Eat Your Young by Hozier Lyrics Meaning – Unveiling the Voracity of Modern Consumption
Lyrics
Let me put my lips to something
Let me wrap my teeth around the world
Start carving, darling
I wanna smell the dinner cooking
I wanna feel the edges start to burn
Honey, I wanna race you to the table
If you hesitate, the getting is gone
I won’t lie, if there’s something to be gained
There’s money to be made, whatever’s still to come
Get some
Pull up the ladder when the flood comes
Throw enough rope until the legs have swung
Seven new ways that you can eat your young
Come and get some
Skinning the children for a war drum
Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns
It’s quicker and easier to eat your young
You can’t buy this fineness
Let me see the heat get to it
Let me watch the dressing start to peel
It’s a kindness, Highness
Crumbs enough for everyone
Old and young are welcome to the meal
Honey, I’m making sure the table’s made
We can celebrate the good that we’ve done
I won’t lie, if there’s something still to take
There is ground to break, whatever’s still to come
Get some
Pull up the ladder when the flood comes
Throw enough rope until the legs have swung
Seven new ways that you can eat your young
Come and get some
Skinning the children for a war drum
Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns
It’s quicker and easier to eat your young
In a world voraciously consuming its own tail, Hozier serves a macabre feast with ‘Eat Your Young.’ This potent track isn’t just a meal but a manifesto, charting the cannibalistic tendencies of a society gorging itself on its progeny — whether through environmental ruin, economic disparity or the never-ending hunger for conflict.
Swathed in his signature blend of soulful folk and brooding blues, Hozier’s songwriting has often tackled grand themes through evocative lyrics. ‘Eat Your Young’ continues this tradition, proving to be a complex dish to digest, with layers of meaning that require a meticulous unpacking.
A Famished Cry Against Capitalism
The song’s opening lines drip with hunger, but it’s not just for a literal feast. Hozier’s ‘Eat Your Young’ serves as a grim metaphor for the dangerous appetites of capitalism and the lengths to which it will go to satiate itself. The lyrics suggest a society that ‘wraps its teeth around the world,’ carving out profit margins without regard for the burn its consumption leaves behind.
This is capitalism with a carnivorous bent, a system feasting without restraint or morality, symbolized by the image of dining at a table where hesitation means losing out. It’s a survival-of-the-fittest scenario, a ruthless banquet where the stakes are high and the consequences dire.
Survival Tactics in a Drowning World
Hozier’s chorus resonates with a chilling resolve. The line ‘Pull up the ladder when the flood comes’ viscerally embodies the selfishness of those in power preserving their status at the expense of others. It’s a sneer at the disregard for those left to drown as the privileged tighten their grasp on whatever safety they can secure.
The ‘seven new ways that you can eat your young’ are the ever-evolving strategies of exploitation that ensure the powerful stay fed. It’s an unsettling reminder of the countless ways in which humanity, especially the young and vulnerable, is being sacrificed for the sake of a comfortable few.
War Drums and Economic Casualties
Hozier doesn’t let his listeners rest easy; the lyrics shift to an even darker tone with the mention of ‘skinning the children for a war drum.’ The metaphor is piercing and direct; it implies the literal and figurative ways our society readies its youth for conflict, sometimes at immense personal cost.
‘Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns’ slams the grim reality of war profiteering and the defense industry’s role in sustaining economies. The haunting suggestion is that there is a cannibalistic cycle in play: as long as there is profit in war, societies will continue to ‘eat’ their young through violent conflict.
Decoding the Dinner of Despair
There are no scraps from this feast; the song describes a world where even the ‘fineness’ that cannot be bought is subjected to the heat. Here, Hozier masterfully hides a biting critique of economic inequality, where even the bottom crumbs are considered charity for those scraping by.
‘Old and young are welcome to the meal’ might initially read as inclusivity, but the sinister undertones suggest that no one is safe from exploitation. The lucidity in Hozier’s often poetic language shocks us back to reality, as we recognize our place at this ominous table.
Prophetic Lines that Haunt and Hypnotize
It’s the kind of song that stays with you, not just in melody but in message. The driving beat is relentless, a war drum itself; it’s the soundtrack for an insatiable appetite, one we are all complicit in feeding. ‘Eat Your Young’ doesn’t just weave memorable lines—it entangles the listener in a web of gestalt awareness.
The song is rich with dark poetic gravitas, sentences that could be pulled from dystopian literature. ‘Skinning the children for a war drum’ will echo in listeners long after the final chord fades. The enduring power of Hozier’s lyricism coupled with the urgent message of ‘Eat Your Young’ positions it as an anthem for an awakening, one that demands we take stock of our own contributions to this maddening feast.
