Be by Hozier Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling The Soulful Plea for Authenticity in a World of Change
Lyrics
When the gyre widens on and when the wave breaks
When St. Peter loses cool and bars the gates
When Atlas acts the maggots, makes his arms shake
When the birds are heard again in their singing
Once atrocity is hoarse from voicin’ shame
And when the earth is trembling on some new beginnin’
With the same sweet shock of when Adam first came
Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you’ve always been
Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you’ve always been
(Lover be good to me)
Be as you’ve always been (lover, be good to me)
Be like the love that discovered the sin (lover, be good to me)
That freed the first man and will do so again
And, lover, be good to me (lover, be good to me)
Be that hopeful feeling when Eden was lost (lover, be good to me)
That’s been deaf to our laughter since the master was crossed (lover, be good to me)
Which side of the wall really suffers that cost?
Oh, lover, be good to me
When the man who gives the order
Is born next time ’round on the boats sent back
When the bodies starvin’ at the border
Are on TV given people the sack
Love, when the sea rises to meet us
Oh, when there’s nothing left for you and I to do
Oh, when there is nobody upstairs to receive us
When I have no kind words left, love, for you
Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you’ve always been
Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you’ve always been
(Lover, be good to me)
Be love in its disrepute (lover, be good to me)
Scorches the hillside and salts every root (lover, be good to me)
And watches the slowin’ and starvin’ of troops
And, lover, be good to me (lover be good to me)
Be there and just as you stand (lover, be good to me)
Or be like the rose that you hold in your hand (lover, be good to me)
That grow bold in a barren and desolate land
And lover be good to me
Love, won’t you be?
Love, won’t you be?
Be as you’ve always been?
Love, won’t you be?
Love, won’t you be?
Be as you’ve always been?
Love, won’t you be?
Love, won’t you be?
Be as you’ve always been?
Love, won’t you be?
Love, won’t you be?
Be as you’ve always been?
In the pantheon of modern-day lyrical poets, Hozier holds a torch that lights up the shadowy crossroads where love, humanity and the natural world meet. ‘Be’ is not just another brick in his artfully constructed repertoire; it is a nuanced and deeply moving incantation that beckons for introspection. In the heart of this ballad lies an existential quandary, a call to maintain one’s essence amidst the turmoil of a changing world.
Hozier, with a voice as haunting as an ancient spirit, conjures images of a world at the brink, bringing gospel and earthiness to a song about steadfastness in the face of adversity. But ‘Be’ is more than a cry in the wilderness—it is a canvas, painted with the broad strokes of environmental concern, socio-political commentaries and the eternal thematic of love. Beneath the sweeping melody and the poetic lyricism, there lies an intricate lattice of meanings waiting to be untangled.
The Apocalypse Now: Visions of a World in Unrest
Hozier’s ‘Be’ opens with cataclysmic energy, painting a picture of biblical and mythological upheavals—St. Peter losing his cool, Atlas trembling under the celestial weight. It’s a masterful tableau that illustrates the worst of our collective fears, an allegory for the societal and natural convulsions facing us today. The faltering of mythic caretakers signals a shift to a seemingly forsaken state, reflecting perhaps on our modern predicaments, from climate crisis to social injustices.
Yet, even in the midst of chaos, the song finds a moment of grace. The return of bird songs after atrocity has become hoarse suggests a cycle of renewal, a testament to resilience. Hozier taps into the human spirit, one that endures even when confronted with the harrowing possibility of its own demise.
The Cry for Continuity: A Message to Remain Unchanged
In the chorus of ‘Be’ lies an incantation: ‘Be as you’ve always been.’ This mantra-like repetition serves as a lifeline back to the self, an anchor in tumultuous tides. It’s an appeal to remain authentic, to keep the core of one’s humanity intact. Love is implored to stay true, a reminder that even when the world alters beyond recognition, the constancy of one’s nature should prevail.
More than just a personal plea, it is also a universal call to remember our origins, to cling to the good that has stayed steady through history’s violent arc—the love that ‘freed the first man’ echoes the liberating, but equally damning, bite of the apple in Eden.
Unveiling the Hidden Meaning: A Reflection on Cyclical Karma
The second verse alludes to the reincarnation of souls, the continuum of actions through ages. The ‘man who gives the order’ finds himself on the other end of fate, experiencing firsthand the plight he once imposed on others. It’s a poignant invocation of karma, a sobering reminder that justice may indeed be cosmic and boundaries once defended may become prisons of our own making.
This reflective twist in the narrative serves to emphasize the link between past mistakes and present accountability. The denied refugees at the border, once abstractions on a screen, become the undeniable face of humanity—a face that we, Hozier implies, might someday wear in a cruel turn of the cosmic wheel.
Memorable Lines: Scorched Hillsides and Barren Roses
The brutish imagery of scorched hillsides and salted roots taps into an apocalyptic severity, while the metaphor of a rose bold in barren land captures a defiant hope. These lines stand as powerful symbols of resistance—a refusal to succumb to sterility in a world desolate of compassion and a call to nurture love even when it seems the hardest.
It’s the juxtaposition of desolation and beauty, of hopelessness and persistence, that crafts these lines into something that lingers. They beg for a return to a time before the ‘master was crossed,’ a simpler Eden—yet they also call upon love to transmute the scorching of the earth into something that can still flourish and renew.
The Eternal Echo: Will Love Heed the Call?
As the song closes with the hypnotic repetition of ‘Love, won’t you be? Be as you’ve always been?’ the listener is left to ponder whether such a petition will be answered. It’s a timeless and open-ended question, with a weight that extends beyond the scope of the song. Will love remain true through the trials of mortality and beyond the parapets of a crumbling civilization?
In this unanswered echo, Hozier has distilled the essence of what it means to be human—to seek, to question, and to hope against hope that something as enduring as love might persist through the vast gyre of changes. And perhaps, in the asking alone, we are urged to heed the call ourselves, to ‘be’ in steadfast authenticity, no matter what the morrow brings.
