An Analysis of the song From Eden by Hozier

An Analysis of the song From Eden by Hozier

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Hozier is one of my favorite singers and songwriters. The way he made songs that made you feel special, at ease, or even just nostalgic in a way that I couldn’t really put into words, is just something else. His lyrics are great to analyze as well, especially if you’re familiar with how much real life and historical context he inserts into it.

I love listening to him, with the first song that I have ever heard from him being that of Take Me to Church. I love the song, but due to my busy life, I hadn’t had the chance to look into his discography until around last year. The second song that really pulled me into him was Would that I. I would love to talk about these two songs more in another blog post but for now, I would like to focus on this particular song; From Eden. 

From Eden — The title

From the title itself, it sort of catches your eyes, especially if you're familiar with the story of the Garden of Eden from the bible. To those unfamiliar, in the beginning of Genesis, God created the world for six days and rested on the seventh day. One of the things that he created is the Garden of Eden, where it was said that everything is perfect. Everything that anyone could ever need is in there. There is nothing that anything or anyone could want in there, as everything is perfect and provided for. Now, within that garden, Adam and Eve, the first humans that God created, lived in it until they plucked a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that God instructed them not to touch. But a snake, which is representative of the devil, slithered to Eve and made her sin. 

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With that in mind; what would the title mean with the context of the lyrics?

Slithered Here from Eden — The Lyrics

Babe

There's something tragic about you

Something so magic about you

Don't you agree?

Babe

There's something lonesome about you

Something so wholesome about you

Get closer to me

No tired sighs, no rolling eyes, no irony

No 'who cares', no vacant stares, no time for me

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago

Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword

Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know

I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door

Babe

There's something wretched about this

Something so precious about this

Where to begin?

Babe

There's something broken about this

But I might be hoping about this

Oh, what a sin

To the strand a picnic plan for you and me

A rope in hand for your other man to hang from a tree

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago

Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword

Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know

I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago

Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword

Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know

I slithered here from Eden just to hide outside your door

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Let’s talk about the lyrics. If you would notice, in the first read, you would think that the singer/writer is singing this to his lover, which we would assume in this analysis to be female. It seems that it talks of their relationship that seemed to be perfect at the start, but became imperfect. Still, he held on the relationship, which they both seemed to be unwilling to leave. The part of the lyrics, 

Honey, you're familiar like my mirror years ago,

Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword, 

Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know

are indicating that he is seemingly close with the person being referred to in this song, especially with the first line. You’re familiar like my mirror years ago, the singer may be indicating the length of them knowing each other, or that she reminds him of himself, of a reflection of the person that he was years ago. So, just by the first line alone, we can come to the conclusion that he connects with the person that he is referring to. 

Then continuing with the rest of the lines in the aforementioned lyrics, Idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword; it’s a reminder of how relationships tend to seem to be idealized at first. As I said before, the first part of the relationship is perfect as it would always seem, but then idealism sits in prison, chivalry fell on its sword. These two lines refer that the perfection and the pressure that they placed on themselves and the relationship as a whole is the reason why it started becoming rocky and is falling apart. 

But wait… what about the next line? Innocence died screaming, honey, ask me I should know. Did that mean that the relationship really did start falling apart? That the innocent love and joy that they experienced at first really started their end? BUT, what about the singer saying honey, ask me I should know.

As I listened and read the lyrics again, I realized something. The singer is portraying himself as the devil, the snake in the Garden of Eden that pursued Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. I slithered here from Eden just to sit outside your door.

Can we analyze this as the devil seducing Eve and having a relationship with him, and THAT relationship started falling apart after the forbidden fruit has been bitten into? It is possible. BUT, I have a different view on the overall meaning of the song. 

I think that the Devil, which the singer has compared himself to, is another man outside of the relationship. He watched everything as an outsider, always waiting, always ready to slither towards the subject of the song so that he could have a chance with her.

To add to the meaning of the lyrics, it could also be referring to the Devil’s fall from heaven. If we are to believe, the Devil is once an angel named Lucifer, who was the most beautiful angel out of everyone. He knows innocence, is innocence at one point in time. SO, he truly knows what it is; so he knows when an innocence of love is ending, or the innocence of an illusion is crumbling.

The Devil’s Infatuation and His Eve

Babe

There's something tragic about you

Something so magic about you

Don't you agree?

Babe

There's something lonesome about you

Something so wholesome about you

Get closer to me

These first few lyrics are proof of that; despite her imperfections, the singer still wants her, urging her to come closer to him. He knows that she DID bite into the forbidden fruit, this version of Eve has succumbed to her desires and have therefore sinned. But he doesn’t care, for all he knows that he loves her with everything. 

No tired sighs, no rolling eyes, no irony

No 'who cares', no vacant stares, no time for me

He’s talking about what he observed in the relationship between his Eve and… let’s talk about the other man in the relationship as “Adam”. Adam and Eve seemed to be having problems, and what he observed are what Eve is suffering with her current relationship. With a man that doesn’t appreciate her, or is uninterested in keeping the relationship afloat and is just leading her on… or the both of them are unwilling to let go. 

BUT WAIT— there’s a consistent word in front of these phrases; the word NO! It can be interpreted as the Devil promising her that what she’s feeling under Adam are things that she would not feel with him. That he promises her his full attention no matter what. No tired sighs, no rolling eyes, no irony— that she would never feel all of those things if she chose to be with him.

Now, the ending phrase "No time for me" could be considered in one just one way, in my opinion. That is, despite him willing to do all of those things and be better than Adam, Eve still doesn’t have the time for him. He is still on the sidelines, waiting for his chance.

Babe

There's something wretched about this

Something so precious about this

Where to begin?

Babe

There's something broken about this

But I might be hoping about this

Oh, what a sin

Something wretched— something so precious— these lyrics are clearly saying that the Devil sees the relationship as something unhappy, that he feels unhappy that she is in that kind of relationship. But at the same time, something so precious, indicates to her being the one thing that is so precious, good, in the relationship. Then therein comes the second stanza, something broken about this, but I might be hoping about this.

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The Devil knows the relationship is broken, it’s saddening yes, but it’s also something that he hoped to happen. He wanted this relationship to end so that he could slither his way to Eve. He knows that it's a sin as indicated by the next line Oh, what a sin, and he knows it’s wrong to think bad of something to pray it would truly end. But he couldn’t help it, it’s in his nature after all. 

The Devil, in religious context, is great at deceptions and temptations. One could say that he is great at perceiving human nature if he knows what he should use or take advantage of in doing his deceptions and temptations. In the next and last lines to be analyzed in this, the lyrics:

To the strand a picnic plan for you and me

A rope in hand for your other man to hang from a tree

is of him taking advantage of human nature and is now starting to seduce and reach for his Eve. A picnic plan for you and me, which is the first time he included himself in the context with her. Now, take note that in the next line, he said that a rope in hand for you other man to hang from a tree. 

WARNING! TRIGGERING! PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION AT THIS POINT OR SKIP IT. 

Despite all his infatuation and obsession with Eve, he is still the Devil. He doesn’t hide it, but it feels softened throughout the song. He talks about her, how he is accepting of her, how he is waiting for him to be able to seduce her; it’s softer than anyone thinks of what the Devil could do. Then, this line comes in.

A rope in hand for your other man to hang from a tree.

I see it as the Devil punishing the man for leading Eve on. He is going to punish Adam for the sins and sufferings that he gave to Eve. And the irony of it all, he will do it in a tree, now there is no specific tree mentioned in the song, but with the context, it could be the Forbidden Tree that he would hang Adam in. 

Not to mention; hanging? The action of hanging is synonymous to one man in the bible, specifically in the New Testament. Which is Judas Iscariot; the betrayer of Jesus. In religious contexts, Judas is seen as something as bad as the devil, for betraying Jesus and hanging himself and committing suicide, seeing him as a coward for running away from the consequences of his actions. For the Devil to hang Adam is to see him as something as bad as Judas.

Conclusion

The Devil is in love, yes in love because he knows the good things and the bad things about her. He did not shy away from either parts of her and instead thinks of it as something natural. A man will accept you for who you are no matter what, if they truly love you… or so that is what my mother and grandmothers say. 

Adam and Eve’s relationship is something that will fall apart soon, and if it does, the Devil is waiting to sweep Eve from her feet. He is waiting at her door, ready to slither in the minute that they break up. And the minute that they do… he would woo her, and at the same time punish Adam.

Hi guys! Thank you for your time in reading my analysis! Be sure to leave your own thoughts and interpretations down below. 

REMEMBER, THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG OPINIONS. We just have different ways of interpreting things because we grew up in different environments, we have our own unique cultures and traditions. And maybe something normal to us, is not normal to others.

With that in mind, let us keep it civil and let our thoughts flow. HAPPY READING!