Music Fans Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for music historians, critics, and fans. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
In Hozier's Take Me To Church, there is this line:
To keep the Goddess on my side
The word "goddess" doesn't appear in the lyrics besides that, while the word "god" does appear, in the chorus. (Good God, let me give you my life)
So my question is, who or what is this goddess, as the song writer does not appear to refer to God as female? What does it represent?
It's to refer to his lover. The whole section is actually:
If I'm a pagan of the good times
My lover's the sunlight
To keep the Goddess on my side
She demands a sacrifice
It can be viewed as him saying the care for his lover is outside the typical church values, and could be considered "worshipping false idols" in the context of the church. Notice the use of the word "pagan" also in that section to drive the point home.
"The Goddess" (The Moon goddess, Isis, Diana, the receiver, etc. - and many other names) typically refers to the pagan goddess of Wicca and associated faiths.
She stands contrasted against the masculine principle of the same faith, the Horned God (the Sun god, Apollo, Mars, Pan, the giver, etc.)
If I may make a broad generalisation, this is all the more likely because the author is Irish and Wicca finds its roots in ancient Celtic traditions. OTOH, there are many goddesses in Irish culture each more specific than just the neopagan Moon Goddess. He may mean a particular one.
