Swan Upon Leda: A Melody for the Oppressed

Andrew Hozier-Byrne, known as Hozier, is an Irish musician singer, and songwriter. His music often contains mythological elements, literary and religious themes, and his political and social stance as he is famously known for his constant defense of the rights of Irish people against the British colonial system. Hozier has recorded songs mentioning contemporary and historical problems in Ireland and/or in the world such as colonization, capitalism, women’s struggles, religious oppression, homophobia, etc., such as “Take Me to Church”, “Nina Cried Power”, “Butchered Tongue”, “Foreigner’s God”, “Swan Upon Leda”, and so on.

“Swan Upon Leda” consists of issues like child pregnancy and abortion, patriarchal oppression, and colonialism in Ireland and Palestine; Hozier talks about them by giving reference to the myth of Leda, the woman who was raped by Zeus (king of the Gods) while he was in the form of a swan, in ancient Greek mythology. In a statement he shared on social media, he said that he decided to release the song as a “show for solidarity” for women of America after the overturning of Roe v. Wade (which is the landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in order to legally protect women’s right to have an abortion), being inspired by the Egyptian journalist and author Mona Eltahawy’s words who says the oppression of the system against women is the “oldest form of occupation”. Eventually, by pointing out these sensitive issues and comparing them to the forcefully impregnated Leda, Hozier distinctly portrays the resistance theme and makes it available for the public to hear.

Hozier uses the myth of Leda as a metaphor as he likes to do in most of his songs. In the myth, Zeus disguises himself as a swan and abuses Leda, who goes to bed with her husband Tyndareus the same night. Afterwards, she bears four children whom she had to raise by herself, yet which are of Zeus, or which are from her husband is still not fully known by the accounts. At the beginning of the song, Hozier talks about child pregnancy, singing “A husband waits outside / A crying child pushes a child into the night”. This line indicates the consequences of illegalizing the rights of abortion for women; a child giving birth to another child. She was married to a man at a young age and had his child not having a choice except to give birth. Afterward, the singer adds, “She was told he would come this time / Without leaving so much as a feather behind” which is a reference to how Zeus assaulted Leda in his swan form. Here, the child is left alone as the responsibility of the birth was only left to Leda; Zeus is nowhere to be seen and since he is a man and a God, he does not suffer for the consequences of his sin. This myth occurred in ancient times when there was no abortion and men had control over women’s bodies, therefore, the song reveals how not much has changed since those times. Finally, he ends the first verse with the line “One more sweet boy to be butchered by men”, the boy is introduced as the born son, meaning how the patriarchal system leads to the destruction of not only girls but also boys when they are raised with harmful ideas about women.

In the chorus, Hozier says “What never belonged to angels / had never belonged to man”, which means women’s choices on their bodies did not belong to angels (Gods) and it surely does not belong to men today, no matter how much they try to legislate and bring new laws in violating women’s rights. Afterward, he ends the chorus with the lines “The swan upon Leda / Empire upon Jerusalem”, talking about the occupation of Palestine that has been going on for a long time and how Israel aims to possess Jerusalem by also comparing this occupation with the assault of Leda by Zeus. Jerusalem was believed to be the center of the world and it was considered a holy city for having the most sacred places for three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Hozier also alludes to the colonialism in Ireland -as an Irishman, Hozier constantly defends the rights of his people and the freedom of Ireland from the hands of Britain- and compares it with the invasion in Palestine, stating how those two statehoods went and still go through the exploitation carried out by the states that are standing in higher places considering the political hierarchy. To present more details, it is known that Ireland recognizes Palestine as a statehood and Hozier already signed a pro-Palestine open letter in May 2021, which displays the similarities between Ireland and Palestine in case of being the exploited countries. This could be considered as another reason for the creation of the “Swan Upon Leda”.

As for the second verse of the song, the singer delves more into this reference. He says, “A grandmother smuggling meds / Past where the god-child soldier, Sétanta, stood dead”. In an article published in 2005, it is said that “… Ireland… has the most restrictive ban on abortion in Europe: Abortion is illegal except to save a woman’s life and this ban is written into its constitution.” Before the legalization of abortion in the Republic of Ireland, women who wanted to end their pregnancies used medications in illegal ways; they would address those medications to Northern Ireland and then smuggle them over the border to the Republic of Ireland. This explains why the grandmother from Ireland is smuggling medications.

Sétanta, later known as Cú Chulain, is an Irish mythological hero; he is a child warrior who guards the house of a blacksmith. In the myth, he ties himself to the pillar-stone with his breast belt in order not to die lying down but standing up, which symbolizes Irish nationalism and resistance. “Weaves through the checkpoints like a needle and thread” means Sétanta is likened to the guards waiting at the checkpoint. Women who had difficulties accessing abortion in Northern Ireland, like the mentioned grandmother, would cross the border to go to England in order to access safe and legal abortion services. In his book “Ireland: A Nation in Transition”, Irish political writer and columnist Wole Akande states that “in an act of moral doublethink, it appears that there is widespread tolerance of the fact that over 6000 Irish women travel every year to Britain for the operation, an alarmingly high percentage in late-term because of the lack of support and advice at home” (Akande, 2001: xi). As one can detect in the next lines, Hozier looks both through the eyes of the women who are in search of a safe abortion service and of the boys (checkpoint guards) who surrendered to the oppressive, patriarchal system they were forced to be in (“one more sweet boy to be butchered my man”). Furthermore, he continues, saying this checkpoint guard is only “someone’s frightened boy” and rather than making the oppressor wholly wicked and villainous, Hozier presents how the boy is actually a victim of the system. He has a “gun in a trembling hand”, meaning he does not, in fact, want to harm those people, yet this is where the system brought him. This whole situation, crossing the borders in order to access a better service or live in better conditions, can also be applied to the people of Palestine, for they are also looking for a better way to live, and the soldiers in borders are also servants of command just like those checkpoint guards. Finally, he ends the second verse before the chorus saying, “Where nature unmakes the boundary / The pillar of myth still stands”. The pillar of myth refers to the pillar-stone to which Sétenta tied himself, it is located near the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Therefore, it can be said that according to Hozier, borders are artificial, and they are just mythical ideas about nations. However, even after all this time passed since ancient times, the pillar of myth still stands. With his last line “Occupier upon ancient land”, he collects everything he meant to deliver (Israel upon Jerusalem, England upon Ireland, patriarchal system upon women’s bodies and young boys), and summarizes it.

As stated at the beginning of the analysis, Hozier’s discography includes tracks that reveal his stance against social, political, and religious problems. Additionally, since he is an Irishman who is fully connected with his land, he often talks about Irish culture and history. He also has an interest in Greek and Irish mythology, which is why he includes mythological narratives in his songs (e.g. “Francesca”, “Sunlight”, “I, Carrion”, “Swan Upon Leda”, etc.). In “Swan Upon Leda”, Hozier takes the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the harsh conditions women have to bear for not having full, safe access to abortion, and the occupation of Ireland and Palestine into consideration by referring to the myth of Leda. He makes an analogy between the system’s effort to have control over women’s bodies and general civil rights, and the conquest of a holy land through the use of a Greek myth. At last, through different points of view, he presents “Swan Upon Leda” to the listeners.

References

Akande, W. (2001). Ireland: A Nation in Transition. iUniverse.

Best, A. (2005). Abortion Rights Along the Irish-English Border and The Liminality of Women’s Experiences. Dialectical Anthropology, 29(3–4), 423–437. https://www.jstor.org/stable/29790748