Politics of Hozier, Part III: Dissent and Abortion
By: Aivintis; Published 2024
Jackboot Jump
Jackboot Jump is explicitly and wholly political. Within the song’s narrative, it portrays the titular ‘jackboot jump’ as a sort of dance performed by the reigning regime, a dance which inherently steps on the people below – the minorities which that regime oppresses. It is an incredibly obvious metaphor for a population being ‘under the boot’ of the ruling class.
The first verse of Jackboot Jump immediately criticizes the American government, which is an incredibly strong start. “At Standing Rock the Jackboot Jump / You’d swear was all the rage” is a way that Hozier can compare the American treatment of its native population with widely recognized oppression and authoritarianism – which is also accomplish by juxtaposing this Western, liberal democracy with the regimes of Russia and China (which we’ll get to). The argument is this: If we can recognize oppression abroad, why don’t we introspect and identify its growing elements here?
He accentuates this point with the next line – “Whether tearing up old treaties / Or just tearing up the place.” The United States government is notorious for its failure to conform to treaties signed with Native tribes in good faith. With each step towards manifest destiny, American settlers took more and more ancestral lands from the peoples which lived there, signed more treaties promising more rights and concessions, and effectively tore them up by moving onward. Tearing up the place is similar – the best example I can think of is carving the faces of white colonists into Mt. Rushmore, a sacred site for the local Natives.
The next line, “It’s always corporate infrastructure / Over the structure of your face,” is less obvious to dissect. The capitalism reference seems out of place in the subject matter. In this case, contributors on Genius Lyrics suggest that ‘corporate infrastructure’ refers to the Dakota Access Pipeline, which indigenous groups vehemently opposed, while the final line of the verse refers to George Orwell’s 1984, where a boot stamps on the human face. It could also, however, be a simple reference to the development of stolen land into urban and industrial centers over which the true landowners have no control and from which the fair owners receive no profit.
The next verse is much easier to unpack. Hozier sings, “In Moscow the Jackboot show / Has so much in store / For any silly student / Who doesn’t wanna learn the score.” Though it is likely this does reference a specific event, 2019 protests in Moscow which involved many university students against the government’s rejection of independent candidates in Duma elections, it doesn’t necessarily have to. Students are often the leaders of protests against oppressive policies, even in the United States, where students protested American involvement in Vietnam.
This, in conjunction with the last two lines – “So the Moscow Jackboot Ballet / Finds some scared young dancing floor” develop the musical allegory of the song that much further. The Russian ballet is relatively well-known, and the mention of the ballet, “learning the score,” and a “dancing floor” is only strengthening the artistic effect of the “Jackboot Jump” as a dance. Of course, the dancing floor is scared and young because protesting students, who don’t want to do exactly what the government wants, have a lot of life which can be taken away from them, and they’re rightly scared of authoritarian repression.
Next, Hozier turns his gaze to China. “In Hong Kong it won’t be long / 'Til they have to fall in line.” This is a clear reference to the 2019-2020 protests in Hong Kong, the largest protests in the administrative region’s history, which fought for democracy in China. Protestors were attacked and brutalized by the police, tear gas was used, and many died. It ended with a strong crackdown, as Hozier predicted, with mass arrests, deportations, emigrations, electoral disqualifications, and stronger authoritarian and policing measures.
Hozier refers to “the long hand of Beijing / Stretching south a thousand miles” to describe the strong central authority of the state. The Chinese Communist Party, and its increasingly personalistic dictator Xi Jinping, maintain a stranglehold on the country, oppressing not just the people of Hong Kong, but the people of Tibet, and all Chinese people. Their military, police, and national security apparatuses are focused on maintaining authoritarian rule. This leads Hozier to say “they rock the Jackboot Jump there / Like that sh*t’s going out of style.”
Amid this incredible cynicism, which has become a common theme of Hozier’s political music, there is a kernel of hope in the final verse of the atypically structured song. “All around the world / You’d think that things were looking rough / But the jackboot only jumps down / On people standing up / So you know good things are happening / When the jackboot needs to jump.” When there’s no protests to shut down, no minorities to oppress, and no dissent to squash, the totalitarians have won. They wouldn’t have to ‘jump down’ if there weren’t people standing up to their tyranny, and thus it is a sign that there might be real change coming and that the social consciousness is trending towards justice.
Swan Upon Leda
TW//Gender Based Violence and Oppression
In Greek mythology, Leda is the mother of Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and the Dioscuri. Zeus, in the form of a swan, laid with Leda on the same night as she did with her husband. As is the case with many of the women Zeus “seduces,” there is no consent. Her children, therefore, hatch from an egg. This, and the reality of teen childbirth under strong abortion restrictions, are reflected in the first four lines of the song “Swan Upon Leda” in detail.
This is ultimately a song about abortion and misogyny. Released in 2022 in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States, “Swan Upon Leda” is laden with metaphors, rooting itself in one specific metaphor. As Hozier wrote on social media in reference to the song, “Egyptian journalist and author Mona Eltahawy once referred to the global systems that control and endanger women as the world’s ‘oldest form of occupation.’” This forms the core identity of this piece, which relates abortion restrictions with military occupation.
“But the gateway to the world / Was still outside the reach of him” – male control over women’s bodies, and the fundamental bearing of life, is ultimately limited. A man can legislate all he wants, block access to IVF, contraception, and abortion pills or procedures, but ultimately no man can snap his fingers and decide whether or not a woman gives birth. “What never belonged to angels / Had never belonged to men” – even the angel Gabriel, on behalf of God, asked Mary’s consent before the immaculate conception. Not even an angel has that power – or should – according to Hozier’s interpretation of the Bible.
“The swan upon Leda / Empire upon Jerusalem.” Assault and occupation. Violence in Gaza, violence against a woman. Hozier juxtaposes these ideas as interchangeable, calling back once again to Mona Eltahawy’s metaphor. In the next verse, the military checkpoints in Northern Ireland again place the conversation around abortion in the context and rhetoric of imperial occupation, which is a common trend in Hozier songs, as will be expanded upon in future papers in this essay series.
“A grandmother smuggling meds / Past where the god child-soldier Setanta stood dead / Our graceful turner of heads / Weaves through the checkpoints like a needle and thread / Someone’s frightened boy waves her on / She offers a mother’s smile and soon she’s gone.” There is a lot to unpack in this verse. Setanta is the birth name of the Irish folk hero Cu Cuhlainn, who chained himself to a rock in his dying moments to keep fighting until his death. The stone in question marks the border to Northern Ireland, where abortion pills were legally accessible under Irish abortion restrictions.
The mother/grandmother in this verse is smuggling medication across the border, where young soldiers guard military checkpoints. The “needle and thread” simile hearkens back to traditional gender roles. In the next chorus, “The gun in a trembling hand” and “The pillar of myth” emphasize the role of border security as a barrier to abortion in those days. At the end of the chorus, Hozier sings “The swan upon Leda / Occupier upon ancient land,” a repeated, albeit rephrased, contrast between imperialism and misogyny.