Occasionally, a song becomes so widely played that it is almost inescapable.
You find yourself humming a tune you weren’t aware you knew, because it is being so regularly piped through shop sound systems, in pubs, and over the radio. We sing along mindlessly.
Remember Ed Sheeran's The A Team? A song about drug addiction, homelessness and prostitution which soared to the top of the charts and remained there for weeks on end, contributing significantly to Sheeran's current superstardom. It seems the same might be happening to 24 -year-old Irish musician Andrew Hozier-Byrne, who performs under the name Hozier. Take Me To Church, the song for which he is best known, has now sold over three million copies in the USA, has over 40 million views on YouTube and, with over 189 million plays, has been named by music streaming service Spotify as their most viral track of 2014.
What causes a song to gain this many plays? How does a previously little-known musician land a global hit and attain abundant radio coverage? The bluesy, haunting melody draws the listener into the song and once there we are met with whatever message the musician intends to communicate.
As people of the Word, we need to listen carefully to the words our culture is singing.
‘I should’ve worshipped her sooner’
Throughout the song, the figure of the female lover offers the narrator salvation from what he sees to be the oppressive judgmental-ism of the church. The object of his affection is visible and tangible; the pleasure she offers is a ‘gentle sin’ too tempting to resist. Delivered with wallowing electric guitar, the liturgy of the song is redirected and repur-posed; familiar language expressing a deep desire not for closeness with God, but for sexual fulfilment. There’s truth and beauty in this recognition of the power of physical intimacy, but it has been wrongly elevated from the position of good gift from the Saviour and has, in this instance, literally taken his place and cruelly demands to be worshipped.
‘Every Sunday's getting more bleak / fresh poison each week’
In an interview about the story behind the song, Hozier explains that he ‘wouldn't think of it as an indictment against religion, [...] more an indictment against church institutions that undermine some of the more natural parts of being a person; undermine humanity in some way, shape or form’.
Given the sexual connotations of the lyrics, it’s no surprise that this song was born out of an era where the redefinition of marriage is commanding much of the media narrative. To know and be known by the living God makes us more fully human; more fully what we were intended to be. Yet the church is often seen from the outside to be an oppressing force which seeks to deny that. The guiding hand of popular media has led us to a dangerous definition where real freedom is thought only to be found in being true to ourselves, and anything which impinges on that must be trying to limit our humanity.
‘I was born sick / but I love it / command me to be well / Amen’
The gospel-esque and gorgeous refrain of ‘Amen’ pins down this line, which glories in original sin and the way it lends our hearts to self-service and the pursuance of our desires. Is this really where freedom lies? The life, teaching and death of Jesus tell us it isn’t so, and that it’s only when we look away from ourselves to serve others that we find a satisfying freedom and a new, life-giving set of desires.
With the lyrical content dealing so directly with issues in contemporary politics and appealing to our society’s current definitions of words like freedom, tolerance and equality, is it any wonder this song has resonated with a mass audience the world over? Hozier brings the rhetoric and tradition of the old religion to bear on some of the most seemingly untouchable values of the world in which we live. Influenced by those standards, he has written a song which itself feeds back into the value system, affecting but perpetuating it. He sings of humanness and we should celebrate what we can in that, but we must also challenge the shadow that sin casts on the message he communicates.
As Christians, we can’t afford to ignore the music and lyrics that grip the heart of our society, even if they only do so for a fleeting moment. But we can do more than reveal the falsehoods. We can reclaim the language and sing back a better song; a song that brings life and shines brightly with truth. And in order to do that, we need first to be listening.
