The Meaning Behind the Elegiac Hymn “Work Song” by Hozier

When Hozier’s haunting single “Take Me to Church” went viral in 2013, the then-unknown Irish singer/songwriter attracted the frenzied attention of record labels worldwide.

Columbia Records released his album in America, hoping to capitalize on British crooner Sam Smith’s Top 40 success. Eventually, “Take Me to Church” became a hit in Nashville before the rest of the country caught on in 2014.  

Soon, “Take Me to Church” became one of the biggest songs on the planet, and with Hozier’s inspired performance on Saturday Night Live and seemingly unstoppable momentum, the single reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.  

Keeping with the church theme, Taylor Swift gave it the red blessing, too.

Three albums later, Hozier has yet to match the commercial success of his defining song, but that doesn’t mean his catalog is missing diamonds.  

The elegiac hymn “Work Song” from his self-titled debut follows the earnest singer using an early 20th-century traditional gospel song to form a death-defying chorus.

Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down

Hozier is so full of love that even death won’t keep him from his partner. Using old-world gospel and soul, “Work Song” invents a reality where one escapes death by loving hard. Still, his infatuation is so intense he can barely eat, which itself will indeed end his life.

Boys, workin’ on empty
Is that the kinda way to face the burning heat?
I just think about my baby
I’m so full of love I could barely eat
There’s nothing sweeter than my baby
I’d never want once from the cherry tree
’Cause my baby’s sweet as can be
She give me toothaches just from kissin’ me

The singer borrows from the American traditional “Ain’t No Grave,” which Johnny Cash covered warmly on his posthumous album American VI: Ain’t No Grave.

When my time comes around
Lay me gently in the cold, dark earth
No grave can hold my body down
I’ll crawl home to her

What to Do with Hozier

Andrew Hozier-Byrne wrote and co-produced the plaintive song with fellow Irishman Rob Kirwan. Though “Work Song” didn’t share the chart success of Hozier’s breakthrough hit “Take Me to Church,” he considers it his favorite on the album.

Kirwan has also worked with U2, PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, and Sneaker Pimps, among others. Meanwhile, Hozier had failed to connect with previous producers who weren’t sure what to do with the artist. He reached Kirwan based on the producer’s prior work with Harvey.

Before working with Hozier, Kirwan engineered Harvey’s Mercury Prize-winning album Let England Shake, which they recorded inside the 19th-century St. Peter’s Church in Eypt, Dorset, England.

So, when Kirwan connected with Hozier, the singer had completed demos, and the record label wanted him to sing them again but keep the music. Instead, Kirwan rerecorded everything but the vocals—an example of Hozier’s extraordinary voice.  

Communion and Ritual

In the music video, Hozier performs while the audience dances and the scene becomes a kind of catharsis ritual. However, the singer told Hot Press he filmed the video the day after the Grammys with an “outrageous hangover.” 

He received a Grammy Award nomination for Song of the Year for “Take Me to Church” and performed the song with Annie Lennox at the 2015 Grammys ceremony. “Work Song” was released the following month.

When I was kissing on my baby
And she put her love down soft and sweet
In the low lamp light, I was free
Heaven and hell were words to me

Crushed by the Weight of the Church

In 2015, while touring in support of his first album, Rolling Stone asked Hozier if the enormous success of “Take Me to Church” weighed on him. “You don’t want a song to be bigger than yourself,” he said. “I mean, do you? Maybe you do. I don’t know. I guess I’ll find out.”

When Rihanna auditioned for Jay-Z, MTV reported he thought her song “Pon de Replay” was too big. He said, “When a song is that big, it’s hard [for a new artist] to come back from. I don’t sign songs; I sign artists. Some people chase the hot song for a minute. I want to sign an artist based on a swagger, the level of talent, the writing. I was a little reluctant.”

But Rihanna survived the bigness of “Pon de Replay.”

Struggling artists often dream of creating from the other side of success, but chasing your own hit is just another obstacle. Hozier survives death in “Work Song,” but can he survive the weight of the church he’s built?

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Photo by Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images