As two recently released books seek to uncover the truth behind the life of the late Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor, Stephanie Phillips delves into both texts to reveal why O’Connor was more than the stereotypes ascribed to her
By Stephanie Phillips
For years when I was younger, I was consistently overcome by this innate sense of unease that often occurred when the late Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor was brought up in conversation. My feelings weren’t really connected to anything O’Connor had personally done or even based on my opinion of her music, which I hadn’t heard much of at that point but I did like. No, instead O’Connor vicariously made me uncomfortable because of how the world reacted to women like her. They were stereotyped as difficult, uncompromising, complex women, whose unconventional lifestyles and unfiltered opinions made them constant targets. My teenage reactions to O’Connor weren’t because I agreed with how society viewed her, but rather because the judgement she and others like her received demonstrated how little society cared about women.
O’Connor was an iconoclast whose voice could switch between sounding akin to a lilting siren call and then transform into the primal wail of a woman scorned. In any case, her voice was always mesmerising. Her inarguable talent and enthralling personality granted her everything she needed to become famous, a fate sealed following her worldwide hit in the career defining 1990 single ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. Despite O’Connor’s musical gifts, for much of her career she was more well known for being too much. She was too controversial, too divisive, the person people roll their eyes at when they talk. Her most gossiped about ordeal occurred in 1992 during a performance on Saturday Night Live in which she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II to protest child abuse in the Catholic church. Her appearance was met with anger, celebrities like Joe Pesci threated to attack her, and her career in the US was practically destroyed.
Recently her life has been re-evaluated following her untimely passing in 2023. In scores of obituaries, her friends, contemporaries, and fans of her work have all tried to summarise who Sinéad O’Connor was. Now in death she has been commended for her rebellious spirit, her bravery in talking about child sex abuse, and her wickedly sharp sense of humour. Although her life was now given more context than merely the flurry of controversies she had previously been defined by, much of the writing about her felt like her memory had been flattened, removing all of the sharp edges and contradictions that were a huge part of who she was.
Two recent books have tried to recontextualise O’Connor beyond the black and white depictions of her that have dominated media so far. The Real Sinéad O’Connor by Ariane Sherine attempts to present a thoroughly researched version of O’Connor’s life, plodding through each event in chronological order. Although Sherine uses archival research and new interviews to construct her narrative, the book is too factually rigid to truly delve deeper into O’Connor’s mindset. As a result of this approach, The Real Sinéad O’Connor never picks up the pace to become more than a straight forward document of O’Connor’s whereabouts over the years.
Today I’ve compiled some outstanding and odd musical recommendations for your 2024 Saint Patrick’s Day celebration.
I begin with a group of tunes I call “The Parting Glass.” 2023 was a devastating year in terms of losing so many wonderful Irish performers, most notably Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan. The second group of clips, “The Green New Wave,” features several songs by some heralded up-and-comers, including Dubliners Lisa O’Neil and the group Lankum, both of whom I was fortunate to see in concert last year. Finally, no Saint Patrick’s Day playlist would be complete without a nod to Bob Dylan, whom we affectionately refer to in our subgroup of songs, “Clancy MacBob.”
Sláinte!
THE PARTING GLASS
We lost far too many beloved performers of Irish Music in recent years. In 2023, the deaths of Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan hit their fans particularly hard.
Séamus Begley “Bruach Na Carraige Báine”
If I had to choose my favorite voice in all of traditional Irish music, it would belong to West Kerry farmer Seamus Begley, who passed away January 9, 2023. In this Sean-nós classic, Begley duets with another wonderful Irish singer, Mary Black.
In an interview with Irish radio RTÉ, American actor John C Reilly recalled spending time with Séamus in Dingle and playing music together in Los Angeles for an Irish Christmas show: “We struck up a great friendship. We had a direct connection as men and as musicians. He was just a legend of a man, it’s such a big loss … There’s something really moving about a gentle giant like that, when you hear the sweetness of a man like that who’s so strong. I think the last time I was on Seamus’ farm with him, he was literally hand lifting boulders.” Seek out Begley’s finest work, his 1996 album with guitarist Stephen Cooney titled Meitheal. Below I’ve included links to Begley’s passing and his concerts. • Ireland’s RTE on the death of Seamus Begley | Begley & Cooney in concert | Hairy and Squarey
Terry Hall and Sinead O’Connor “All Kinds of Everything”
It was so unexpected and tragic to lose both Terry Hall (December 18, 2022) and Sinead O’Connor (July 26, 2023) just a little over a year apart. This duet between the former leader of the Ska band “The Specials” and Ireland’s beloved warrior-daughter Sinead, was a remake of the 1979 pop hit “All Kinds of Everything”. Though it never hit the U.S charts, the original song was a massive hit in Europe for one Dana Rosemary Scallon, known at the time by her mononym stage name “Dana.” Some twenty years after recording the song, Scallon would run for President in Ireland. Her original version of “All Kinds of Everything” was featured in the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. “Dana” aside, I really love Terry and Sinead’s remake. “There are lines here that if it said ‘copyright Leonard Cohen’ it would be called a work of genius,” Terry Hall said of the songs childlike lyric. In the video, Sinéad flashes a big, beautiful smile while Hall sings his first verse. (Sigh.) Rest in Peace.
Sinead O’Connor and Shane MacGowan “Haunted”
Originally written and recorded by The Pogues for 1986’s Sid & Nancy soundtrack, “Haunted” was rerecorded by Shane MacGowan as a duet with Sinéad. Haunted indeed – two brilliant Irish artists done too soon.
John Prine and Dolores Keane “It’s a Cheating Situation”
John Prine died of Covid on April 7, 2020 and it still hard to believe he’s gone. This track is from Prine’s masterpiece In Spite of Ourselves (1999) and features the amazing voice of Galway’s Dolores Keane. “It’s a Cheating Situation” was written by legendary Nashville songwriter Curly Putnam, who also wrote “He Stopped Loving Her Today” for George Jones. Prine had a home, and spent part of the year, living in Ireland with his beloved “Irish bride” Fiona. A favorite haunt of Prine’s was Green’s Bar in Kinvara, Galway. There he played with Irish musicians like Paul Brady, Declan O’Rourke and Sharon Shannon.
“He loved the simplicity of life among the artists, musicians, writers and poets in the small communities gathering in the pub and singing songs,” said Fiona Prine. “There is so much about it that he appreciated, you just don’t get that so much anymore in America. Ireland is a unique place; there’s nowhere else like it. I’d take him back to the village I’m from in Donegal, it reminded him of his early life in Kentucky.”
Rest in Peace, John Prine.
The Cranberries “Dreams”
It’s been over two decades since the Cranberries’ released their brilliant first album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, and five years since Dolores O’Riordan’s sudden death in 2019, yet listening to “Dreams” today is just as as exhilarating today as it was 25 years ago. I believe “Dreams” is as good as anything U2 ever recorded. The song experienced a rebirth when it began and ended the first season of Netfilx’ wonderful series Derry Girls. “I know I felt like this before. But now I’m feeling it even more.” RIP Dolores.
The Pogues “Dirty Old Town”
Ewan MacColl wrote his classic song “Dirty Old Town” in 1949 for a scene-change during one of his Theatre Workshop plays on the West end of London . Music critic John Leland later called the song, “a sparse melancholy reminiscence of love in an industrial sewer.”
Ewan MacColl’s daughter Kristy MacColl was best known for her duet with Shane MacGowan on the “Fairytale of New York” which became a perennial Christmas favorite. Kirsty died tragically in a boating accident in 2000.
This clip of “Dirty Ol Town” below is from The Pogues 1985 groundbreaking album Rum, Sodomy & the Lash.
Rest in Peace Ewan (1989), Kristy (December 18, 2000), and Shane MacGowan (November 30, 2023). Thanks for the music.
Seán Tyrell “Mattie”
I first heard Sean Tyrrell perform at the historic Guinness Fleadh at the Suffolk Downs race track in the summer of 1999. The headliners were Elvis Costello, Richard Thompson and the Chieftains, yet I left the festival most impressed by this singer/songwriter from Galway. The late Boston radio host of A Celtic Sojourn Brian O’Donovan, called Tyrrell a “singular presence in Irish music. Impossible to categorize.”
Seán Tyrrell died in October of 2021. On his passing, Ireland’s then-president Michael D. Higgins said “He was one of Ireland’s finest, most talented, original and creative troubadours.”
“Whenever I performed with him I always had a sense of his incorruptible integrity,” said Irish-American musician Martin Hayes. “He could never sell out and he never did.”
Actress Brenda Fricker summed up Seán Tyrrell when she said: “If you’re lucky, you come across a voice like Seán’s once in a lifetime. When he sings I feel alive.”
Rest in Peace Sean, and also Boston’s beloved radio host Brian O’Donovan (October 6, 2023).
Glen Hansard & Lisa O’Neil “Fairytale of New York”
The Pogues frontman and Irish punk rock icon, who died Nov. 30 at 65, was celebrated at Saint Mary of the Rosary Church in his hometown of Negagh in the Irish county of Tipperary.
Former members of the Pogues played traditional tune “The Parting Glass” as one of the final songs of the service, the BBC reported.
MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, gave a eulogy for her late husband during the funeral, saying, “Toward the end he just told everybody how much he loved them.”
Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill performed “Fairytale of New York” as a reflection after Holy Communion.
THE GREEN NEW WAVE
“As Ireland reimagines itself, musicians including the singer Lisa O’Neill and the band Lankum are reimagining the island’s music with an ever-growing sense of pride”
– New York Times “What’s Driving a Fresh Wave of Irish Music? Tradition” 3/24/2023
Lisa O’Neil “Rock The Machine”
With a voice that sounds like it was discovered in a box of scratchy 78’s from a basement in Clare, Lisa O’Neil gave a brilliant concert a year ago at Newport, Rhode Island’s historic Colony House. Her vocals combine the dronish quality of Irish gypsy legend Margaret Barry, with a sprinkling of the otherwordly inflections of a Kate Bush. Her influences include Scot poet Ivor Cutler, early 1900’s union organizer Mary ‘Mother’ Jones and 13th-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart.
Lankum “Hares on the Mountain”
A recent review in The Guardian described attending a Lankum show as more like an exorcism than a gig: “To be clear, no audience members are physically harmed tonight by Lankum’s mantric take on traditional Irish music – although the Dublin foursome’s often confrontational acoustics are part of their considerable appeal. It’s the songs that tell of murders (multiple) and suicides (at least two), of grief and dread. There are mutinies at sea (the traditional The New York Trader). On land, travails are rife, nowhere more so than on Rocky Road to Dublin. Lives blighted by addiction regularly stud the band’s set list, which mixes originals, covers and avant-garde rearrangements of folk songs.”
Lankum’s Radie Peat and Darragh Lynch put together this version of the traditional song “Hares on the Mountain” for This Ain’t No Disco, an Irish Music documentary series created by Dublin musician/filmmaker Myles O’Reilly.
Ye Vagabonds “Willy O Winsbury”
Gorgeous harmonies from Carlow-based brothers Diarmuid and Brían MacGloinn, who go by the name of “Ye Vagabonds.” Willie O Winsbury is a traditional Scottish ballad that dates from at least 1775, and is known under several other names, including “Farewell, Farewell” as recorded in 1969 by Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny on vocals.
Rufous Nightjar “I Was the Fool”
Branwen Kavanagh, Anna-Mieke Bishop and Zoé Basha met at a time described as “a golden wave of underground traditional and folk music in Dublin.” In 2018 the three Irsih gals travelled across Eastern Europe learning folk songs, and developed a beautiful harmonious dynamic and the officially formed Rufous Nightjar in 2020. I hear some Swingle Singers, some Roche sisters, and maybe even a wee bit of the 1950s harmony trio The Fleetwoods.
Love it!
Muireann Bradley “Delia”
Did this 18 yr-old country-blues prodigy learn this song from Rev Gary Davis or David Bromberg? Well, it sure as Hell wasn’t Bing Crosby. Muireann Bradley is a young blues, ragtime, roots and folk guitarist and singer based in Ballybofey in County Donegal Ireland. She’s listened to more Mississippi John Hurt than Tayor Swift. Keep an eye and ear on Muireann.
Brigid Mae Power “I’m Grateful”
Her bio informs that Brigid Mae Power spent her early years in London and moved to Galway at 12 years old, where she learned to play the button accordion before starting to sing and play piano as a teen. She spent some time living and gigging in New York in the late 2000s (recording an EP Live at Coughlan’s from her tour with the brilliant Chicagoan Ryley Walker.) The Guardian descibes Power as pocessing a “haunting voice that raises the everyday to a near-mystical realm.” Her original songs are often political with “Me Too” perspectives, yet she’ll throw in an insanely perfect cover of Slim Whitman’s “Rose Marie”. (hear that beauty here)
Clancy MacBob, aka Zimmy MacDylan
In his 2004 autobiography “Chronicles”, Bob Dylan wrote that he originally just wanted to write songs like the Clancy Brothers. “I got to be friends with Liam (Clancy) and began going after-hours to the White Horse Tavern on Hudson Street, which was mainly an Irish bar frequented mostly by guys from the old country. All through the night, they would sing drinking songs, country ballads, and rousing rebel songs that would lift the roof.” Filmmaker Todd Haynes explored the many personas of Bob Dylan in his 2007 film “I’m Not There.” Haynes could have included an Aran sweater-wearing character named Clancy MacBob.
“Farewell” (aka “The Leaving of Liverpool”)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem had an Irish Top 10 hit with “The Leaving of Liverpool” in 1964. Around the same time, Dylan renamed it, changed a few of the lyrics, and began performing it around Greenwich Village. The song has since been adapted by several artists, including The Pogues, and was featured on the Inside Llewyn Davis film soundtrack.
Sinéad Lohan “To Ramona”
One of the great Irish musical mysteries is the disappearance of fabulously talented singer-songwriter Sinéad Lohan. Sinéad made two beautiful albums of original songs (1995’s Who Do You Think I Am and 1998’s No Mermaid) and then retired to the south coast of Ireland to raise a family – never to be heard from again. Lohan’s original song “Out of the Woods” appeared on Nickel Creek’s debut LP. In this clip, Sinéad is accompanied here by Donal Lunny’s Coolfin band. The song “To Ramona” was originally recorded on Dylan’s fourth studio album, “Another Side of Bob Dylan” (1964). Come back to us, Sinéad …unless, of course, you’d rather not.
Luka Bloom “Make You Feel My Love”
Luka Bloom’s version of Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” is from the Irish singer/songwriter’s excellent 2000 collection of cover songs Keeper of the Flame. Adele had a massive hit with “Make You Feel My Love” in 2008, and the song’s also been covered by Neil Diamond, Boy George, Bryan Ferry, and Pink as well. Seek out Luka Bloom’s first two albums of original material Riverside (1990) and Acoustic Bicycle (1992) – both terrific.
Bob Dylan “Belle Isle”
Belle Isle is in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, on the edge of Lough Erne. That’s a long way from Hibbing, Minnesota and a lot closer to Van Morrison’s childhood home than Woody Guthrie’s. Love this Irish-inflected original from Dylan’s Self Portrait the tenth studio album released in 1970.
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”
Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, those onscreen/offscreen lovers from the Irish indie film Once, perform this rollicking version of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” from the 2007 bio/drama I’m Not There, directed by Todd Haynes. Haynes film had six different actors depicting different facets of Dylan’s public personas, including Cate Blanchett in curly wig and shades. (Blanchett was nominated for an Academy Award for what was called “the film’s most exquisitely spot-on Bob.”) Said director Haynes at the time, “The minute you try to grab hold of Dylan, he’s no longer where he was. He’s like a flame: If you try to hold him in your hand you’ll surely get burned.”
Lisa Hannigan – “Just like Tom Thumb’s blues”
I’ve always loved Dylan’s song “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” and Dublin’s Lisa Hannigan has long been one of my favorite Irish singers. But I’m especially fond of this video because it was filmed in Dick Mac’s Bar in Dingle where 20 years ago, my wife photographed me and my nine-year-old daughter Caleigh in a snug sharing a pint of Guinness. We faked it, of course. Reasonably sure of that. Check out Lisa Hannigan recordings Sea Sew (2009) and Passenger (2012). Love her.
The Voice Squad “The Parting Glass” (from Waking Ned Devine, d. Kirk Jones, 1999)
The Hothouse Flowers frontman Liam Ó Maonlaí performed this classic in 1999’s Waking Ned Devine but I best love the recording sung a capella by The Voice Squad. Said music critic Rick Anderson, “By taking the traditional Irish repertoire and harmonizing it in a generally British style, the three members of the Voice Squad have created something new and absolutely wonderful. “
The Corrs “Time Enough for Tears” (from In America, d. Jim Sheridan, 2002)
This song plays over the final credits in Jim Sheridan’s heartbreaking autobiographical film In America (2002). Written by U2’s Bono with occasional collaborator Gavin Friday. I’ve long believed the fashion mag good-looks of Dublin’s Corrs sisters’ worked against them as artists. They’re amazing musicians and vocalists. The Corrs are Andrea (lead vocals, tin whistle, mandolin, ukulele), Sharon (violin, keyboards, vocals), Caroline (drums, percussion, piano, bodhrán, vocals) and Jim … well who gives a feck about Jim. This song was said to have been recorded in just one take. It’s Andrea who whispers at the song’s conclusion “I know…it’s ok.” ‘Tis indeed.
Marcus Mumford “Farewell” (“The Leaving of Liverpool”) From Inside Llewyn Davis ( d. Joel & Ethan Coen, 2013)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem had a top 10 hit with “The Leaving of Liverpool” in Ireland in 1964. Liam Clancy was chumming with then-unknown Bob Dylan is his early days in Greenwich Village. Dylan swiped the song from Liam, renamed it, and recorded it as “Farewell”. The song has also been swiped, renamed, and/or adapted by several other artists, most notably The Dubliners and The Pogues. This track is from the outstanding concert film made with the Llewyn Davis creative team, Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of Inside Llewyn Davis and features the singing of Marcus Mumford with support from the Punch Brothers. Listen on Spotify:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbNtUygmsSU
The Hothouse Flowers “Sweet Marie I’m Alive” (from Joe Picket, 2021)
I purchased my first Hothouse Flowers LP in a Dublin record shop in the late1980s and I’ve been a fan ever since. Liam Ó Maonlaí is the most soulful Irish singer since Van Morrison. The Flowers have recorded several great songs (“Forgiven”, “Emotional Time”, “Don’t Go”) but my favorite is the beautiful break-up song, “Sweet Marie.” The song played during the season one finale of Paramount’s critically acclaimed series Joe Picket.
The unusual title for this Gaelic song derives from its use in the 1982 TV series “Harry’s Game,” a Brit TV series about a special agent who infiltrates the IRA to find an assassin. In 1992, the song was again used in the Harrison Ford movie Patriot Games making the title all the more confusing.
Clanned is the name of the band comprised of Donegal’s Brennan family. The song, featuring Moya’s haunting multi-tracked Gaelic vocals, was not only used in TV and films, but famously used in a Volkswagen commercial. Jason Flom, the RCA exec who negotiated the deal with Volkswagen, recalled in a Forbes interview: “It was lucky the lyrics were in Gaelic because it was actually a funeral dirge, and I don’t think if I was Volkswagen, I would be playing a funeral dirge in my ad for cars. But, we never told them.” The Brennan family have a younger sister not in the band but who sings by the name of Enya who is said to have more money than God or even Volkswagon. Listen on Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/track/7CTSDg60OC15XUJusBLPuo?si=d7663f04830a4b50
Petula Clark “How Are Things in Glocca Mora?” (Finian’s Rainbow, d. Francis Ford Coppolla, 1968)
Lyrics by the legendary songsmith Yip Harburg. Pet Clark once revealed in an interview that there was much smoking of weed during the filming of “Finians Rainbow” and that includes Fred Astaire. How are things in Glocca Morra?. Apparently, things are pretty baked at 4:20 pm.
Kate Bush “Mná na hÉireann” (Women of Ireland) from Barry Lyndon (d. Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
Lyrics written by Ulster poet Peadar Ó Doirnín (1700–1769), with the musical “air” composed by Seán Ó Riada (1931–1971) ”Women of Ireland” was made famous as arranged and played by Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains in Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon. This version sung by Kate Bush (mom was Irish), and was arranged by trad-Irish uberman Donal Lunny. Beautiful.
Lovely song from 2007’s the low-budget Indie gem Once. Written by Irish singer/songwriter Glen Hansard (who also co-stars in the film alongside Czech-Icelandic singer-songwriter Maketa Irglova). “Falling Slowly” won the Oscar for Best Song beating out three nominated songs from Disney Studios, no less!The 2012 Broadway stage adaption of Once won eight Tony awards and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Listen on Spotify at: https://open.spotify.com/track/6EIVLz5xM1xE29r0OmIkWt?si=fc034f7cd27c437a
Dave Berry “The Crying Game” (d. Neil Jordan,1991)
This song isn’t Irish, nor was the singer Dave Berry who had a chart hit in England with the original in 1964. The 1991 film, also titled The Crying Game was written and directed by Irishman Neil Jordan. His film explores themes of race, sex, nationality, and sexuality against the backdrop of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Jaysus, what’s more Irish than that? Boy George performs “The Crying Game” in the film. I really love the original by Dave Berry whose real name was not “Crying Boy Berry” but actually “David Holgate Grundy.”
Sinead O’Connor “The Butcher Boy”(d. Neil Jordan,1997)
The late Sinead O’Connor (who portrayed an apparition of the Virgin Mary in the film) sings a lovely version of the titular traditional folk song. Neil Jordan’s film is a disturbing retelling of the Patrick McCabe brilliant novel. Lovers of the song must also hear the legendary Tommy Makem perform it. The ballad’s tune was also regrettably used in the 1966 hit “The Ballad of the Green Berets” by Barry Sadler. An even deeper dive is in the film Caddyshack, when Bill Murray mumbles the “Green Berets” song under his breath while he is connecting the wires to the plunger as he prepares for his final battle with his gopher nemesis.
Seamus Egan ”Weep Not For the Memories / I Will Remember You” (from The Brothers McMullen, 1995)
This song became a pretty big pop hit for Sarah McLaughlin who added the lyrics. but it was originally written and recorded as an instrumental by Seamus Egan, leader of the Irish-American supergroup “Solas.” Edward Burns wrote the screenplay and starred in the film.
