Discovering Sinead's Music

Holy Rage and Divine Sublime

I'm a late arrival to the Sinead O'Conner lovefest. I'd heard of her, of course, seen the photos, snippets of music and gossip, but never stopped to explore what that was all about until I heard of her death this week, only 56 years old.

I read a couple of tributes about her life and then spent an afternoon listening to a playlist of her music. I was mesmerized. Not only by her haunting voice, but her haunting life story: Her fearlessness and passion. Her commitment to her causes whatever the cost. Her defiance of convention and her devotion to what she called the Holy Spirit, which was what fueled her music and her activism.

An article in the New York Times speaks of her "raw passion and raw nerve":

"Sinead O’Connor did not hold back. Not her voice, not her ideas, not her troubles, not her rage, not her sorrows, not her faith." 

"She seemed equally startling, at first, for her keening voice and her shaven head. Her singing encompassed cathartic extremes: lullabies and imprecations, sighs and howls". 

The article goes on to preview and list ten of her "essential" songs.

Some of the songs I loved best weren't on that list. But this one was: "Nothing Compares 2 U," the song that brought her commercial success, and whose haunting video of her face as she's singing became iconic.

Not surprisingly, some of my favorites came from her albums Universal Mother and Gospel Oak. Two are below, "This is to Mother You" and "Thank You for Healing Me." Her versions of "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Silent Night" are also the most beautiful I've ever heard and well worth listening to.

Here's another tribute to her life and music, here on Substack’s Moments of Recognition, if you were unfamiliar with her life's work, as I was. If you've been a fan all along, I'd love to hear what drew you to her and which songs were your favorites.