Song of the Day #2,842: ‘Mandinka (Live)’ – Sinead O’Connor

sinead_mandinkaAs promised a week ago, I’m dedicating this week to the unique and extraordinary talent of Sinead O’Connor, specifically through her live performances.

Today’s clip is from O’Connor’s network television debut, on Late Night with David Letterman. Letterman had so many wonderful musical guests on his show in those early days, and right through the Late Show years.

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Song of the Day #2,834: ‘Just Call Me Joe’ – Sinead O’Connor

lion_cobra_sineadThe Random iTunes Fairy is inadvertently jumping the gun here, unaware that I’m planning a theme week on Sinead O’Connor. This track wasn’t in the lineup, though, so no harm, no foul.

‘Just Call Me Joe’ is the final track of O’Connor’s impressive 1987 debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. For those (like me) whose first exposure to the bald songstress was through the quiet elegance of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U,’ this album was eye-opening.

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Song of the Day #2,390: ‘Fire On Babylon’ – Sinead O’Connor

sinead_universal_motherIt’s Throwback Weekend with a focus on uncompromising female artists, as the Random iTunes Fairy follows Madonna with Sinead O’Connor.

I know she became a nut known more for her Twitter battles than her music, but once upon a time Sinead O’Connor was one of the most exciting, sexy and artistically unique singer-songwriters around.

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Song of the Day #2,237: ‘Whomsoever Dwells (Dublin Session)’ – Sinéad O’Connor

sinead_oconnor_theologySinéad O’Connor got so weird and political that I stopped paying attention to her music after awhile. 2000’s excellent Faith and Courage is the last record of hers that I’ve paid any attention.

‘Whomsoever Dwells’ is the second track from her 2007 double album Theology to show up as a Random Weekend Song of the Day. And it’s as delicately lovely as the first, ‘Rivers of Babylon.’

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Song of the Day #1,863: ‘Rivers of Babylon’ – Sinéad O’Connor

sinead_oconnor_theologySinéad O’Connor peaked in 1990 with the smash album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, her beautiful crying face in the ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ video becoming an iconic image of the early 90s indie scene.

She followed that album two years later with a disc of covers titled Am I Not Your Girl? and released a decent but unspectacular album of original material — Universal Mother — in 1994.

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