A bit over a week ago, the world lost an important, revolutionary musical voice; Sinéad O’Connor. It bothered me as I had only just started diving into her catalogue and becoming a fan just a couple months prior.
Of course I had heard her iconic version of Prince‘s “Nothing Compares 2 U”, as well as her haunting song “Drink Before the War” that went viral after a placement in Euphoria. But what led me to diving deeper into her catalogue was hearing hard rock band Chevelle‘s cover of “Black Boys on Mopeds”.
Yeah, not the expected route for discovering Sinéad.
Having never listened to Chevelle‘s debut album in full, I spent a Saturday morning streaming the deluxe version of it. When it come to the bonus tracks, I heard “Black Boys on Mopeds” and instantly knew it was not an original song by Chevelle. The lyrics just did not add up. I went to search for the originator of the track, and discovered it was Sinéad. I listened to her version, which was even more devastatingly heartfelt and scathing.
The track shows what a skilled and adept songwriter she was; she was able to seamlessly write a political indictment of the Thatcher-era racism in Britain, that also doubled as a moving ode to motherhood, specifically her own desire to protect her child from the horrors of the world she was bringing them up in. It’s a difficult balance to make, but she did it perfectly, and the power of the song remains.
Continue the remembrance of this brilliant artist by throwing back to this song today.
The Indy Review 