Nothing Compares (2022) - full transcript

- All right.
- I gotta tell you,

I'm real proud to introduce
this next artist.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Sin?ad O'Connor.

Thank you.

I didn't mean to be strong.

I did suffer through a lot
because everybody felt.

I regret that I was
so sad because of it.

I regret that I spent
so many years.

Ran down And the lady said it.

Got burned down, ooh.

Oh, oh, Jerusalem



Oh, oh, Jerusalem

There was no therapy
when I was growing up.

Everybody in music has a story
in terms of their upbringing.

There's something they need
to get off their chest,

They're all, they're all
looking at you, Sin?ad,

out there in television land.

They're saying "Mother of God",

what did she do with her head?

That's a bit
exaggerated actually.

That's in one year, of course.

Some scarlet ribbons

and I was like, "Oh, my God."

and makes me want
to be a musician,

and makes me
want to be an artist,



because of the song
"Gotta Serve Somebody."

And I was obsessed
with Bob Dylan from then on.

My mother had this
fantastic record collection

which she would spread out
on the dining room table.

Her musical tastes
ranged from John Lennon

right through to, like,
Porgy and Bess.

That was all that
was ever on telly,

was these just high class
musicals, you know.

My father was into cello,

My parents separated
when I was quite young,

and my mother
was a very violent woman,

not a healthy woman
mentally at all.

And she was physically

and I was able to soothe her
with my voice,

My father is the type
of man that didn't want.

It wasn't talked about,
even in the family.

The cause of my own abuse
was the church's effect

on this country,
which had produced my mother.

I spent my entire childhood
being beaten up

under which my mother grew up

and under which her mother
and her mother grew up.

I would compare Ireland
to an abused child.

I'd a terrible

I'd a terrible

Broken heart...

that they were using
to oppress my people.

Why were my grandparents
so miserable

that they couldn't have a kiss.

The church
influenced everything.

It affected
every level of society.

It was a mortal sin
to eat meat on a Friday.

You could go to hell for
eating a sausage on a Friday.

Everything was gathered around

the power of the church
over its people.

I had loved the Catholic church,

That was a contract
with the holy spirit I made,

I went into care when I was 14,

I was a bit messed up.

I was unmanageable, really,
so they didn't want me at home.

The place was called "An Grianan,"
which means "The Sunrise."

An Grianan was
a residential training centre.

The girls came
from mixed backgrounds.

Others had come from
insecure family settings

and they needed somewhere
where there was structure

and safety for a few years.

They got a guitar teacher in

who I still know and
I still talk to now and then.

The first night, I was there

because we were just stunned.

We needed to encourage her
in this wonderful talent.

Ooh, I'm freezing!

When we decided to get married,

One love

- It was stunning.
- It was absolutely stunning.

In the congregation
was her brother, Paul Byrne,

We were searching for a singer.

After chatting with Sin?ad
on the steps of the church,

So we went back up the next
night and she sang it to us,

We had to book a couple of
hours on a Wednesday afternoon.

Picked her up, did two hours
of vocals with her,

the nun, she could
be terribly kind,

She sent me to sleep in
the hospice part of the laundry.

When I went up, there was
no staff there with the ladies.

There was never
any nuns or nurses.

Were lying in their beds
calling out for nurses all night.

I didn't know what to do,
and obviously, I was terrified.

Take my hand.

These women,

Very often the cases were
they had been raped.

They had to pay the price

and were locked away
for their whole lives.

The whole of Ireland
talks about these ladies,

These people convinced my
father that they could help me

with whatever
behavioural issues I had.

The problems were compounded.

My father, I'm sure
the world would acknowledge,

Young woman
With a drink in her hand.

She liked to listen
To rock and roll.

'Cause it never gets old.

Sin?ad and I met when we were.

We were very close
for a number of years.

She really wanted
to be doing her music.

I put an ad
in Hot Press magazine

that I was a singer and I
wanted to find a band to join.

Doing auditions for these
various different bands.

I had a job at the Bad Ass Cafe
on Crown Alley,

and we used to rehearse
right across the road from it.

Nigel Grainge and Chris Hill
came over to Dublin.

He said, "Well,
why don't you come to London."

For five long years.

But I found out.

You treated me mean.

Oh, you treated me cruel.

I worked with Sin?ad
from her arrival in London.

Our job as a sort of group
of musicians from the outset.

She'd already found her voice,

that she wanted to wrap
around that amazing voice.

What's it called?

So we went into
a rehearsal studio in Putney

and rehearse for a long time.

Nigel Grange was the head
of Ensign at the time.

I'm just as guilty as you

The first time
I heard Sin?ad's voice,

And

I'm just as guilty as you

You often hear artists saying.

I think actually
you're channelling yourself.

There were kind of songs
to help her, to heal her.

In some respects,
I think the band that we were,

the band of musicians
who were around her,

We were safe.

Fachtna O'Ceallaigh had been
Boomtown Rats' manager

where he had
his friend Lepkey, and Leroy.

Bearing in mind I'm Irish

and I've come
from the theocracy,

roaring about the Pope
is the devil,

Love to everyone. You're back
in tune to The Rankin' Miss P,

on DBC, the Dread
Broadcasting Corporation,

103.8 every Friday.

We're electric, y'all.

She was really shy

just being kids, to be honest.

Ensign wanted Sin?ad
to be a musical commodity.

They wanted me
to grow the hair long

there used to be riots
in the streets over plays.

That's what art is for.

That led to her deciding
to shave off all her hair.

At the time, I was
her closest female friend.

You got to look
through the letter box,

I looked through the letterbox
and there she was.

The label were
trying to brand Sin?ad.

You just looked at
somebody and went,

It's a powerful statement
for a woman because she says,

Me and John
were friends for a year

before, you know, we ever
went out with each other.

We were both going out with
different people and everything.

And then within a month
I was pregnant.

The record companies in
those days had their own doctors

that they sent you to.

Ensign tried to dissuade her

and thankfully, she
obviously stood her ground,

That was the final straw for me.

There was a big fallout.

Fachtna O'Ceallaigh
was working very hard

telling me I owe it to them
to not have my baby.

I just knew that I didn't
want any man telling me

and I didn't take
it from my daddy,

Can I do two?

The whole of
"The Lion and the Cobra".

The second version was fresher,
younger, and spontaneous.

Hands, gimme love

Hands, gimme those

I want your

Gimme, yes

Gimme this

When we got
the first album cover,

Put on the album and got me
to scream along with the album.

Because it was too
aggressive-looking.

I didn't realize
that they'd have to do

a different one for America.

You know, that would
scare too many people.

This little girl with her
bald head and her big belly,

I think her image
screamed more than feminism,

beyond feminism at the time.

I think it was just
like non-binary,

Her fashion sense was like
35 years ahead of the time.

People found it
problematic just because

but actually the beauty
of her features,

the quality of her eyes,

Anytime I worked
with John Maybury,

The set makers, stylists,
the makeup people, you know,

and they like
genuinely adored me.

I felt so safe and looked after.

She recognized
in us kind of a sense of.

And she was free to be who
she wanted to be within that

because everyone else was free
to be who they wanted to be.

They were so inspiring
and still are to me,

You couldn't do that in Ireland.

You'd have the shit kicked
out of you, you know?

Let me live 'neath your spell

That you do so well

For you do

Something to me

That nobody else

Can do

Why I like performing
and why I like singing loud.

At the end of my day

Than I find that you're there
When I wake

Just like you Said it would be

Just like you Said it would be

Just like you Said it would be

Will you be my lover?

There are a lot
of songs that I've written.

And " Troy," I think
was the first one.

It's also the first song
I've wrote.

Dublin in a rainstorm

So once when I was
eight-and-a-half,

the whole thing of sitting
in the long grass in summer.

So I'm out in the garden
in the fucking dark

to this day, I don't mind
if it's day or night,

but dusk, I don't like.

And I'd be looking up
at the only window

and I'd be screaming,
begging her to let me in.

The house go dark.

Every other song I'm writing
is about somebody else.

"Troy" is the first song
I've written about me.

It's not a song,
it's a fucking testament.

And you should've
Left the light on

Then I wouldn't have tried
You'd never have known

And I wouldn't have
Pulled you tighter

I wouldn't have screamed

No, I can't let you go

No, I wouldn't have
Pulled you to me

You wouldn't have
Begged me to hold you

Oh, oh

"Troy" is not safe.

I don't need
to dig that up again.

There would've been
no point writing

and/or going around
the world screaming "Troy".

Make no difference What you say

You're still a liar

You're still a liar

You're still a liar

Sin?ad was pregnant
all through the making

of "The Lion and the Cobra"

And I think in many
ways, actually,

There's nothing more deep
and real than a baby.

And there's nothing more
fake and unimportant

and a single Mandinka
at 22 in the charts.

I remember watching

Sin?ad on Top of the Pops.

I'm dancing the seven veils

I don't know no shame

But I do know Mandinka

I do know Mandinka

I do know Mandinka

I do.

When "Mandinka" was released,

I said I do

I swear I do...

I just remember hearing
the voice and it's nothing.

Soon I can give You my heart...

Telling me he'd be home

Sailed the seas
For a hundred years

To me, it was like
the whole package.

He said, "Your Jackie's gone
We got lost in the rain".

And I ran to the beach.

Laughing at you...

there's an intensity, almost
a rage burning inside of you.

You're a small, demure,
quiet sort of person.

If you're a woman
in particular, and unless

you're very sort of timid
and you want to make.

When I leave Ireland,
it's virtually unheard of.

The Irish fucking constitution
still contains the wording.

So many people in this country,
women in particular,

or be open about their anger.

At that time in Ireland, women
weren't allowed to be angry.

And I think that might've
been hard for some of them

because, you know,
they had spent their whole life

saying no to themselves.

Tonight, the Grammy
awards are presenting

comes from Ireland
and with her very first album,

I'm dancing the seven veils

I remember talking to
her the next day and she said,

"Oh, my God, I went
on stage and Stevie Wonder."

So this was quite a leap,
you know.

I don't know no shame.

But I do know Man-din-ka.

You know,
you're there and you're looking.

As I sang Mandinka,
I had "Jake's baby girl"

on the back of my pants and
I had Public Enemy logo painted.

I protested the Grammy's in 1989

that she was fake.

She seriously
has issues with this.

In one way, I loved it.

In another way,
I was frightened by it.

This identity and I didn't
feel like it was really me.

I couldn't understand why
anyone liked my records.

Let me tell you
how stupid I am. Um...

We were sitting here
doing this interview.

So now I'm doing it.

Because I want to wear
red knickers, you know?

No.-

We got married at the
spiritualist centre in Sloane Square

I'd lost my dad and a sister.

In 1989, we filmed
Hush-a-Bye Baby in Derry.

She came over with John.

Who was just a toddler
at that stage.

Of course, I only have
eyes for Lecce Loves.

We were trying
to contribute to the debate

like so many thousands
of other women,

especially young women.

And about the obvious
trauma and awfulness.

And girls are made
to feel as if they're sluts

and the contraceptive laws
and all that sort of thing.

In the 80s and 90s and
obviously the decades before that,

It was appalling.

There was
a sense of being in this

you couldn't get condoms,
so this was a big issue.

It's quite a similar story
to your own, isn't it?

Last time you told me that there
were certain attitudes in Ireland.

Yeah, except I had
a baby when I was 20.

And I was in a society that
doesn't look down on pregnancy

who has no money
and no boyfriend and no support.

- I think I was in very...
- nice circumstances.

It seems years
Since you held the baby...

you don't really expect
anything to happen.

And I remember I was quite
taken aback by the whole thing,

amused at the idea of me
sitting and doing press conferences

and things like that
because it was just

and put my album out I was 20,

And now I'm 23 which
is still extremely young

and I'm still developing my
"personality", in inverted commas.

And I'm still discovering
things about myself.

When the album "I Do Not
Want What I Haven't Got",

and he said, "This is like
reading somebody's diaries.

I'm not putting it out."

Well, I am far more
proud of this album.

The way she grew in confidence.

She's a powerful, sexual being.

I think she was enjoying
playing with the gender roles,

and the toughness of denim
or the Dr. Martin boots.

There's always
still this beautiful woman,

She came to understand the
nature of what we were doing.

"The Nothing
Compares To You" video,

she came back with all
the rushes on a VHS

and we've stuck it into the
video machine, I was watching it.

The video was shot
both in studio and it was shot.

The extraordinary close-up
work that John did.

In between takes,

and light up a spliff, and be
bopping around the studio.

We weren't in a kind of
particularly sombre mood.

Looking into my monitor,
looking down that lens,

It was like, "Oh, okay",

If you don't

identify emotionally
with a song, you can't sing it.

I didn't know I was
gonna cry singing it.

I didn't cry in the studio,

it was just because
of the big eye on me

in the form of a camera.

Every time I sing the song,
I think of my mother.

I never stopped crying
for my mother for, Jesus,

So yeah, I was thinking of her
and I suppose my subconscious.

I think it's funny that
the world fell in love with me.

I went and did a lot of crying.

Good to see you. Will you
be number one on Monday?

I don't know, you know.

I don't want to
count my chickens.

It doesn't really
make a difference,

We shouldn't even be
thinking about this.

Shouldn't even be
thinking about it, okay.

The song went number one,

everywhere in the world
pretty much.

- And the winner is...
- Sin?ad O'Connor.

- Sin?ad O'Connor.
- Sin?ad O'Connor.

You know, peace.

It's Sin?ad O'Connor.

Sin?ad,
"Nothing Compares To You."

The level of when
"Nothing Compares To You"

became a hit was extraordinary.

It really was off the scale.

She was the biggest thing.

Or Amy Winehouse,

I didn't realize how huge
the single and the album were.

I really didn't.

And it said that
the record had been

something like the fourth
biggest record in America,

I nearly dropped dead.

She was suddenly a major act.

Hello!

The tour got bigger and bigger
instead of theatres,

It seems like years
Since you held the baby.

You said it was
Dangerous after Sunday

but this is going
to be really good.

I am stretched On your grave

My apple tree My brightness

For I smell of the earth

we did a place in New Jersey.

Sin?ad got to hear
about it, and said

"we won't play it."

And I thought, "Oh, this is
going to be everywhere tomorrow."

"Oh, God, have you
seen the papers?"

With American soldiers
on foreign soil

patriotism is running
at fever pitch.

The National Anthem
on our station

to support the troops
over in the Middle East,

The wrong time, the wrong place

within her own management,

"Sin?ad, shut up."

You don't like America,
then get the hell out.

She wants the money,
the fame and the glorification.

One extreme
patriot is Frank Sinatra,

who said he would
like to kick her ass.

To kick her ass", says
Sin?ad's father, John O'Connor.

As soon as someone highlighted

that it had to be played,
she would say,

"and why are you
telling me what to do?"

I'm looking at you. I'm thinking
14 in the side pocket.

And the suffering in
the world right now.

- Come on, swing baby, you're platinum.
- Forget the head.

Put a bag over it
and do your business.

You're supposed to have
long hair wear push-up bras

and lip gloss, you know,
and shut up and sing.

Maybe if I was a man, there
wouldn't be such a fuss about it.

It's just not expected
of women, I don't know.

But then nothing about me,
particularly, in people's minds,

that they have
because I'm a woman.

I don't think it was a situation
being wrong or right.

In the way that I felt
would be most true to myself.

I didn't mean to offend anybody.

And people like that

and what they may
or may not write about.

Who are very offensive as well,

So it leaves me
thinking that it's.

So, you know,
if it happened now,

I might've reacted
in a different way,

well, you didn't
not take the money.

I don't perform or make
records or do anything

in order to make money.

It's not the thing that I hold.

So we're going to wave it at her
and see what she does.

It's a very patriotic country.

And a lot of people
have been told

which is very irresponsible
on behalf of the media,

because that does
put a person in a situation

where literally
their life could be at risk.

When the press
started to attack her.

Margaret Thatcher on TV.

She's always championed justice.

And that's why I'm leaving.

Young mother Down at Smithfield

5:00 a.m., looking for food
For her kids...

when she wrote that song,
you know, it was around us,

you know, that kind of police
versus the Black community.

I write songs about things

that I feel strongly about.

It's not consciously
to write a political song.

And I think that that's
what every person's duty

when they think
something's wrong.

I imagine so.

I'm an Irish artist,

and there's a tradition
among Irish artists.

You know, whether
they're playwrights or poets.

An artists job
is sometimes to create

the difficult conversations
that need to be had.

What anyone thinks of me
when I do that.

The right to choose an abortion,

Abortion will be legalized
in this country very soon.

Let's have another referendum

when only women
of childbearing age vote.

The church deliberately
distract us from that,

by making it into
an either anti or for,

I never felt
that Sin?ad would cave

to any pressure. Ever.

It is the creative community
that are driven by greed.

That's why none of them
are saying anything.

It's why nobody has said
anything about the war.

When Sin?ad refused
to perform at the Grammys,

As if that were even possible.

But I felt that my career
could certainly be in jeopardy,

and Sin?ad's as well.

These were powerful people
in the industry.

I didn't think that the powers
that be were ready for her.

Where she's from,

but maybe in different genres,

and not so much
as a pop superstar.

Okay, so this is my
favourite place in the universe,

All the Rastas live there,

The object of my game coming
into the music business was.

And also, I suppose,
spiritually true to myself,

do you know what I mean?

The music business can be
a bit of a vampiric arena.

Gary.

- Yes?
- Say hello to Jake.

- Him Jake.
- That's Gary.

Maybe we'll get
to see you, Jake.

He's really mad.

As if you're in
a popularity contest,

That was the last one,
wasn't it?

Yes. I didn't want
to fall into that trap then

of you know, the follow up
album to the number one, single.

All of a sudden
you could go in there.

Let's listen back and make
sure we love this arrangement.

This was a great antidote,
really to what happened.

And it had the most amazing
team of arrangers, musicians,

We used to go out walking.

You had planned...

It was just astonishing
being in a room

and I couldn't see myself
as being anyway good.

Am I not your girl?

There were things
going on in my own life.

Basically fucking everything I
had been raised to believe was a lie.

Ave, ave, ave Maria

At the end of the line
of bishops, walked the Pope.

And the next was
a picture of the Pope,

which had been
on her bedroom wall.

Young people of Ireland,

I love you.

He didn't fucking love me.

You know, it was such a lie.

And I had a right
to fight that evil

because I loved the church.

And I've got fuck all to lose

that hasn't been done already.

I had booked her
on Saturday Night Live.

Which was,
"Am I Not Your Girl."

And this would really help it.

Until the philosophy.

It's a speech that
the Emperor Haile Selassie

had made at the United Nations,
and then Bob Marley

turned it into a song.

Than the colour of his eyes

I've got to say war...

And rumours of war.

Children, children.

We find it necessary.

We have confidence.

Fight the real enemy.

Nobody knows what to do.

She blows a candle out,
she goes off stage,

And I had gone into
the dressing room after her,

and I said, "You know,
I can't get you out of this."

- And she said, "You know what?
- I don't want you to."

What effect do you think.

I don't know.

Do you think what you have done.

- Well, I can't really say.
- I don't know.

Which you said don't seem
to be negative, right?

Sin?ad O'Connor
is no stranger to controversy.

The network says O'Connor's
tirade caught them off guard.

NBC logged a thousand
complaint calls...

certainly unauthorized by NBC,

and NBC was offended
by what she did.

The Catholic league
for religious and civil rights.

During the lunch hour,
they passed out leaflets,

Actually, we were just
going to send them to her.

Someone said,
don't send the tapes new.

Break them up,
'cause she'll sell them again.

Sin?ad O'Connor...,
you know and so on.

Or you just don't like that she
tore up a picture of the Pope.

But I'll tell you one thing,
she was very lucky

it wasn't my show.

Sin?ad O'Conner, who's big theme
is child abuse...

- All right?
- It all comes from child abuse.

I got a little bit worried,

It was a terrible time for us.

I had fan letters
with death threats to myself,

death threats to Sin?ad,

or to me, or any of our team.

And we were all applauding
and cheering and were like,

- "- Oh, no, Sin?ad O'Connor is an icon.
- She's ahead of her time."

I think I probably was joining in,
"Oh, God, what's she doing now?"

Fight the real enemy.

And tear up a photo
of Uncle Fester.

Do you enjoy shocking people?

Some other time,
I'll talk to you about it.

But obviously
you don't have any regrets.

I'm real proud...

and integrity.

Thank you.

I'm on stage and the
audience start making this

and half of them are cheering.

And it's the fucking
weirdest noise

- I've ever heard in my life.
- And it makes me want to puke.

My song that I was
supposed to sing.

"Are you going to stand by me"

Okay, turn this up.

Until the philosophy

And another inferior

Is finally

Everywhere is war

Than the colour of his eyes

Until, the basic Human rights

Are equally Guaranteed to all

Without regard to race

I say war

And until

Child abuse, yeah

Utterly destroyed

Everything kind of
coalesced into that moment.

Someone who grew up
in a household

of abuse and rejection,

by what probably felt like
the whole entire world,

People that would boo
Sin?ad O'Connor,

what were they doing
at a Bob Dylan concert?

"My name is Sin?ad O'Connor,

I am deserving,

I deserve to be
treated with respect,

I am and have always been
carrying a lot of grief,

from my lost childhood,

To get to the joy,

but I know that if you
could really listen,

there's a mirror into
which we are not looking.

There's no way
I'm going to shut my mouth,

just because they don't
want to hear about it.

We all have,
mental health issues,

and it's very important
for us to recognize that,

I was always being
crazied by the media,

made out to be crazy.

Sin?ad was put into isolation.

She, was still
making great music,

still making great records,

In those days, if the press
weren't talking about you,

if you weren't on the radio,
if you weren't on TV screens,

Which is what
happened with Sin?ad,

I have about a ten-year period

because it suddenly
became a free for all

for everybody around me,

They didn't like what
they saw on the mirror,

but when I was younger,
I was just hurt.

The
willingness to tell her story,

to share them, with Ireland
and with the world,

On behalf of this state,

deeply regret,
and apologize unreservedly,

Today, we live in
a very different country,

with a very different
consciousness,

and a very different awareness.

An Ireland where we have
more compassion,

In Ireland, it's being
called a quiet revolution,

to repeal a constitutional
ban on abortion.

Yeah,
I'm proud to be Irish today.

Wherever there's
that righteous anger

of a woman now,
who is making a difference,

who's changing things,

who's standing up
and being courageous.

We are seeing the rights that
people fought for being pulled back,

being diminished,

We need to keep showing
how effective it is,

Women's bodies are under attack!

There's a lot
of artists that came afterward,

She broke the ice
for a whole decade

or two decades
of artists after her.

A government inquiry last year

put their church's reputation

before the interests
of their flock,

But the scandals
go far beyond Ireland,

and touch the Vatican directly.

Last week, it was alleged
that Pope Benedict,

then known as
Cardinal Ratzinger,

had prevented the church trial,

The church in Ireland,
must acknowledge before the Lord

and others,
the serious sins committed

against defenceless children.

Sin?ad O'Connor as an artist,
forged her own path

in a world that just
was not ready for her.

Showed up, and just rocked
the shit out of the horse cart.

I don't want to see
her as a martyr,

because she's a
three-dimensional human being.

That that really,
really killed me and hurt me.

You know?

It didn't suit me
being a pop star.

It was the proudest thing
I've ever done as an artist.

They broke my heart and
they killed me, but I didn't die.

They tried to bury me,

Thank you for hearing me

Thank you for hearing me

Thank you for hearing me

Thank you for hearing me

Thank you for loving me

Thank you for loving me

Thank you for loving me

Thank you for loving me

Which means forsaking me

Thank you for seeing me

And for not leaving me

And for not leaving me

And for not leaving me

Thank you For staying with me

Thank you For staying with me

Thank you For staying with me

Thank you For staying with me

Thanks for not hurting me

You are gentle with me

You are gentle with me

You are gentle with me

Thanks for silence with me

Thanks for silence with me

Thank you for holding me

Thank you for holding me

Thank you for helping me

Thank you for helping me

Thank you

Thank you For breaking my heart

Now I've a strong

Strong heart

Thank you

For breaking my heart