“Take Me To Church” Lyrics & Meaning (Hozier)

Take Me To Church originally had a lot of religious fans.

They saw it as an invitation to go to church and worship.

Of course, the song is anything but.

It is critical of the catholic church and the homophobia that still pervades its teachings.

Needless to say, discovering the true meaning lost the song a lot of those religious fans.

But the meaning, and the accompanying video that makes the meaning very clear, gained the song, and its creator Hozier, a lot more fans than it lost.

Today, the song is still hugely popular and it has seen a number of prominent artists create their own cover versions.

But the controversy behind it never went away. So what is it in the lyrics that still generates so much controversy?

Keep reading for a full discussion of the Take Me To Church lyrics and their meaning.

 

Take Me To Church Lyrics And Meaning

In the 21st century, we would hope that mixing the issues of religion, sex, and sexual orientation is still a cause for social scandal. But that is not the case.

And for Irishman Andrew Hozier Byrne, better known as Hozier, there are still many prejudices surrounding the issue that harm humanity.

He put his frustrations into his monster hit Take Me To Church. As a result of the success achieved with that song, he has now gone from being unknown to one of the most promising new artists.

The 32-year-old Hozier is now proof that there is more music in Ireland than U2. Of course, he still needs to show that he can build on the success of that song, but for now, it is a good starting point.

Take Me To Church hit number 1 in more than a dozen countries. In 2014, it became the most listened to song on Spotify with 87 million listeners.

In just two weeks it already had 230,000 views on YouTube. Now it has almost 660 million views.

The British actor Stephen Fry supported Hozier on Twitter. Given Fry’s more than 8 million followers, this helped a bit. Hozier thanked him for his support.

The song was nominated for a Grammy in the category of best song, although the award went to Sam Smith. During the awards ceremony, Hozier performed the song along with Annie Lennox.

Among the many artists who have done their own version of the song is Neon Jungle who included it on the reissue of their debut album. Other artists such as Kiesza or Ed Sheeran have also made their own versions.

Clearly, the song speaks to a lot of people. So what is it exactly that appeals to such a broad spectrum of the general public? Let’s take a look at the lyrics, before taking a closer look at their meaning and the song in general.

 

Take Me To Church Lyrics

Verse 1

My lover’s got humor
She’s the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody’s disapproval
I should’ve worshipped her sooner
If the heavens ever did speak
She’s 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

Chorus

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

Verse 2

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
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

Chorus

Take me to church
I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
I’ll tell you my sins so you can sharpen your knife
Offer me my 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 so you can sharpen your knife
Offer me my deathless death
Good God, let me give you my life

Bridge

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

Chorus

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

 

Take Me To Church Meaning

When this song was born, Hozier was going through a period when he frequented open mic venues in Dublin. One fine day he wrote and recorded the song in the attic of his parents’ house in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland.

It was a completely homemade job for which he used a programmed backing track. He recorded the voices at around two in the morning. When it finally caught the attention of a label, they re-recorded it with live instruments, although they kept the original vocals.

 

Religion

In a talk with The Cut, the artist made his convictions clear when talking about the meaning of Take Me To Church, in which some critics maintain that he drew a direct comparison between the figure of the lover and the religion.

Hozier wrote the song after his breakup with his first girlfriend and used a metaphor to compare a lover to religion. The song reflects Hozier’s frustration with the teachings of the Catholic Church:

“Growing up, I realized the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church”, he stated in an interview with Rolling Stone. “History speaks for itself. I grew up incredibly frustrated and angry. I basically expressed that with my words.”

In another interview with The Irish Time, he explained how it all came about:

“I realized that the experience of falling in love or being in love was a death, a death of everything. A way to see yourself die in a wonderful way and to experience in the briefest way, if you look at yourself for a moment through your eyes, that everything you believed about yourself is gone. In a certain sense, it is a death and a rebirth.”

The song was also inspired by the atheist author Christopher Hitchens and his line “I was born sick, but I love it. Command me to be well.” That line actually paraphrases another line from the 16th century Chorus Sacerdotum, which reads “created sick, commanded to be sound.”

 

Homophobia

Apart from religion, the other central theme of the song is homophobia. In New York Magazine, he explained:

“Sexuality and sexual orientation, regardless of religious orientation, is natural. The sexual act is one of the most humane things there is, but an organization like the church, for example, through its doctrine, teaches people to be ashamed of sexual orientation, saying that it is a sin or that it offends God. The song is about affirming yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love.”

More than condemned by the history of his own country, mostly Catholic, Hozier has been an enemy of the excesses in these lands, with a church that he considers a “hypocritical” institution and with a government that he has branded as “cowardly”, but always under the idea that the human being has been crushed by this combination, which he also tried to expose in the video directed by Brendan Canty.

“Because of my Irish origin, it is obvious that I have a bit of a cultural hangover that is part of the influence of the church. One can go down the street and see many people with a huge burden on their hearts and with great disappointment, something that has been passed down from generation to generation. The song, as I said, is an acknowledgment of oneself, of recovering humanity as such. To be able to choose, in the case of a woman, someone who is worth loving,” said Hozier.

Obviously many agree and he has found especially great support for the piece on the Spotify platform. The music video also greatly helped the popularity of the song.

 

Music Video

The music video for Take Me To Church was directed by Brendan Canty and Conal Thomson, from a small production company. It was inspired by Russia’s totalitarianism in the face of homosexuality and the growing homophobic movements in countries like Russia.

The video went viral and that was actually what led to Hozier being signed by a multinational record label. “To this day, I still don’t know who uploaded that video,” Hozier told Rolling Stone, “but every hour it was seen by 10,000 people or something. I was pretty freaked out.”

 

Take Me To Church Lyrics Meaning

Take Me To Church by Hozier originally saw great support from religious people, who apparently only heard the words “Take Me To Church”, but nothing else.

They took it as song created to inspire people to go worship. They were not happy upon discovering the true meaning of the song.

Of course, there is a long history of these types of misunderstandings. Just ask Neil Young (Keep On Rocking In The Free World) or Bruce Springsteen (Born In The USA).

But the song is obviously quite critical of the catholic church, and anything but an invitation to go to church and worship. That said, the lyrics are only one part of it. Ignoring them, it is still just a great song.

The best way to avoid this type of common confusion and misunderstanding with lyrics is communication. Listening is especially important. Simon and Garfunkel sang about that decades ago in their hit that defined an era. Read our breakdown of the The Sound of Silence lyrics meaning for more. 

For another song with a religious connection, but that is not really about religion at all, check out the lyrics and meaning or Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls.

Hozier wrote this song after a breakup, which is exactly what the protagonist in Sugar Rays Every Morning should do. See our analysis of the Every Morning lyrics meaning to learn why he needs to break up with his partner.

Finally, see this article on the Y.M.C.A. lyrics meaning for a deeper look at perhaps the biggest gay anthem ever recorded.