Sinead O'Connor: C/D?

good lord 'fire on babylon' is all kinds of fierce.

FIIYYYYRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEE

also, that bassline!

Great song, great entire album I reckon! The ballads kill me - esp. "John I Love You" and "A Perfect Indian".

the most awful song on massive attack's "100th window": "a prayer for england". DESTROY!

Sinead, an acoustic guitar, Dutch festival crowd, 1988 -- "Troy":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeIHZvZTJTg

I'm telling ya, people need to see this clip.

I'm glad for her that she's found a niche recording these genre experiments, but I really do miss her as gadfly.

It's stuff like "Troy" that got us interested in the later genre experiments in the first place.

I KILLED A DRAGON FOR YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND

i love this song for reals

That's a ferocious performance. Her neck muscles when she sings "I'd kill a dragon for you" alone make this worth watching.

WOW.

For the first time I wondered what this song is about specifically (obv it's pretty clear what it's about generally). Is Sinead playing a woman who's in a relationship with a married (or at any rate attached) guy? That seems to be the only explanation that makes all the different bits scan consistently.

Yeah, that clip is unreal. The Troy performance on the bonus disc of the Do Not Want reissue is possibly even more intense.

That line, "You should have left the light on," is so brilliant. That's exactly the kind of thing someone might say when they're overcome with anger and not thinking very clearly. If the light had been on, none of this would have happened. That's how the mind works.

She performed it last year for first time in almost 20 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyqvQVeVK9A

x-post Totally. Except for the first time I've thought maybe the song is kinda rational throughout. She's been having an affair with him, he said he was gonna leave his wife but now he's changed his mind, she's furious that he ever encouraged her to the point that now she's totally lost in love/hate.

love that pinkpop clip. she did it the same way as a final encore when i saw her in '91. totally riveting.

I've never thought of the song as being about an affair with a married man specifically. He's obviously an emotionally unavailable asshole, but there could be any number of reasons for that.

The soul-killing line for me is "but I knew you wanted me to be there" -- so, despite all her yelling and screaming and white-hot anger, she's still trying to convince herself that everything is really OK.

This helps:

WHY should I blame her that she filled my days
With misery, or that she would of late
Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways,
Or hurled the little streets upon the great.
Had they but courage equal to desire?
What could have made her peaceful with a mind
That nobleness made simple as a fire,
With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind
That is not natural in an age like this,
Being high and solitary and most stern?
Why, what could she have done, being what she is?
Was there another Troy for her to burn?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032502363.html?hpid=topnews

that was an excellent read; she is an incredibly evocative writer

Very heavy.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/08/sinead_split_a_p.jpg

45 year old woman in not-looking-like-when-she-was-20 shocker

― 69, Tuesday, July 12, 2011 5:52 PM (4 weeks ago) Bookmark

tbf it's nothing to do with age, but more that she looks radically different from the image of her that many of us carry around in our minds. i know that i wouldn't have been able to identify her in the absence of clues

tbf 45 yo Sinead looks more like she's 13

Wait... the woman in black is Sinead?!

y

A minute after that photo was taken she adjusted the mike down and started singing out of her bellybutton.

jeezo

The singer has crafted a rather thorough list of musts ("Must be blind enough to think I'm gorgeous") and must nots ("Must not be named Brian or Nigel").

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the good times don't stop at the produce section.

"Let me now take time to make VERY clear that yes I 'do anal' and in fact I would be deeply unhappy if 'doing anal' wasn't on the menu, amongst everything else$$ So if u don't like 'the difficult brown'.. Don't apply..."

Also, women "will also be very much considered."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/30/sinead_n_941808.html

"Difficult brown?"

that's not how you seduce a man!

She is apparently touring soon!!! Feb 23-24 at Highline Ballroom. And I am totally hooked on "Fire on Babylon" at the moment; I cannot wait to go to this show

Maybe you'll marry her for 5 minutes!

maybe you can sell her some weed!

true, then she won't have to resort to crack

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/sinead-oconnor-pleads-for-psychiatric-help-on-twitter--suicide-attempt_n_1201626.html

Oh jeez, Sinead. I hope she's OK and also that her show in NYC in a month isn't cancelled

Yeah, it's not really funny, I hope she gets help soon!

I am always rooting for this woman

I feel for her, she seems really ill.

Great NYT profile/interview here, discussing the above and more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/arts/music/sinead-oconnors-how-about-i-be-me-and-you-be-you.html

this album seems alright, half of one song in

I'm so ready to want a good Sinead album (the last one I bought was the forgettable one in 2000). "Reason With Me" gives me reason to hope.

Her most underrated record is that "Gospel Oak" EP. I think this is one of the most beautiful songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdeMkywlS54

My wife used to sing it to our kids.

This is all time, my friends:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-wwxSIgZH0

:-/

With enormous regret I must announce that I have to cancel all touring for the year as am very unwell due to bi polar disorder.

As you all know I had a very serious breakdown between December and March and I had been advised by my doctor not to go on tour but didn't want to 'fail' or let anyone down as the tour was already booked to coincide with album release. So very stupidly I ignored his advice to my great detriment, attempting to be stronger than I actually am.

I apologise sincerely for any difficulties this may cause.

There's all sorts of weird timing at work here. She's quiet for a while, semi-retired. Then she suddenly goes public via social media. Then there's the crazy wedding and breakdown and possible suicide attempt (from an artist who has had breakdowns and suicide attempts in the past). Then the new album comes out and gets good reviews. Then she schedules a tour - she was great when I saw her a few years ago - and at least here the venues get pumped up from smaller spaces to bigger clubs. And then she cancels. I can only imagine the pressure she is under to fill coffers or whatever, because even I could have told her taking some time off would be a wise idea.

She peaked creatively with "Troy" from the first album, y/n?

no