Song #717: "Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor

Date: Apr 21, 1990
Weeks: 4

I've never thought very highly of this song. It's such a slow song, and it's so long, that it always felt like a 5-minute delay of fun whenever it came on the radio. I always got a kick out of some of the spoofier covers, like this Happy Sad Song version. I loved the Me First and the Gimme Gimmes cover.

And now that I've just heard the Sinead O'Connor version for the first time in a very long time, I'm struck by the fact that this version is actually quite good. Is it just my maturing tastes? Well, I don't think so. I think what's happening here is that this is a very emotional song.

The backing music is soft and subtle. The 80s synthesized keyboards find a place where they really work here. They create a sound more delicate than any piano, guitar, or even violin could sustain. When the backing drum picks up, it keeps the song feeling like it's moving forward but never ruins the delicacy of the rest of the song.

O'Connor's performance is astoundingly sincere. She shows off her vocal power with a bit of anger, but also has these lilting breaks where she expresses her wounded delicacy. Her performance is perfectly matched to what the lyrics require. You'll never see this on a list of songs that people listened to without realizing how sad the lyrics were, because O'Connor drives the sadness home.

As for the lyrics, I suppose it's well known that this song was originally written by Prince, which I guess is why the title is "2 U." Prince was doing that sort of thing long before Internet text messages came along. It seems kind of a shame that such a sincere song has such a goofy title, but thankfully you can pretend it's spelled "To You" when you listen to it. Anyway, the lyrics talk about all the normal things a person does, and how all they can think about is their break-up. Eating in a restaurant, dating anew, but all you want is to get back to your relationship. The lyrics expertly capture the emotional numbness of a fresh break-up.

And all that is the reason it's not a very good pop song. It's so emotionally draining that it's not necessarily the type of song you want to pop up on the radio when you're looking for some fun music to listen to while you drive. It's not the sort of song you want to listen to more than once a day, unless you yourself are suffering from a recent breakup and you want to wallow in your own sorrow a bit. And at 5 minutes, it can mean a long gap until a more fun song comes back on the radio. So all of that makes it kind of a drag when you're listening to pop music for the fun of it.

My verdict: Like it. It's an emotionally deep song that works fantastically in small doses, and I realize that now.