Everyone remembers the face. That stark, pale, incredibly beautiful face filling the entire TV screen, framed by a shaved head that felt like a political statement all on its own. Then, there’s the tear. It wasn't a Hollywood trickle; it was a genuine leak of human misery.
But here’s the thing: sinead o connor nothing compares lyrics weren't even hers to begin with.
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Most people know the song was written by Prince. What they don’t know is how much he supposedly hated what she did with it. Or that the lyrics, which sound like the ultimate breakup anthem, might actually be about a housekeeper who quit because she was tired of doing laundry.
The Prince Connection: A Song He Just "Sneezed Out"
Prince was a literal factory of music in the mid-80s. His engineer, Susan Rogers, once described his writing process as "a sneeze"—something that just happened naturally and quickly. In 1984, during a session at his Flying Cloud Drive warehouse, he took a notebook into a bedroom and came out an hour later with "Nothing Compares 2 U."
He didn't even want it for himself.
He gave it to a side project called The Family. Their version? Honestly, it’s a bit of a funk-lite slog. It’s got 80s synths and a saxophone solo that feels like it belongs in a late-night car commercial. It sank without a trace. Prince didn't think the song fit his "image." He was the Purple One, the sex god, the provocateur. A vulnerable ballad about counting the hours since a lover left felt too domestic.
Who was the "U"?
There’s a lot of debate here. Some say it was about Susannah Melvoin, his girlfriend at the time. Others, including Rogers, swear it was about Sandy Scipioni. Sandy was Prince’s housekeeper. She ran his life. She made sure he had his "Five Alive" fruit juice and fresh flowers on the piano. When her father died, she left suddenly to be with her family, and Prince’s world basically fell apart.
He was wandering the house asking, "When is Sandy coming back?"
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Suddenly, those lines about "all the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard" start to make a lot more sense in a non-romantic way.
Why Sinead O'Connor's Version Changed Everything
By 1990, Sinéad O’Connor was a rising Irish firebrand. Her manager, Fachtna O'Ceallaigh, suggested she cover the song. She wasn't a Prince disciple; she just heard a melody that matched the massive hole in her own heart.
When you look at the sinead o connor nothing compares lyrics, she didn't change the words. She changed the atoms of the song.
Nellee Hooper, who later worked with Madonna and Björk, stripped the track down to its bare bones. He got rid of the funk. He brought in those mournful, synth-strings that sound like a cold morning in Dublin. But the real instrument was O'Connor’s voice. She goes from a whisper that barely disturbs the air to a primal scream.
The "Mama" Line
This is the moment that defines the song. When Sinéad sings, "All the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard / All died when you went away," she isn't thinking about a housekeeper.
She's thinking about her mother, Marie.
O'Connor had a famously horrific relationship with her mother, alleging years of physical and emotional abuse. Marie died in a car accident in 1985. Sinéad later admitted that those tears in the music video were 100% real. They weren't triggered by a boy. They were triggered by the realization that she was finally "talking" to her mother again through the song.
That Infamous Night with the "Devil"
You’d think Prince would be thrilled. The song was a global monster. It hit Number 1 in 18 countries. It made him a fortune in royalties.
But Prince liked control.
According to O'Connor's memoir Rememberings, Prince summoned her to his Hollywood mansion in 1990. It wasn't a celebration. He allegedly scolded her for swearing in interviews. She, being a defiant Irish woman, told him where he could shove his advice.
Things got weird. Really weird.
She claimed he suggested a pillow fight, but had stuffed his pillowcase with something hard to hurt her. She ended up fleeing the house at five in the morning, literally running away from him on the highway while he followed her in his car. She called him a "devil" and a "monster."
The man who wrote the most beautiful heartbreak song of the decade couldn't handle the woman who made it a masterpiece.
The Lyrics: A Breakdown of Why They Still Hurt
The reason we still search for sinead o connor nothing compares lyrics thirty-five years later isn't just nostalgia. It's the precision of the grief.
- The Clock-Watching: "It’s been seven hours and fifteen days." Anyone who has ever been truly dumped knows this feeling. You don't count weeks. You count hours. It’s a literal measurement of survival.
- The False Freedom: "Since you’ve been gone I can do whatever I want / I can see whomever I choose." This is the "fake it 'til you make it" phase of a breakup. It sounds defiant, but the way Sinéad sings it, you know she’s miserable.
- The Futility of Distraction: The lines about going to a "fancy restaurant" only to have the doctor tell her to "have some fun" are devastating. It highlights the physical sickness of grief. You can’t eat. You can’t "have fun" on command.
The Missing Version
Interestingly, the Prince estate is still very protective. In the 2022 documentary Nothing Compares, the estate refused to let the filmmakers use Sinéad’s version of the song. They claimed they wanted to "re-release" Prince's version.
It felt like a final, petty jab from beyond the grave.
What Most People Get Wrong
People think this is a love song. It’s not. It’s a song about absence.
It’s about the space where a person used to be. Whether it’s a lover, a mother, or a housekeeper, the "U" in the song is a ghost. Sinéad O'Connor didn't just sing the lyrics; she exorcised them.
She turned a "sneeze" of a Prince song into a sacred text of the 90s.
If you want to truly understand the impact, go back and watch the video one more time. Don't look at the scenery. Just look at her eyes during the second verse. You can see the exact moment she stops being a "pop star" and starts being a daughter grieving a mother she both loved and feared.
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Next Steps for Music Lovers:
If you want to hear how the song evolved, find the 1985 version by The Family on YouTube. Then, listen to Prince's original 1984 studio demo released posthumously in 2018. Comparing his raw, soul-infused take to Sinéad’s icy, orchestral version shows you exactly how much "theft" is required to create a classic. Finally, check out the live version she performed shortly before her death to see how the meaning of those lyrics aged along with her.