Meaning of “Butchered Tongue” by Hozier

The title of this song is derived from a line in the chorus where the vocalist refers to himself as “a butchered tongue still singing here above the ground”. The purpose that statement apparently serves in context, i.e. based on Hozier’s explanation of this track, is him celebrating the fact that despite a conscientious attempt once being made to subjugate his people (the Irish) still their language has survived nonetheless.

And the reason he considers that a reality worth celebrating is because such is not the case across the board. 

As implied the narrator has visited some localities, such as the city of Apalachicola and town of Hushpuckena in the United States, as well as Gweebarra Bay in his own homeland, in which the natives/residents do not know the meaning of the name of said localities. In other words, the ‘hood itself has an indigenous name, complete with an indigenous meaning or translation. But since the people have lost touch with the original tongue, they have no idea what such words mean, i.e. the name of the very place where they live, despite coming across it on a daily basis.

That reality is by and large a remnant of European colonialism. It is a pretty common phenomenon, in places like the United States for instance, where many towns, cities and even states have Native American names, with only scholars tending to know their meaning. 

And as alluded to earlier, Ireland has gone through a similar ordeal (against the British). Indeed it is one such incident, the Irish Rebellion of 1798, which Hozier refers to at the beginning of the second verse, pointing out how his people were tortured therein.

But as we know, the Irish language is still very much intact. Hozier has accredited this to the fact that unlike many other places in the world, “Ireland (has) a solid written history”. Indeed, the likes of the aforementioned Native American societies practiced oral literacy, i.e. preserving their histories orally. 

So when confronted by more-powerful, opposing institutions like the British Empire, their language has been more or less lost in time, having had their tongues, i.e. languages, “butchered” by the oppressor.

“And as a young man blessed to pass so many road signs
And have my foreign ear made fresh again on each unlikely sound
But feel at home, hearin’ a music that few still understand
A butchered tongue still singin’ here above the ground”

“Butchered Tongue” was officially released on 18 August 2023, with Hozier having debuted it a few months prior, in late May, while performing in Toronto.

Hozier wrote this song himself, and he produced it with Jennifer Decilveo.

The labels that supported the release of this track are Rubyworks Records and Columbia Records.

“Butchered Tongue” is featured on “Unreal Unearth”, which is Hozier’s third studio album. This project is in part inspired by Dante’s Inferno, i.e. many of its songs being meant to represent the respective ‘circles of hell’ as found within that text. And in this case said circle would be the seventh one (out of nine in total), which is known as “the Hell of the Violent and Bestial”.