Hozier – “All Things End” Lyrics Meaning

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Written By Joanna Landrum

Joanna holds a BSc in English Literature and uses her expertise in literary analysis to uncover the deeper meaning of her favorite songs.

At the heart of Hozier’s “All Things End” is the notion that everything in life, no matter how significant or trivial, has a conclusion. The song is an elegant rumination on impermanence and the resilience to start anew despite the inevitability of endings. Hozier seems to be speaking to the shared human experience of loss and the bittersweet reality of moving forward.

The weight of loss, love, and renewal bears heavily throughout the song, symbolizing the universal struggle to find meaning in endings. It’s not just about a person; it’s about every one of us as we navigate the ebbs and flows of existence. The song was crafted not to mourn the end of things but to celebrate the courage to begin again.

Are you hooked on the eternal cycle of endings and beginnings? Well, Hozier’s “All Things End” is more than a song; it’s a reflection of life itself. Every line is a step deeper into the dance of departure and return we all know too well.


“All Things End” Lyrics Meaning

Picture the scene: something vital has ended, leaving a crushing pressure on the chest – the universal symbol of heartache. “It just dropped a twenty-storey height,” he sings, echoing the sudden, free-falling sensation accompanying loss. It’s clear he’s speaking about something personal yet universal. If your heart’s intact by the end, did you even love at all?

As we proceed, Hozier gets intimate, recounting the last moment of togetherness: “The last time I felt your weight on my chest, you said, ‘We didn’t get it right but, love, we did our best.'” There’s a conversation between lovers here, an acceptance that their best wasn’t enough, but also a promise — “And we will again.”

“All things end.” This isn’t a lament but a statement of fact — a stoic acceptance. Hozier then paints our intentions as transient, “scrawled in sand,” implying that our plans, however grand, are vulnerable to the tides of change.

The silence and darkness in the next verse are symbolic of deep reflection — the aftermath of an ending. There’s recognition that assigning blame is a futile comfort and that acknowledging the end is not necessarily bad. It’s a mature acceptance that sometimes, things simply don’t work out, and that’s okay.

Moving to the chorus again, the repetition of “And all things end” serves as a mantra, a grounding truth that anchors the song’s message. The reassurance comes in the form of “When we begin again,” a lyric that encourages resilience and the perpetual hope of starting over.

The Story Behind “All Things End”

Hozier isn’t just singing from personal experience; he’s channeling a feeling that resonates with the human condition. He wrote this song at a point in his life where the concept of impermanence was more than a passing thought — it was a living truth. The serenity with which he approaches the topic suggests a writer who has faced loss head-on and has found peace in its inevitability. Hozier, with his poetic grace, doesn’t wallow but instead seeks to empower. It’s as if he’s reached a state of understanding where the end is not a full stop but a comma, a pause before a new beginning.

This song, then, is an ode to the cyclical nature of life. Hozier’s state of mind while writing seems to have been one of contemplation and acceptance, seeing the end not as a defeat but as a natural progression. It’s this mindset that imbues the song with its power and universality. It’s not just about endings — it’s about the promise of new beginnings, the assurance that when one door closes, another opens, and the music plays on.