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Hozier – Angel of Small Death & the Codeine Scene Lyrics 11 years ago
The song is about him recounting a time when all of his family and friends seemed to be in happy relationships and were so concerned with their relationship he felt shut out. He decides it's high time he find a relationship of his own and falls into the open arms of a woman-- quite an interesting woman. She's powerful and experienced, strong and yes, mean. You know those relationships where someone is unhealthily controlling but the couple sticks together anyway? It's like that. He's absolutely addicted to her. The feeling of being with someone, human touch, and (as someone else said) the rapture of sex overwhelm him. He's putty in her hands and she takes full advantage of it.

I watch the work of my kin bold and boyful
Toying somewhere between love and abuse
Calling to join them the wretched and joyful
Shaking the wings of their terrible youths

All his loved ones are running around doing exciting relationship things and inadvertently calling or tempting him to join them in couple-hood.

Freshly dissolved in some frozen devotion
No more alone or myself could I be
Looks like a strain to the arms it were open
No shortage of sordid, no protest from me

He couldn't take it anymore, he needed to be with someone. (Sordid=arousing moral distaste and contempt) "No shortage of sordid, no protest from me" = He knows this is bad, it's morally wrong, but he's not complaining. It feels too good.

With her sweetened breath, and her tongue so mean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene
With her straw-blonde hair, her arms hard and lean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene

It feels so good but it hurts so bad, basically. Small death or "le morte petit" is a euphemism for orgasm.Here small death is used to show that yes, the sex is amazing, but also to show that he is dying a little inside. Hozier is awesome at double meanings. Codeine is a painkiller. The relationship is emotional torment and he's in pain. Codeine can also make you feel high and that's exactly what is going on here. She's causing him emotional pain but being with her gives him a high he can't get anywhere else.

Feeling more human and hooked on her flesh I
Lay my heart down with the rest at her feet
Fresh from the fields, all feeder and fur tires
Bloody and raw, but I swear it is sweet

He's now joined the ranks of all those with romantic interests and he's addicted to her sex and just having someone to touch. He surrenders all of himself to her, knowing that she will cause him pain, but he doesn't care so long as he gets to be with her. Before her, he was clean, innocent. He says "I lay my heart down with the rest at her feet, fresh from the fields..." He gives his heart and his body to her, both of which are "fresh from the fields" meaning he's either never been in a relationship like this or he's never been in a relationship at all

With her sweetened breath, and her tongue so mean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene
With her straw-blonde hair, her arms hard and lean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene

And lease this confusion, I'll wander the concrete
Wonder if better now having survived
Jarring of judgment and reasons defeat
The sweet heat of her breath in my mouth I'm alive

He finally is able to defeat his addiction to her and get out of such an unhealthy and emotionally abusive relationship and is just trying to catch his breath, bewildered at all that has happened. He wonders if it was beneficial for him to have been through all of this or if he was better off staying lonely like he was at the beginning. Even though his logical side says it was good for him to get out, he still can't help having thoughts of the high he gets from being with her and how alive it makes him feel.

With her sweetened breath, and her tongue so mean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene
With her straw-blonde hair, her arms hard and lean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene

With her sweetened breath, and her tongue so mean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene
With her straw-blonde hair, her arms hard and lean
She's the angel of small death and the codeine scene

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