The most inspiring lyric of all time, according to Sinéad O’Connor
Few visionaries deserve to be remembered as thoroughly and respectfully as Sinéad O’Connor. In the erratic storybooks of music history, O’Connor’s fight for equality and justice were qualities that others often used to villainise her, despite her unrelenting desire to peel back the sugar-coated layers of the industry and reveal it for what it truly is.
O’Connor was a warrior not just because she stood up for good causes but because she didn’t stop in the face of scrutiny and adversity. Even in 1992, when she made headlines for tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II in protest against the Catholic Church, she didn’t back down, not even after other figures branded her behaviour absurd and insinuated violence as the only way to get her to stand down.
As is usually the case when a celebrity passes away, the extent to which she rallied for change—or at least the sheer respect for her efforts—was enhanced to the nth degree. Others emphasised O’Connor’s mental capacity in the days before her death, like Bob Geldof, who paid tribute to the late singer by describing her as “full of a terrible loneliness and a terrible despair.”
Still, the outpour of appreciation will constantly feed into the needless trope of not intensifying love and kindness when someone is still alive, as O’Connor was always more than worthy of the utmost gratitude for every battle she fought to benefit others. This immense emotionality fed into much of her work, making her one of the few to truly live up to ‘self-reflective’ and ‘authentic’ labels, even when she unintentionally stepped on others’ toes.
But these moments are far eclipsed by the positive, which shone through in her own influences and idols. In 2013, the singer participated in a celebrity flash campaign for HMV, which required her to select her favourite or most inspirational lyrics. The diversity of the different choices is interesting, especially as some opted for more lighthearted choices, but O’Connor’s seemed to epitomise everything she stood for.
For her choice, O’Connor opted for Curtis Mayfield’s 1970 classic ‘We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue’, specifically the lyric: “We people who are darker than blue, don’t let us hang around this town and let what others say come true.” This, of course, was Mayfield’s call for the end of systemic oppression, reflecting the struggle of Black people from all over and the inability of those prejudiced to seek resilience amid the disarray.
While others chose lyrics that reflected moods, like inciting joy, relief, or inner peace, O’Connor’s choice mirrored her eternal strive for a greater, more equal world and her consistent gravitation towards others who speak up with similar aims. O’Connor never rested on her laurels when it came to fighting the good fight, which meant she respected the same quality in others, especially those who used their platform to spotlight the darker corners of humanity.
