar so I can play along. As for Empire now, IMO best way to listen to it is on the highway with the music blasting so you can sing along as loud as you can (because it's not a song you can sing quietly). I feel like it was made to be a stadium/concert song, with the loud bass and the vocal performance that only Hozier can provide. Very stompy and shouty. SO cathartic. It's a celebration of time moving along and the bright future ahead, the empire in the past. Not as complex as Hozier's lyrics usually are, but they don't have to be. I feel this one in my BONES, dude
My favorite song on the ep is actually Empire Now! Something I haven't seen in the comments yet is interpreting the song as sarcastic or cynical. He said in a video on his channel that the turning of the martyrs was them being so disturbed that they were turning in their graves so much that the earth was shaking. And the solution to that was to hook them up to generators to power the world. I think that fits very well with your take on "future so bright it's burning" meaning climate disasters. However, my favorite interpretation is that the song is simultaneously him being genuinely happy about the progress and still pessimistic and recognizing how far we have yet to go. I love wordplay, and am obsessed with the possibility that every line is this song has both a positive and a negative meaning. For instance, "a world that's easy now" could be mocking the progress of technology and humanity in 100 years, and yet just as many people have extremely hard lives as did 100 years ago. "I would hold on for all it's worth" could also mean that we will bleed the earth dry for everything valuable we can get out of it as it dies under our feet. As someone who is also neurodivergent and who struggles with gray areas and multiple feelings at once, I appreciate that this song could be recognizing how we can feel absolutely despondent and hopeful at the same time when thinking about the state of the world
I literally have such a hard time analyzing Hozier's songs. I don't have that kind of background but I love him sonically so your videos are really important to me because I get context that I didn't get hearing them for the first go around. I think I just get stuck on his imagery and I have a hard time looking past that. I learn a lot from your videos so thank you!
I saw someone on TikTok suggest that Too Sweet might be Hozier being in love with someone so "pure" that he's scared of corrupting them, so with 'if you could sit in a barrel maybe I'll wait' he says that if they aged like wine, so turned more bitter than the sweet grape they were at the beginning, he'd be willing to wait. And the bells in the background, recalling wedding bells, could support this theory, acting as a indicator of his love :)
Wildflower and Barley being your favorite is so real. It was instantly my favorite too, maybe from all of Hozier's work.. The way spring is just pouring from this song... it is surreal.
I love your videos because it's fun to be giddy about Hozier in a way that isn't chewing my friends' ears off about lyrics. This album has been insane first of all, but Empire Now and Fare Well (sorry it's good aside from the brutal animal stuff), have been my absolute favourites. After this though I'm going to give Wildflower and Barely another listen.
I too would like a word with Andrew for putting those mental images from Fare Well in my brain 😂😭 he makes up for it when those lines about joy and disaster hit though, swear to god i have an out of body experience every time
Love love love listening to your interpretations. I just want to say I actually really like your “as above, so below,” idea and I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch. I do think they’re both “over indulging” in their lifestyles to compensate for or to avoid something, even if one is perceived as healthy. I mean, why would hozier write such complex and beautiful lyrics if he didn’t want us to come up with complex analyses??!?! He brought it upon himself. I also wanted to say I actually quite like the sound production in empire now. I think it fits the lyrics and makes it powerful, I feel like I need to see it on a soundtrack in a dystopian movie. Totally agree wildflower and barley is beautiful and now I can’t wait to see Allison Russel open for him this summer, and sorry that fare well triggered your Abstract PTSD lol. Thank you for putting out such amazing content and have the best time at your hozier show!!!! 🫶🫶
im late to this video, but the moment i heard wildflower and barley i could picture the place and the feeling it evoked, its a late july day in the early evening and the sky is orange and its so calm, she has a chokehold on me and i don't want her to let go
I had the same feeling about Fare Well the first time I listened to it, that it felt like the song has always existed, and not just that it was familiar from having a similar style to other songs (I got Cat Stevens vibes), but couldn’t quite explain it. I love how you described it “waiting to be extracted out” of history
I’m so glad that someone is appreciating wildflower and barley like I am. It’s so special to me. Especially since it’s springtime now, and this so came out on my birthday 🥰
Can u please vlog yourself while in hozier's concert? i would love to see it and also I pray for you to get to interview hozier. Thank u 4 the amazing video❤
Oh my word that hit me so deep - "If the world goes down, it's because it needs to, ... this whole thing ending, so be it, because it takes the suffering with it." a wave of relief
I remember watching his stories early in the pandemic lockdown and he mentioned writing and stuff and I thought “when he finally releases new music I have to remember this time he was writing it” so it’s really interesting to see the lyrics and hear wildflower and barley and remember those days. I agree that’s my favorite of his. Another great analysis!
Just found this series of analysing Hozier lyrics and I am so grateful! I love his songs so much but my listening comprehendtion is quite bad and combined with how i never finished what would be the equivalent to high school the academic references can fly over my head. It can all be a little overwhelming to understand some lyrics. I write poetry myself and love his writing but this has really helped me with fully understanding his newest songs that i haven't spent years marinating in my head. I also think that its beautiful how different songs hit us differently my favorite of this newer collection is definitely Swan Upon Leda; a song I somehow understood fully the moment I heard it. Its gentle, lulling despair but hopeful rebellion moved me deeply. Hope you're doing well and your cats are happy❤
Hi! Thanks for this! It's so nice to hear your take, especially on Wildflower and Barley. I will listen with all you've said in mind. On Too Sweet... There is a reoccurring theme in Hozier music of desiring a romantic partner who isn't perfect. In Too Sweet, the love interest is one the protagonist has lost interest in because she sounds like she's chasing a life only found online. I hardly think the protagonist sounds gluttonous. He drinks whiskey and coffee and is a night owl, but depending on the quantities, which are unmentioned, he could be quite a moderate person. Perhaps that's the point, though. When we strive and present ourselves to be immoderately perfect, even moderation is gluttonous in comparison. Or seen so. All wonderful, but the one that captures me first and won't let go is Fare Well. What I love the most is how easy his voice is - how nuanced and intimate it can be even without the dramatic tension found in many of his songs. Simply beautiful. This song is everything at once. It's fun and so sad, upbeat and downtrodden. It laughs at itself - I think the animal stuff is OK because it's metaphorical. I remember Hozier once joked in an interview that when he falls in love, he throws his heart under a bus. The song also makes me wonder if he sits down to write a song asking himself, "Now what can I write that will make fans run to a tattoo parlor?" Joy, Disaster.... Also, I wonder if "let the sun only shine on me through falling skies" is referencing I Carrion. I will stop myself. No, wait! When I looked up Sumida Gawa and whale, I saw a lot of old art prints of whales being hunted in the river. I wonder if they used to chase whales up the river to hunt them? Or maybe a dig that the Japanese still hunt whales? Lastly, I thought of you when I saw that Hozier is going to Australia. I so hope that you see him and meet him. It would be so great if you could interview him. He gets asked the same questions over and over again - I would think he'd appreciate your honest and deep curiosity. Best from around the world.
too sweet: this song has been on repeat. love this analysis~ in life we all get to choose our vices! I think toxic positivity is definitely prevalent in the culture, and instead of giving in to our shadow and radical rest and indulgence we try to "rise and grind" to our happiness. the interplay of the characters trying to impose their lifestyle on the other is obvious. Trying to strike the balance between indulgence and temperance is an ancient theme that I so vibe with. wildflower and barley; I need to give this one more listens. that stillness during the pandemic really hit different and I also gained such awe from the world, especially the natural world.
Not sure if this is obvious or just me but i felt like the four songs where linked the the four seasons because of the nature references visuals on Spotify and the general vibes of the songs I feel like this adds to the all things change yet all things are cyclical message of the ep
I wasn’t the first to notice, but it blows my mind that morning isn’t as bright as day, rain is hardly soft, vines aren’t as pretty as flowers, and he needs his grapes fermented
The mouth of heavens gate and body of tsa, I see as she talks a big game and gives him a perfect idea of a person and could be the one but her actions or her body is shut down and strict like tsa and not actually down to be the person he always wanted
I blame the seductive vibe of Too sweet but I find double entendre in the second verse… Like he is very straight forward about sex and going for the pleasure, but she is quite sanctimonious: recognising the sexual power she holds, but acting prim and prudish, adding games to the act. And both are acts of over indulgence, like you said. I love that you mentioned the Cranberries! I commented somewhere else that there is a slight grunge vibe in the beginning of Too sweet just like in Francesca, Fare well is pure Hozier folk meets bluesy thing combined with a very Led Zeppelin Over the hills and far away acoustic guitar vibe and Empire now is a millenial’s nostalgia trip to 2010s club music 😂 And you mentioned the soul in Wildflower & barley. That’s nods to basically all of my favorite genres in one EP. No wonder I love this man!
Hi, loved your video as always :) a few thoughts I had whilst listening: - 'you treat your mouth as if it's heaven's gate': I think looking from the perspective of an agnostic/athiest person (like hozier is) especially coming from a religious background, there's a certain pretentiousness about the idea of being admitted to heaven, like the people convinced they'll get there think that they're morally superior. So I wonder if this could be that her comments come across as looking down on him for his lifestyle, like she has some moral high ground or that when she tells him to 'live right' it comes from a high horse - which could link to 'you don't gotta pretend', like 'you don't have to pretend you're better than me, I know you'd like to wake up just as late' - the parallel to this is 'the rest of you like you're the TSA' - whilst heaven's gate is her judging him on the inside, the TSA is a physical screening, so this is her judging him physically for how he lives his life, essentially saying 'if you don't look after yourself how can I let you in'(to my body/life), so we have her both physically and morally judging him - I think this feeling of being judged could also explain the cocky undertone of the song, like his 'maybe I'll wait' nonchalance is to take the power back from her possibly making comments and hinting that he's not good enough for her - which could then link to 'you're too sweet for me'; instead of viewing it as a statement he makes on his own judgement, he could just be confirming the message that she's been trying to put to him that she's in fact too good for him, so he's saying okay fine you are too good for me in your eyes, I'm not going to change. - I guess if we took this interpretation the possible circles could be: wrath (he's mad bc of her judgement so he's lashing out in a sarcastic way), heresy (he's staying from her dominant opinion of how he should live his life) or fraud (she's pretending to be above him but he knows its a crutch for her)
There's so much here that I also had tossing around in mind but couldn't put to words, particularly in regards to Wildflower and Barley. I had a very doy moment when it was pointed out that "trolley" is referring to a shopping cart and not an old timey tram. Listening to that song always conjures up this very ghibli-esque imagery for me. It just goes together in my mind especially with how the portrayal of stillness and "empty" space in Ghibli movies are so full of life. Anyway, I absolutely enjoyed your analysis and will continue to gnaw on this EP like my cat gnaws on string.
Always looking forward to these song breakdown videos!!! I was taking notes while watching so my comments on each song are coherent lol The contrast between light and dark in Too Sweet and how the speaker/hozier wants a woman who embraces more darkness/vices/realism/whatever you want it call it really reminded me of de selby part 2. The whole song is about marvelling in his lover’s darker side (as explored in your other video
regarding the tsa line: maybe it’s about how to enter heaven you must do and preach good and to go through tsa you have to simply not commit a crime, so in the end, maybe the partner in question isn’t all that particular about what goes into her… for some reason and having associated this song to hozier speaking directly to his fans, it feels to me he’s referencing the fans that preach the superiority of his music in regards to more “lighthearted” music (especially when it comes to lyrics, as if these fans are extremely cautious about what they sing along to, therefore which words they let into or rather out their mouth) whilst choosing words of a sexual nature to heavily comment on his social media (a person they actually don’t know.) almost as if he was saying “you treat your mouth (and the words you preach with it) as if it’s heaven’s gate (because they need to be superior and greater than most for you to choose them). the rest of you (their mouths and voice still, but probably referencing to the rest of their body, implying the sexual comments) like you’re the tsa (to go through you, all it takes is not be a criminal. them, not knowing who hozier truly is apart from the façade he shows and the lack of controversy surrounding his name would apparently be willing to give “the rest of them” to an essentially unknown person even though they are so particular over what words they sing along to). OKAY I REALIZE I PROBABLY OVER ANALYZED THIS MAYBEEEEE (it’s very likely) IT’S A STRETCH, so SORRY!!
Honestly the first time (hah) I heard the “TSA” line, I thought it meant that despite this person’s “sweetness” and like, closed-ness, they still indulge in intimacy that would typically go against the rest of their image (like TSA patting you down) So this line is a bit of pointing out hypocrisy for me. “You are such a pure person (except this one thing, so are you even pure at all or is that purity an act?)” Anyways that’s just a theory, a…music? theory
I think that the line "You treat her mouth as if it's haven's gate" means that she does not indulge in gluttony (it is the circle of gluttony) , and "The rest of you like you're the TSA" that she does not condone the act of sin, she is the one who controls what goes in, in that sense TSA being the one who controls , is an allegory on what's good and what's bad from her end
ok first note- I have such a hard time with Wildflower and Barley, the sort of synth-y parts for some reason don't click with me, but I was so excited to see you covering Unheard because every time I'm at odds with a song, you open up the lyrics in such a fantastic way. I'm definitely going to give it a few more shots before I decide exactly how I feel about it thanks to this video. Second thing, Farewell. Damn. This song gives me this incomparable feeling of recklessness when you realize you have to die someday. Waking up and realizing that loving and feeling are the only things that actually matter, so you have to do them even if they kill you. It reminds me a lot of when I decided to leave home with no money and no security because I'd fallen in love, and how terrifying that was but how necessary it was too. Until that point in my life, I'd done everything to avoid danger and pain, and that was when I changed my way of thinking and realized I had to feel everything there was to feel, because time was always running out as long as I was alive. It was probably a stupid thing to do but for me it changed my life. I'm married and have met so many incredible people because of that reckless decision. Maybe that sounds dumb but yeah, Farewell really does something for me. I get this image of someone pausing before they turn on their car because they hear something and finding the kitten there- that shock and fear, that possibility that it could all go wrong but it could also all go *right*. How little we know about chance and life and what we're here for until we're in the game, doing the damn thing. final note lol I know I'm ranting. Too Sweet definitely feels to me like a lot of the darker parts of us coming out and needing desperately to relate and feel as though they are normal (which a lot of them are). Coming from a place of deep deep darkness, to coping, to reaching out blindly praying that someone understands. There's a real sense of resignation and the feeling almost as though he's smirking through the whole song like it's clear to him nothing can be done to change the person he loves. Part of him knows he doesn't want to, but the other part wants so much to be understood and is observing their differences as the darker half knowing he can't stop feeling like the damaged one. He loves her for what she is, but he can't be that way and she can't be like him. Nothing to be done, but sometimes he just wants to be seen in a way he thinks she can't see him. Relatable stuff 😫
There is a video on K8 concerts channel of Hozier's concert where he tells the story behind the lines "I aim low, I aim true and the ground's where I go." Apparently he was so hungover that he fell and hit his head. Then he had to leave for his flight and in the aeroplane he realized that his head was bleeding. He happened to sit on the same row with Cillian Murphy who started talking to him while he was low key shaking from hangover and trying to hide his bleeding head under a beanie 😂 So the "I aim low, I aim true and the ground's where I go" is like an inside joke of his drinking & falling down 😅
I was so excited for this upload from you, and once again, I love your analysis! Thank you for another amazing video! Wildflower and Barley is my favorite, too! It’s just, uhg, everything lol! I wholly agree with your takes on Too Sweet. I approached it from a Been-Around-The-Block-Trauma-Survivor perspective, and, honestly, it felt similar to the kind of mindset I’ll be taking into dating once I’m ready to get back out there. That I couldn’t relate to someone who hasn’t experienced or recognized the ugliness in world. That I could only be with someone who values authenticity over performative lifestyles, sees the world for what it is, but still finds joy where it’s available, even in the duality of experiences. Like coffee is bitter, but there’s a depth of flavor. Thus not eschewing the bitter to just experience the sweetness. So I view the TSA line as alluding to and reinforcing the performative nature of their actions. Because the TSA is a performance of safety and security. The threats/darkness of the world are still out there.
Thank you for this analysis, a delight as always! I don’t think a mention of barley is accidental here - it’s a very symbolic plant for Ireland en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_That_Shakes_the_Barley
Was about to comment re same--Hozier spoke about it in an interview and it's immediately what I thought of when I heard the Wildflower and Barley title pre-release!
honestly I really vibed with Empire Now's soundscape, because to me it feels at times almost caustic - it's bare-facedly talking about empire and colonialism, so making the guitar line keep its whines and making the backing tracks sort of clank harshly into place, and overall just not giving it a smooth sheen, drives home just how brutal the supposedly 'civilized' empire is. It leaves me feeling kind of unsettled at the end, and I think that's very much the point! as other commenters have pointed out the song keeps talking about circles and revolutions, and the British empire may have waned but the American one has stepped up to take its place. and the line "one hundred years from the empire now" has two different meanings: 'one hundred years from the empire' and 'the empire *now*' - it's pointing out the lie that is told when we say that empires are a thing of the past. so the sort of off-balance, kinda lurching feeling that the backing tracks bring, the heavy (militaryish, maybe?) drumbeat, as well as Hozier's harsher vocal performance, the sardonic 'future's so bright it's burning', and the fact that the melody doesnt seem to reach a resolution come together for me to drive the ultimate point home. that point being: as long as empire exists there is no just or livable world, so you *should* feel unsettled - despite how history is taught to us, the work is nowhere near finished. also I loved this video! there are so many references and allusions I just didnt pick up on in this EP, especially with Wildflower and Barley, and as ever I'm delighted to hear your take on it all.
Just a general comment: how someone can write like this and then has the audacity to just mosey up to the microphone and sing with his hands in his pockets…
Thank you sooo much for this amazing video! I really didn't like "too sweet" at First so i didnt give the ep the best chance for my first listen. I really dislike the "romantization" of alcohol consumption in a lot of pop/rock songs as it destroys so many lives... Now on my second and third listen i really liked "fare well" and the wildflowers so much... And i got the chorus and that guitar solo from "too sweet" always in my ears cause its TOO DAMN CATCHY!
I loooove your hozier lyrics breakdowns! 🩷 I'm so glad you got tickets to see him, i just saw him at the Buenos Aires Lollapalooza and i'm not joking, it was a spiritual, soul-lifting, life affirming experience.
it has been so fabulous to get some new songs! I'm commenting at the beginning of the video so not sure if this is covered later on or not but does anyone know when the LP and CD will be released? i only see the digital version of this EP so far available.
I feel like both Wildflower & Barley and Fare Well are complicated a bit if you connect them to I, Carrion: one has a reference to the earth falling, the other to the sky falling, and both of those are mixed up together in I, Carrion. "If it [the world] falls, I would hold on for all it's worth" vs. "Don't fall away from me"; "Let the sun only shine on me through a fallin' sky/I'll be alright" vs. "If I hit a squall/Let the earth find its brutal way to me." I'm not sure what I think about what all that could mean, but it seems intentional given how consistent the elements of earth and sky (and darkness, light, and water) are through the album as a whole. (I do think it's interesting how sparing the references to fire are, given the album's use of those other elements, so I want to think about "the future's so bright it's burnin'" some more.) This is maybe a bit of a stretch, but to me "Fare Well" is connected to "To Someone From a Warm Climate." Something I've puzzled over is that that song is technically located in the circle of violence, but the only allusion to that we get in the song is "the awful things we do to make the head go quiet." I thought about whether the song might be extremely deceptive: he's talking about all these things that come easy and "natural," and maybe the terrible thing is that violence can be one of them. Here in Fare Well, we have another reference to seeking warmth, and several more to instinctive, easy behavior, but it's clear that this behavior is harmful to the self--which is a type of violence sinners are punished for. So I may be seeing what I want to see, but I think this song clarifies Warm Climate for me. Finally, in Wildflower and Barley, a couple of things. I think the contrast between the first and second halves of the first verse is even stronger. You mentioned that "riverboat" could be a reference to Charon. I think that's absolutely right in the second half, since it directly follows "*departure* and death"; but I also think of how carts and wheelbarrows have been used to move the corpses of the dead when there are too many, during plagues in the past. These simple elements of a rural scene are both life and death, like the soil. Much like how the whole album is always weaving both above and below ground. All of this reminds me of Abstract (Psychopomp), for obvious reasons. I also think "This year, I swear it will be buried in words (The diggers are diggin' the earth)" is a Seamus Heaney reference, to the poem Digging: it's about how Heaney's forefathers dug peat with a shovel, and now Heaney will dig with his pen.
@@honorluca Glad you liked! I'm so grateful for the videos you've made; there isn't a lot of actual discussion or analysis of the album like this, mostly just regular reactions. (Nothing against reactions, but they don't scratch the same itch!)
I love your videos so much! I liked the songs the first time I heard this EP, but I couldn't help but feel slightly bitter about how different and kindda overproduced they sound compared to his early work. But hearing your analisis, I am reconciled with it as I feared for nothing (Eng is not my first language and I was unawares of the nuances of his lyrics so thank you so much for explaining everything so carefully and lovingly)
Useful as dirt, put my body to work. Can also mean, how the physical body is just dirt. Easily washed away & replaced, but also the ground for something to grow- Soul. "something that cannot die, something always perpetual" (something most of religions talk about, to bear one's sins) Like Wildflower (soul-grows anywhere, needs not to be cultivated), barley(the material-physical body, cultivated - birth & death) With every single song that Hozier releases, he departs from blasphemy further and further. His technique is to use blasphemy( or negative language) to lure his audience & once they're lured to the core of it. Dude says..... Hey look, there's God in wildflower & Barley.
also reading over the lyrics of too sweet again i realized nowhere in there did he mention the gender of the other person. not saying ur wrong for saying "she" but it's just something to be noted!
Thank Honor, for another great video I always appreciate your take on Hozier's work. I thought I share a like to a Q& A session he did after the De Selby 2 video premier. At about the 30 minute mark he starts talking about some unreleased works, specifically Empire Now and Wildflower and Barley. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y_3a87zrjwE.html
Firstly i love your videos. Secondly i dont know if you ever watched the Hozier youtube afterparty ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-y_3a87zrjwE.htmlsi=lUW1QkYGLY-_pBRn From minute 30 he talkes about Empire now and Wildflower and Barley and how that relates to Butchered tongue. I love the imagery of spots of barley just coming up again and again as a reminder of a massgrave
I read your body like its the TSA as in incredibly selective in not only choosing who has access (ie sex maybe), but also like they thoroughly examine their body, like a body check, assming this person is a bit of a health freak so they also obssess over how their body looks?
