R.I.P. Sinead

I had been planning on bringing back my occasional series Listen To The Band for this week’s midweek post. I had decided on the band and chosen the songs, but hadn’t started writing. But that plan went out of the window when the sad news filtered through last night of the passing of Sinead O’Connor at the age of just 56. I have hardly ever played her songs here: just the one, in fact, that gets a repeat airing at Christmas, so I felt it the least I could do to redress the balance – belatedly, I know – by playing a few in her memory.

Much has been said and written about Sinead over the years, about her troubled upbringing and her own issues. And there was the time when she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992, in protest at the Catholic Church’s failure to take action against paedophile priests. Nine years later she was proved to have been right, when John Paul II acknowledged the problem, but the damage to her career had been done. Those are things for another day, though – today I want to share some of her music and her beautiful voice.

Though this was actually her third single, this is the song that first brought her to our attention:

Mandinka was released as a single on 1 December 1987, a couple of days after the release of her debut album, The Lion And The Cobra, on which it also featured. She was just 21 at the time, and we recognised that a new star was in the making. The single peaked at #6 in her native Ireland, at #17 in the UK, and at #14 on the US Dance Club chart. The album got to #3 in Ireland, #27 in the UK and #36 in the US.

It was Sinead’s second album that turned her into a major star, and one song from it in particular. This is one of the most famous music videos of all time, and I still find it bringing a tear to my eye even now, more than thirty years later:

She has more than 1m subscribers on YouTube, and that video has had more than 404m views. I suspect it will be getting a few more in the coming days. Nothing Compares 2 U is, as I’m sure you know, a song written and originally performed by Prince, but Sinead made it her own. It was released as a single in January 1990, a couple of months ahead of the album on which it is included, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got. Both the single and the album were massive hits, topping the charts in Ireland, the UK, the US, and in countless other countries as well. The single has sold more than 3.5m copies, and the album more than 7m. In case you didn’t know, the tears are genuine: Sinead has said that she was thinking of her mother, who had died in a car accident in 1985, and with whom she had shared a troubled relationship.

Her next album, Am I Not Your Girl? came out in September 1992. It was nowhere near as successful, but still achieved respectable chart placings: #8 in Ireland, #6 in the UK and #27 in the US, and it included her first cover of an Andrew Lloyd Webber song. This is one you will also know, but have you heard it sung as delicately as this:

Don’t Cry For Me Argentina is, of course, from the musical Evita. There have been many other recordings but I think this is by far and away the best. It was released as a single, but only made #53 here, and didn’t chart in Ireland or the US. The original version by Julie Covington, who played the role in the first stage production, is very good and was a UK #1, and even Madonna’s dirge made #3 here. Sometimes there can be no justice, it seems.

I mentioned at the beginning that before today I had only played one of Sinead’s songs. I know it is out of season for it, but as it is so lovely I’m including it again today:

Silent Night was released as a non-album single at Christmas 1991, and made #12 in Ireland and #60 in the UK. I think the song and the video are lovely, and deserved better.

Just one more song to play you. This is one of the tracks from Sinead’s blockbuster album, and it seems right to play it, given its title, The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance:

Although that’s the final song for today I thought I’d share one further video. I found this interview on the BBC’s Breakfast show from 2014 which gives a nice reminder of what Sinead was like: honest, intelligent, witty. It is a fitting way to end this tribute:

R.I.P. Sinead. I hope you find the peace that has eluded you. Thank you for the music, and for being you. Nothing Compares 2 U. 💐