Heyyy fam, time to flex our editorial skills once again – shoutout to everyone who contributed to our repeated lyrics discussion. Let’s boss out a page, learn from each other, and (of course) keep gettin dat IQ! So let’s clean up…

“Take Me To Church” by Hozier

This song came out last year, but it’s been popping off ever since with almost 400k views and steady concurrents. The shape of the annotations needs work though, so that’s where we come in. Let’s take this thing verse by verse and see what we can do with it!

Remember that interviews are super important resources for primary sourcing – it’s always great to have the artist explain it for you! So check out these interviews (and more) and let’s get going with Verse 1!

• “Q&A: Irish Musician Hozier on Gay Rights, Sexuality, & Good Hair”
• “Hozier’s Passionate Challenge to the Catholic Church—and to Bigots Everywhere”

@genius-editorial-board @rock-genius-editors @pop-genius @chihuahua0 @Cxsey @Dassi @JHGFD @EmperorAguila @bdobbin2 @Bloody-Ice-OKLM @Natroniks @tehhawt1 @beesknees @AJAYD8 @AudreyVentura @Hieusays @kensiebabe @Irish-Republican @BenQ3000 @RachelPhantasmagoricalWilliams @WiseGirl @kray @ewokABdevito @streetlights @Swords @Jill_Nipples @Frat004 @karilona007 @Vesuvius @amosharper @illustriousQ @Tyrant @MrCey

So what do we think about this annotation and its suggestion?

http://rock.genius.com/3185655

Thanks for putting this up! Now time for a cascade of text.

A general observation of the song, which I buried in an annotation: The first verse and the chorus focuses on Christain imagery, while the second verse is mostly pagan imagery. That capture my attention when I initially left tates.

Second, we need to decide how much tate time we need to dedicate to the music video. Although both the song and video have the religion connection, song goes first, and therefore any LGBT commentary should go second and potentially be disposable where connections are tedious.

Oh, and the wording. Don’t forget to point out all the diction, without forcing the connections.

Actually, shouldn’t we be discussing the song’s general meaning, so we have an interpretation to build all the annotations off of? Anyways…

Line-By-Line Analysis

[Calling main contributors: @TheScrivener, @Natroniks, @EmperorAguila]

My lover’s got humour, she’s the giggle at a funeral

So, the first annotation. While it’s good, since it explains how it sets the song’s tone, it’s not excellent. A page’s first tate needs to be excellent or even fantastic, because we don’t want to lose readers here.

Even though laughter is typically a good thing, it’s hard to think of anything more sacrilegious than to laugh at a funeral. The narrator’s relationship with his partner similarly engenders disapproval.

The basic is explained, giggle at funeral = unusual in a bad/good way. I think we should put a link here. Is there any Christian text on funerals that we can quote, or at least commentary on Western funerals? Something that establishes that this song has intelligence, or at least we have.

“Sacrilegious” pops up a lot here, which is partly my fault. Let’s reduce usage. Also, I’m not hot on the last sentence, mostly because of the last few words. Should it be merged with the next graf’s first?

However, by painting his partner in a positive light (she has humor), the narrator indicates he should have trusted love over religion from the start; religion only continues to try make him believe he’s sick. He comes to accept his ‘sickness’ and embrace it.

Organization’s good. The first graf covers the micro/concrete, and the second covers macro/abstract. Keep this. We might be bringing in the religion angle too quickly (the sickness angle comes in later), so let’s condense it.

Lastly, image. It’s not necessarily, but since it’s the first annotation, an image will catch eyes.

I can take a shot at a true rewrite if the above is good. We can’t go into detail with every annotation, but let’s do so we the chorus any other notable tates. Now for the suggestion:

Humour can also refer to a mood or a whim so this could (at least) refer to her state of mind and (at more extreme) could refer to a sickness of character.

According to one dictionary, “Humour” can mean “mental disposition or temperament” or “peculiar features; oddities; quirks”, but we can incorporate to comment on her free-spirit mindset. It’s a clear juxtaposition against religion’s typical uptightness, if that makes sense.

Possible Merger

The below two annotations should be merged, since they share a cause-and-effect relationship, and are self-explanatory in isolation. The word “worshipped” should also be pointed out:

http://rock.genius.com/3319806

http://rock.genius.com/3058192

Actually, these two might be mergeable with the first annotation, since it’s still the same “scene”, and we can fit one more graf without scrolling.

I hadn’t heard this song until a few days ago when a friend was playing it. I don’t mind the song but the numbers we’ve gotten on this song are astounding. I know nothing about this dude.

@chihuahua0 sounds like you have it under control. I’ll take another look at it as well.

http://youtu.be/kwxIFk3tZSI

My lover’s got humour
She’s the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody’s disapproval

Two perspectives? Going one line at a time.

My lover’s got humour

This itself is interesting as it can have many interpretations because of we don’t know which definition of humour is being used here.

• Mainly we know humour in noun form as the state of being comical or funny. This sometimes happens at funerals in order to livin' the depressing mood of losing someone.

• As a verb, (which I did not know until now), means to comply in order to keep someone happy. (this might build into the disapproval line).

She’s the giggle at the funeral

Building off of what I said in the first bullet, I focused on “she’s the giggle” as it furthers the idea of a double meaning: being laughed with verses being laughed at.

Knows everybody’s disapproval

Still continues the double as it isn’t clear what the disapproval is. (1) It can be the funeral, as many disapprove of someone dying. (2) Of her, as she is his lover and they may not like her at all.

I think those first three lines are interlaced with two meanings.

http://rock.genius.com/2272725

You are really only supposed to worship God or rather you worship the Father through his song. I saw it as being put on the same level as God, but who knows?

I’m not sure, because I don’t have time to watch or read the interviews, but I think these are all metaphors. Are these actual denounces of God for the sake of love?

This also brings up the question, what happened to the girl? Is she the one dead in the beginning or did she leave him?

This type of annotation is really up for discussion and might need the different interpretations separated by lines.

http://rock.genius.com/2272739

“We were born sick” refers to the ideology of Original Sin, this is the reason for a baptism or a cleansing.

All I know is Sunday is usually looked at as a day of worship; day of rest; new beginning.

I do think a lot of the original annotation makes sense too.

http://rock.genius.com/2537030

Definitely look at the suggestions for this one too. It can refer too many things apparently.

http://rock.genius.com/3324763

I think these three lines go with the “worship in the bedroom” line

This leads back to previous lines, putting her on the same pedestal as God; Love is a paradise – Heaven is a paradise(?). He’s willing to live in sin or the evils of religion as a long as they have her. A lot of this might go full circle back into displaying more meaning into the first three lines?

Sorry I’m writing too much.

Woop thanks @chihuahua0 @illustriousQ! Ok so going back to the first annotation

My lover’s got humour
She’s the giggle at a funeral
Knows everybody’s disapproval

You guys hit the nail on the head that the key point is that laughing at a funeral ≠ okay. I don’t think it’s necessary to go into the varying definitions of humor. A few things come to mind here when I think of these lines:

• laughing at a funeral is disrespectful and will be met with disapproval
• he can find happiness (laughter) in even the saddest moments (funeral) because he still has her

Agreed with Chihuahua that we don’t need to bring in the religion angle yet because it’s just setting the stage with the fact that he loves her. Also don’t think that linking to a text on funerals is necessary, tho good idea. @chihuahua0 you want to give it a rewrite shot?

@Brock I can do it this afternoon, and ideally apply it this evening.

Now the second one

I should’ve worshipped her sooner
If the Heavens ever did speak
She is the last true mouthpiece

To answer @illustriousQ’s question on the full meaning of the song – this is what he says in the first interview I linked:

“Take Me to Church” is essentially about sex, but it’s a tongue-in-cheek attack at organizations that would … well, it’s about sex and it’s about humanity, and obviously sex and humanity are incredibly tied. Sexuality, and sexual orientation — regardless of orientation — is just natural. An act of sex is one of the most human things. But an organization like the church, say, through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual orientation — that it is sinful, or that it offends God. The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love. Turning your back on the theoretical thing, something that’s not tangible, and choosing to worship or love something that is tangible and real — something that can be experienced.

But it’s not an attack on faith. Coming from Ireland, obviously, there’s a bit of a cultural hangover from the influence of the church. You’ve got a lot of people walking around with a heavy weight in their hearts and a disappointment, and that shit carries from generation to generation. So the song is just about that — it’s an assertion of self, reclaiming humanity back for something that is the most natural and worthwhile. Electing, in this case a female, to choose a love who is worth loving.

We should save the sexual side of this for the “She tells me ‘worship in the bedroom’” line. For now, I think we go into depth on what he means by “mouthpiece” – we get into that with the link to apostles but we don’t really explain perfectly that apostle = talk for God = mouthpiece.

We have a good start though thanks to @chihuahua0, I think we just need to spruce it up a bit so I’ll take this one:

http://rock.genius.com/2272725

That’s what I came up with, but it probably could be a bit better. Feel free to edit it and make it better.

Wait but the giggle at a funeral can also be a much needed release! The best eulogies are often funny. The giggle at a funeral could be a sign of someone who wants to embrace the positive and bring some light to a situation even when everyone else is solemn, even if they disapprove. That’s how I read the giggle at a funeral at least …

As for the next one

Every Sunday’s getting more bleak
A fresh poison each week
“We were born sick”, you heard them say it

I think @illustriousQ is on the right track with “original sin” and Sunday being a day of worship. The current annotation is a good start, Q can you can incorporate what you were explaining into that annotation?

@TheScrivener ahh yes true that makes a lot of sense

I have a feeling “worship in the bedroom” is appropriated from somewhere. Is it the Bible? Shakespeare? Or American Gods? Google is just bringing up this song…

@Vesuvius The two songs are likely unrelated, but when I first listened to this song and read the lyrics, Bedroom Hymns by Florence and the Machine came to mind. It’s one of my favorite annotation projects, even if it’s a bit rough. We can use it as a reference page.