Sinead O’Connor
lessons from and love for
Troy: Three Versions
Three ways this song can be stunning.
Shitheads and Bullies Booing
Sinead was already in shit with ‘Murica: she objected to the playing of their ridiculous national anthem before her concerts, pointing out — reasonably — that the two things have nothing to do with each other. ‘Murica doesn’t understand limits, so they hated on her hard for pointing out their silliness. Then, her powerful SNL protest and subsequent lifetime banning from the show, and being made fun of in public by such macho men as Joe Pesci and Frank Sinatra, who both threatened to punch her despite being old enough to be her father and grandfather respectively.
Then O’Connor participated in a “Tribute to Bob Dylan,” and the audience refused to let her sing — watch the footage, it is heartbreaking (and then inspiring) to watch her reactions. Initially she thinks they’re booing her outfit, she’s so surprised. Then she realizes what is happening and is hurt. Then she summons her Dragon mojo and repeats the Marley verses she sang on SNL with even more might than the first time — look at her face during it. She is ALL defiant courage.
Until the philosophy
Which holds one race superior
And another inferior
Is finally and permanently
Discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war
Until there is no longer first class
Or second class citizens of any nation
That until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance
Than the color of his eyes
I've got to say "war"
Until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all
Without regard to race
I say "war"
Until the ignoble and unhappy regime which holds all of us
Through child abuse - ya, child abuse, ya
Subhuman bondage has been toppled, utterly destroyed
Everywhere is war
As she walks off the stage she breaks down a bit — hail Kris Kristoferson for being kind at that moment, because afterwards, she says, she couldn’t even get in touch with her own manager. She was cancelled.
All Apologies
Sinead covered Nirvana’s “All Apologies” in about ’95. Listening to it reminds me that both artists objected to the same machine, and had similar childhood scars. She made (no disrespect intended) the more courageous choice and kept trying to figure it out — living outside of the machine, and in her pain.
In Her Powerful Prime
This concert film, The Value of Ignorance, is of her before all the nonsense. It’s great. And it’s on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hzPyhIp-Gk4
More to Read
A great piece in The New York Times, from earlier in 2021.
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xo
jep
