Nina Cried Power - Hozier; My Analysis

Hozier is one of my favourite musicians, and I recommend is music greatly :3

He's pretty famous for the thoughtfullness he puts into his lyrics. One song in particular, Nina Cried Power has a lot of meaning to its lyrics:

note: I just wrote this for fun and didn't proofread it or anything, so pardon any grammar/syntactical errors.

It's not the waking, it's the rising
It is the grounding of a foot uncompromising
It's not forgoing of the lie
It's not the opening of eyes
It's not the waking, it's the rising

This is the intro.

In line 1, he says: "it's not the waking, it's the rising"

What he means is that it is not enough to be aware of an issue, but it is standing up against the issue that is important. "Waking" is like waking up, like coming to reality, AKA realizing. To be uncompromising means you will not take any less than what you are demanding.

The following lines say similar things: forgoing of the lie; meaning you are stopping to live a lie. Opening of the eyes; meaning waking. The metaphor of "waking up" reminds me of the current trend of "woke" people on the internet. Hozier is pointing out to them it is not enough to be aware, but you must take action, too.

It's not the shade, we should be past it
It's the light, and it's the obstacle that casts it
It's the heat that drives the light
It's the fire it ignites
It's not the waking, it's the rising

Again Hozier is reinforcing the theme of this song.

"Shade" is like darkness, and I think of it meaning the hate and oppression. Shade is the opposite to "light" in the next line. Light would mean the solution and equality.

He uses the idea of light to remind us of fire. "The heat that drives the light" is the passion an individual has to have in order to fight against injustice. The "fire it ignites" reminds me of how heat grows stronger, like how movements gain momentum and more people join them. Like how heat builds and builds until it becomes a fire. Reminds me of this:

It's not the song, it is the singing
It's the hearing of a human spirit ringing
It is the bringing of the line
It is the bearing of the rhyme
It's not the waking, it's the rising

I noticed especially that Hozier started talking about songs. Songs and music are a powerful medium to spread information. Think about how many political songs there are out there, and there are even musical subcultures based on the messages behind certain songs, like punk.

Singing is a vulnerable state of being. And yes, the message of a song is good, but the act of singing itself is also influential. Hozier says that it is so influential, that hearing someone sing is "hearing [their] human spirit ringing". 

All of the protests I have been to involve music. The short and repetitive songs, for instance. And also usually when we stop marching a musician will sing, too.

Hozier encourages us to listen to music from diverse voices and to make music of our own.

And I could cry power (Power), power (Power)
Power, Lord
Nina cried power
Billie cried power
Mavis cried power

And I could cry (Power) power, (Power) power
Power
Curtis cried power
Patti cried power
Nina cried power

In the chorus, Hozier alludes to multiple people.

First and last, he references Nina Simone.

Nina Simone was a musician, but also a civil rights activist. She used her music to speak out against Black inequality, one song in particular being Mississippi Goddamn; it was a response to the murder of a Black civil rights activist (Medgar Evers) and the bombing of the 16th street Baptist Church.

The second person alluded to is Billie Holiday. Holiday was also a singer. Her version of the song "Strange Fruit" confronted lynchings in the USA. Lynchings were a type of execution against Black people. Time nominated Strange Fruit the song of the century in 1999, decades after her performance of it.

The third person is Mavis Staples. She sings a verse later in this song. She sung gospel music with her sisters and her father, they became known as "the Staples". They were an icon of the civil rights movement, and were close with Martin Luther King Jr and performed at rallies. Some of their music featured themes of racism.

The fourth and fifth people are Curtis Mayfield and Patti Smith. Mayfield was one of the most influential singers behind soul and political African-American music. He sang about civil rights and pride in being Black. His self-titled album "Curtis" addressed freedom and equality, among other things. Patti Smith was a punk rock musician who has donated to many causes, or sang to causes, including AIDS, America's ties to Israel, peace, climate change, and Palestine's freedom.

These are all people who have fought for freedom, justice, and equality. Hozier is highlighting the legacies that music and song leaves on humanity.

It's not the wall, but what's behind it
Oh, the fear of fellow man, his mere assignment
And everything that we're denied
By keeping the divide
It's not the waking, it's the rising

The wall is an obstacle. The obstacle (the wall) is not all we should be focused on, but also what comes after. There is more that needs to be done after climbing the wall, like an obstacle course I think. The wall is the first part, then there are hurdles and more burden to come.

"The fear of fellow man" throughout history we have been 'afraid' of each other. For example, in Canada colonizers thought of First Nations as barbaric and as a threat to their civilization. This is part of the reason why they had assimilated First Nations. "Assignement" here is used as a verb, like the man is "assigning" fear to fellow men.

As a Canadian, I recognize how the world is different because of contact between cultures. The food I eat is not all Canadian, the music I listen to is from different places, the books I read are written from diverse perspectives. These things are not denied to me, and things would be different if they were. These are all examples that are not as serious as things like freedom to practice religion or traditions, for instance. There are opportunities for joy and accommodation between races & cultures that are being denied by the "fear of fellow man".

The divide he references, is the divide between religions, cultures, and even governments and their people. These divisions are keeping us from becoming better.

And I could cry power (Power), power (Power)
Oh, power
Nina cried power
Lennon cried power
James Brown cried power

And I could cry (Power) power, (Power) power
Hey, power
Billie cried power
Joni cried power
Nina cried power

There are different musicians referenced in this verse.

Lennon is John Lennon. He was a member of the Beatles and famous for his message of peace. During the Vietnam war, he wrote a song "Give Peace a Chance". It was sung by millions of people, and the slogan "War is Over! If You Want It" also became popular during December. He and his wife Yoko Ono became icons of the anti-Vietnam war crowd.

James Brown was an American singer, who influenced the development of many musical genres and his music was the predecessor to funk music. He strongly supported education for all children. He sang a song "Don't Be a Dropout" which funds went to dropout-prevention charity programs. He also made the song ""Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" after an increase in violence between Black people in inner cities.

And I could cry power
Power has been cried by those stronger than me
Straight into the face that tells you to
Rattle your chains if you love being free

Here Mavis Staples is singing. As I wrote earlier, Staples is also an activist as well as a musician. The fight against oppression has been happening for decades upon decades. The people that are "stronger than her" are people who have been fighting against oppression for a long time.

I think that the next lines are very interesting. "Straight into the face that tells you to rattle your chains if you love being free". Oppressors are giving the oppressed a false sense of freedom. Rattle your chains if you love being free is a juxtaposition--if they were truly free, there would be no chains to shake. It is almost like whoever the oppressor is (in this case, racist white politicians) are lying about their freedom, or it could be that they're taunting them.

Conclusion

Music is a powerful way to spread messages; it bares the human soul. People have been faced with oppression for hundreds of years, and continue to be today. Hozier uses music to urge us to become better allies to those faced with oppression today. Learn more about the history, speak out when you hear problematic speech, take in media from diverse sources