Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

This really is a full service blog.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The words do not have to be perfect.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Long Belated Tribute: Nothing Compares 2 Sinéad O’Connor

Long Belated Tribute: Nothing Compares 2 Sinéad O’Connor

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Per Rolling Stone:

Sinéad O’Connor died from natural causes, a coroner in London has determined.

A statement said that the coroner has “ceased their involvement” in O’Connor’s death and no other comments would be made.

O’Connor died on July 26 at age 56. The singer’s family confirmed her death in a statement but did not share a cause of death. “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” her family said. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”…

Following her death, tributes to O’Connor poured in from admirers like Phoebe Bridgers, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tegan and Sara, Tori Amos, and others. Tegan and Sara recalled seeing O’Connor live right before the Covid-19 lockdown began, saying, “Can’t express what an absolutely massive impact Sinéad O’Connor had on us from childhood through adulthood. Her voice, her brain, her bravery.” …

More details will come out, eventually, but let me put this into the record: Irish women are medically notorious for a stoic resistance to seeking medical assistance — we historically tend to treat anything short of gushing blood or passing out in public as ‘it’ll heal, given time.‘ People who have been physically abused, especially as children, also learn to avoid acknowledging pain or distress. Given these factors, it is not at all implausible that O’Connor died of (possibly untreated) heart failure or another one of the medical conditions all too familiar to those of us past our youth — no matter how much more exciting the popcult narratives.

and pursued the woman. Thirty metres down the road the friend and the woman embraced and he waived me over. There under streetlights with mist on my breath, I met Sinéad. She looked in my eyes, and uttered with disarming softness “ oh, it’s you Russell”.

She came with us back to the table and sat in the cold and ordered a hot tea. In a conversation without fences we roamed through the recent Dublin heatwave, local politics, American politics, the ongoing fight

for indigenous recognition in many places, but particularly in Australia, her warm memory of New Zealand, faith, music, movies and her brother the writer. I had the opportunity to tell her she was a hero of mine.

When her second cup was taking on the night air, she rose, embraced us all and strode away into the fog-dimmed streetlights.
We sat there the four of us and variously expressed the same thing. What an amazing woman.

Peace be with your courageous heart Sinéad.



Fantastic story — it sounds like she had found her peace, at last:


(If it turns out to require a NYT subscription, let me know in the comments & I’ll add a gift link.)

Nothing Compares 2 Sinéad O’Connor - STOCKPILE

Reader Interactions

18Comments

  2. 2.

    trollhattan

    Watched “Nothing Compares” a couple months back and was riveted. So much substance, stifled by infinite ill-intentioned attacks. And god, what a beautiful voice that beautiful woman had.

  3. 3.

    dr. luba

    Back in the day, our local record shop was part of the Harmony House chain.  Good selection, not the best prices, but convenient. One day, at the check out counter. there was a display of CDs promoting newer artists.  Special offer–try it, if you don’t like it, you can return it!

    “The Lion and the Cobra” caught my eye; the check out girl said they’d had a lot of returns.  I bought it anyway, practically wore it out, and became a fan for life.

  5. 5.

    The Thin Black Duke

    When Sinead sang, “I would slay a dragon for you”, I believed her. Be Blessed, poet.

  8. 8.

    Alison Rose

    She was a gem. She was brutally mistreated by this world, and the world is worse off without her in it.

    What Doesn’t Belong To Me is one of my favorite songs of hers

    I miss you, but I’m glad you’re gone
    I want you but I’m not alone
    I’m haunted by you
    But I’ll get you gone if it takes me all my life long
    You take back the pain you gave me
    You take back what doesn’t belong to me
    Take back the shame you gave me
    Take back what doesn’t belong to me

  9. 9.

    coin operated

    She called out the pedophiles in the Catholic Church long before anyone else had any real idea WTF was going on and paid heavily for it.  Decades later, the church is still settling pedophile cases.

    Rest in Power, Sinead.

  10. 10.

    Another Scott

    I only have one of her albums, her 2nd – “I do not want what I haven’t got”.  It has NC2U, but my favorite is Emperor’s new clothes (4:27)

    Everyone can see what’s going on
    They laugh ’cause they know they’re untouchable
    Not because what I said was wrong
    Whatever it may bring
    I will live by my own policies
    I will sleep with a clear conscience
    I will sleep in peace

    Maybe it sounds mean
    But I really don’t think so
    You asked for the truth and I told you

    She was on SNL in October 1992 – about 2.5 years after IDNWWIHG.  Her power and speaking her truth should not have been a surprise.

    RIP.  She will not be forgotten.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    Such a courageous woman, such a pure and unique voice! She was right about everything important.

    Anne, I had to laugh when I read your accurate description of Irish women’s medical stoicism, a trait that tends to carry on even through watered-down generations in the New World. They’re too damn busy to die until they do.

  17. 17.

    satby

    @Betty Cracker: Anne, I had to laugh when I read your accurate description of Irish women’s medical stoicism, a trait that tends to carry on even through watered-down generations in the New World. They’re too damn busy to die until they do.

    Absolutely true though.

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