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
Freshly disowned in some frozen devotion
No more alone or myself could I be
Lurched like a stray to the arms that were open
No shortage of sordid, no protest from me

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

Feeling more human and hooked on her flesh, I
Lay my heart down with the rest at her feet
Fresh from the fields, all fetor and fertile
It's bloody and raw, but I swear it is sweet

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

In leash-less confusion, I'll wander the concrete
Wonder if better now having survived
Jarring of judgement and reason's defeat the sweet
Heat of her breath in my mouth, I'm alive

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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Lyrics submitted by michigansdiction, edited by bearpig77777, randy11242, teaspill, cr0wgrrl, Cjmclm, Maedhbh

Angel of Small Death & the Codeine Scene Lyrics as written by Andrew Hozier Byrne

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Angel of Small Death & the Codeine Scene song meanings

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My Interpretation
I'm trolling a little, but there's a really direct and obvious way to interpret this one.

I watched 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 youth.

Lots of people fuck around with drugs when they're young and are perfectly fine. That's what the "codeine scene" is: young people who play with codeine, an over-the-counter medication in most countries, to get a little high and enhance their partying. Most of these people never do anything alone, never graduate to anything much harder, and knock it off when they stop being young and reckless. The protagonist here acknowledges that there's danger and harm to be found here (abuse, wretched, terrible), but also pleasure and greatness (bold, boyful, love, joyful, terrible). He decides to join in the fun.

Freshly disowned, in some frozen devotion, No more alone or myself could I be, Lurched like a stray to the arms that were open, No shortage of sordid, no protest from me.

Instead of finding something to enhance his partying, his having fun with others like himself, he found something that made him feel "alone" and "[him]self". Instead of shaking his wings and being active with the rest, he found a "frozen devotion", a stillness that has more of dedication, commitment, and obsession than youthful playfulness. He took whatever he could find ("lurched like a stray to the arms that were open") that would produce that feeling, even if it was less innocent than codeine ("no shortage of sordid"). He no longer minds that he's troweling through dangerous parts of town and supporting criminals and cartels, he won't protest the guns and death, he wants what he wants.

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.

Most of the heroin one finds in Britain is brown, heroin base. This is better smoked than administered in any other way (hence the sweetened breath and the straw blonde coloration). Her arms, naturally, are hard and lean like a needle. The basic thrust of her being a cruel master that feels too enjoyable not to indulge in, as noted by most of the older interpretations here, is obvious.

Feeling more human and hooked on her flesh, I lay my heart down with the rest at her feet, Fresh from the fields, all fetor and fertile, It's bloody and raw but I swear it is sweet.

He doesn't feel human, doesn't feel well without her. That's what it means to be hooked. It's the point when you can no longer abstain and feel okay. And he's reached it. "[L]ay my heart down with the rest" points out that it can't be a person -- this Angel has transfixed and stolen the hearts of many, and she keeps them rather than cycling through people as a woman would have to do. "Fresh from the fields" is another nod: People don't come from fields, but poppies sure do. "It's bloody and raw", sex tends not to be, but injection-points always are.

In leash-less confusion I wander the concrete, Wonder how better now having survived, The jarring of judgement and reason's defeat; The sweet heat of her breath in my mouth, I'm alive.

Punctuation is frequently very important in Hozier lyrics, and it's kind that he provides it in his liner notes. Reason is not defeating his unhealthy attachment to a woman. Rather, his reason and judgement have been defeated, and he relies upon the "sweet heat of her breath" to live, to feel like a person again. Without it he feels dead and cold. "Wonder how better now having survived" acknowledges that his life has been fundamentally altered in an incomprehensible and terrible way. "[L]eash-less confusion" is a lack of self-control, the confusion implies not really understanding what he's doing, or why he's doing it, when he goes out to "wander the concrete". It isn't an active, fully-conscious decision, he just finds himself doing it, zombie-like. What he's doing as he wanders city sidewalks is trying to score. And he does so successfully, as the last line of the verse indicates. Because he's smoked the heroin he bought, he gets to feel alive at the end of the song.

It's great that people can find their own meanings in songs, it really is, but to my ears this is one of the least ambiguous things he's ever written. Maybe it's a metaphor, but the narrative feels much more intuitive if the song is read as simply personifying heroin.

Drugs shift from youthful, playful experimentation, a way to have fun, to something you ultimately need just to feel alive at all. From something you choose lightly, to something that you will do anything to get, even against your better reason and judgement, even against your own moral scruples. That's the narrative. At least as far as I can see.

I'm trolling a little, but there's a really direct and obvious way to interpret this one. I watched 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 youth. Lots of people fuck around with drugs when they're young and are perfectly fine. That's what the "codeine scene" is: young people who play with codeine, an over-the-counter medication in most countries, to get a little high and enhance their partying. Most of these people never do anything alone, never graduate to anything much harder, and knock it off when they stop being young and reckless. The protagonist here acknowledges that there's danger and harm to be found here (abuse, wretched, terrible), but also pleasure and greatness (bold, boyful, love, joyful, terrible). He decides to join in the fun. Freshly disowned, in some frozen devotion, No more alone or myself could I be, Lurched like a stray to the arms that were open, No shortage of sordid, no protest from me. Instead of finding something to enhance his partying, his having fun with others like himself, he found something that made him feel "alone" and "[him]self". Instead of shaking his wings and being active with the rest, he found a "frozen devotion", a stillness that has more of dedication, commitment, and obsession than youthful playfulness. He took whatever he could find ("lurched like a stray to the arms that were open") that would produce that feeling, even if it was less innocent than codeine ("no shortage of sordid"). He no longer minds that he's troweling through dangerous parts of town and supporting criminals and cartels, he won't protest the guns and death, he wants what he wants. 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. Most of the heroin one finds in Britain is brown, heroin base. This is better smoked than administered in any other way (hence the sweetened breath and the straw blonde coloration). Her arms, naturally, are hard and lean like a needle. The basic thrust of her being a cruel master that feels too enjoyable not to indulge in, as noted by most of the older interpretations here, is obvious. Feeling more human and hooked on her flesh, I lay my heart down with the rest at her feet, Fresh from the fields, all fetor and fertile, It's bloody and raw but I swear it is sweet. He doesn't feel human, doesn't feel well without her. That's what it means to be hooked. It's the point when you can no longer abstain and feel okay. And he's reached it. "[L]ay my heart down with the rest" points out that it can't be a person -- this Angel has transfixed and stolen the hearts of many, and she keeps them rather than cycling through people as a woman would have to do. "Fresh from the fields" is another nod: People don't come from fields, but poppies sure do. "It's bloody and raw", sex tends not to be, but injection-points always are. In leash-less confusion I wander the concrete, Wonder how better now having survived, The jarring of judgement and reason's defeat; The sweet heat of her breath in my mouth, I'm alive. Punctuation is frequently very important in Hozier lyrics, and it's kind that he provides it in his liner notes. Reason is not defeating his unhealthy attachment to a woman. Rather, his reason and judgement have been defeated, and he relies upon the "sweet heat of her breath" to live, to feel like a person again. Without it he feels dead and cold. "Wonder how better now having survived" acknowledges that his life has been fundamentally altered in an incomprehensible and terrible way. "[L]eash-less confusion" is a lack of self-control, the confusion implies not really understanding what he's doing, or why he's doing it, when he goes out to "wander the concrete". It isn't an active, fully-conscious decision, he just finds himself doing it, zombie-like. What he's doing as he wanders city sidewalks is trying to score. And he does so successfully, as the last line of the verse indicates. Because he's smoked the heroin he bought, he gets to feel alive at the end of the song. It's great that people can find their own meanings in songs, it really is, but to my ears this is one of the least ambiguous things he's ever written. Maybe it's a metaphor, but the narrative feels much more intuitive if the song is read as simply personifying heroin. Drugs shift from youthful, playful experimentation, a way to have fun, to something you ultimately need just to feel alive at all. From something you choose lightly, to something that you will do anything to get, even against your better reason and judgement, even against your own moral scruples. That's the narrative. At least as far as I can see.

Reason:

teaspillon January 20, 2015 Link
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@teaspill

@teaspill I think you nailed it. Thanks for the deeper explanation of the "scene," which of course few of us on this side of the pond quite understand.

marycbon February 11, 2015

@marycb I'm American actually, I just find marginalized/maligned groups and their differences in different cultures fascinating, so I know a lot of things I really, really shouldn't.

teaspillon February 11, 2015

@teaspill This makes tremendous sense as a story song rather than a metaphor song, and once again I thank you for illuminating it. The punctuation is a help too as I downloaded the album and don't have the liner notes. The various attempts at transcription I've seen leave lots to be desired. One question for you, if you don't mind . . . could you talk a bit about the title? I was misled by an image that sounds like a prostitute or a promiscuous girl who frequents the codeine scene; how do you translate it to heroin? 

marycbon February 12, 2015

@marycb It was never really a translation, honestly. When I try to figure out What A Song Is About it's more of a process of ripping it apart, cross-referencing, and reassembling it to see if it still stands than any process of trying to make disparate things fit. If there are missing pieces I tend to just let things fall down and approach from another angle. (Yeah, I love a lot of songs where I will outright admit I don't know entirely what they're about.) For this song, I basically started with the premise of, "Okay, this song's about a woman. What do we know about her?" And then I assembled a list: Her arms are wide open and readily available. She's sordid, and/or surrounded by sordid things. Her breath is sweet. She says mean things. Her hair is straw blonde. Her arms are hard and lean. Which was all fine. Next, it was "How does she interact with people?" She's connected to the codeine scene. People love and abuse her, or are loved and abused by her. She makes people feel disowned, devoted, and frozen. She makes people feel alone and like themself. She makes people run to her. She makes people passively accept the unacceptable. She makes people feel more human. She gets people hooked. People sacrifice their hearts to her, and she keeps them as offerings. She's connected to fields somehow. She does something that is bloody and raw, but sweet. She produces a lack of discipline and confusion in people. She harms people. She removes people's judgement and higher reasoning skills. And at that point I basically went, "How on Earth does this line up with sex?" and couldn't get it to work (the fields, blood, and associations with being alone and still were particularly problematic for me). So I looked at the song for other options. Given an opiate was already mentioned as being important, I went through and tested my lists with that as a possibility for who the woman/angel being talked about was. It worked, so I looked at the song to see how it fit. Then an active narrative fell out, which I wasn't even expecting to happen, so I summarily rammed my head into a desk. Sorry so long, but I find people tend to be confused by my thought processes unless I'm really explicit and cover all the steps.

teaspillon February 12, 2015

@teaspill Thanks for that--once again, very helpful. I haven't deconstructed a piece of popular music in quite some time--haven't found many that need or inspire the kind of deconstruction that Hozier does! So perhaps the way to interpret this is that she’s not the Angel of Small Death AND the Codeine Scene, she’s the Angel of Small Death (heroin), and she hangs around the codeine scene looking for new conquests. It’s not a compound attribute, it’s where she finds new conquests.

marycbon February 12, 2015

@marycbon I see what you mean now. xD Yeah, I've always read it as the subject of the song being both the Angel of the Codeine Scene and the Angel of Small Death. As far as being the Angel of the Codeine scene... that's what the people in the scene go around worshipping, really. Opiates tend to start small and get more intense as they grow, and I feel like that progression is a lot of what's being pointed out. Little by little, they progress to harder and harder iterations. Like practicing rituals to learn to be a better religious person. Tiny steps to be a better person, or in this case a more addicted person. And the Angel of Small Death feels like wordplay to me. Small death obviously references orgasmic pleasure, but there's something else. There's an Elliott Smith line that talks about heroin that goes, "A little less than a human being, a little less than a happy high, a little less than a suicide," and it just rattles around my head whenever I hear this song. Basically, heroin addiction as being a half-life (which, now that I think about it, Hozier's referenced while talking about Sedated), somewhere between being alive and dead, a small death. I hope that's coherent?

teaspillon February 12, 2015

@marycb It's been a long time since I've found someone with lyrics I can really do this with as well, and I love it. But I unabashedly bought the album for the liner notes -- which I've done with bands before, but very rarely.

teaspillon February 12, 2015

God, the title's a reference to patron saints (and angels). Now I have to sit and think more.

teaspillon February 12, 2015

@teaspill I really think you are right, although at the beginning I gave another interpretation to the song, but now, reading your lines, I am sure you get to the point...

alinaroxanairion March 27, 2015

@teaspill Totally the feeling I got from this song. It's about drugs and moving from a playing innocent time to a deep needful way. You hit it right on I think. I came here to specifically see what others thought this song was about and to see if anyone else felt what I felt about this one specifically. Thanks!! 

misslittlecleoon April 14, 2016

@teaspill this is all cool... thanks alot 

sunyericsonon May 01, 2017

@teaspill this is all cool... thanks alot this is beautifully explained 

sunyericsonon May 01, 2017