It is a weird, haunting reality that one of the most famous "breakup" songs in the history of human ears wasn't actually written about a romantic partner. Most people don't know that. When you dive into the Nothing Compares 2 U Prince lyrics, you aren't looking at a diary entry about a lost supermodel or a spurned lover. You’re looking at a song written about a housekeeper.
Sandy Scipioni. That was her name. She looked after Prince’s home, "Galpin Blvd," in the mid-80s. When she had to leave suddenly due to a family emergency, the man who had everything—the fame, the purple capes, the creative genius—realized he didn’t know how to run his own life without her. He was lonely. He was frustrated. So, he sat down and wrote a masterpiece in about an hour.
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Music is funny like that. It starts as a note about a messy kitchen or a missed friend and ends up becoming the universal anthem for anyone who has ever stared at a ceiling at 3:00 AM wondering where it all went wrong.
The Story Behind the Lyrics
Prince didn’t even release his own version first. He gave it away. He handed it to The Family, a band he’d formed as a side project in 1985. Their version is... fine. It’s jazzier. It’s got a saxophone solo that feels very "80s lounge." But it didn't click with the public. It sat there, a hidden gem in the vault, until a bald Irish woman with a voice like a shattered glass bottle decided to cover it five years later.
Sinead O'Connor made those lyrics terrifying. While Prince’s original 1984 recording (which was finally released from the estate vault in 2018) has a soulful, almost gospel-like steady beat, Sinead stripped the skin off it.
Why the "Nothing Compares 2 U Prince lyrics" resonate
Think about the opening: "It’s been seven hours and fifteen days."
That is such a specific, obsessive way to track time. It’s not "two weeks." It’s a literal count of the minutes. This is the hallmark of Prince’s writing style—taking a massive, abstract emotion like "grief" and anchoring it to a clock.
He writes about going to dinner at a "fancy restaurant" and how "nothing seems to cure these blue-eyed blues." It’s vulnerable. It’s almost pathetic in its honesty. Prince was often seen as this untouchable, ethereal figure, but these lyrics ground him. He's just a guy who can't enjoy a meal because the person who made his house feel like a home is gone.
The Mystery of the "Flowers in the Backyard"
One of the most debated lines in the Nothing Compares 2 U Prince lyrics involves the mother.
"All the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard / All died and withered away"
Some fans argue this proves the song is about Prince's mother, Mattie Della Baker. Others think it’s a metaphor for the death of a relationship’s potential. Given Prince's complex relationship with his parents—his father’s strictness and his mother’s free spirit—he often used "mama" as a term of endearment or a literal reference to maternal loss.
In the context of Sandy, the housekeeper, it likely referred to the literal upkeep of the grounds. When the person who tends the garden leaves, the garden dies. It’s simple. It’s brutal.
Comparing the Versions: Prince vs. Sinead
If you listen to the 1984 Prince version (recorded at Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse), there’s a grit to it. Prince’s vocals are raw. He screams a bit. He uses his signature falsetto to punctuate the pain.
- Prince's Version: Feels like a man pacing a room. It’s restless. There’s a backing track that feels full and warm.
- Sinead's Version: Feels like a woman standing still in a vacuum. It’s cold. It’s desolate.
Honestly, the lyrics change meaning depending on who is singing them. When Prince sings "I can do whatever I want / I can see whomever I choose," it sounds like a man trying to convince himself he's still a playboy. When Sinead sings it, it sounds like a threat to her own sanity.
The Technical Brilliance of the Composition
Prince was a master of the "middle eight" or the bridge. In this song, the bridge shifts the energy from sadness to a sort of desperate bargaining.
The chord progression is surprisingly simple, mostly sticking to a classic structure in the key of F Major. But it’s the space between the words that matters. Prince knew when to shut up. He knew that the Nothing Compares 2 U Prince lyrics needed room to breathe.
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He didn't overcomplicate the poetry. "I guess she's just a match for you." It's a plain sentence. No flowery metaphors about stars or oceans. Just the realization that the person you want has found someone else who fits them better. That hurts way more than a metaphor.
The Legacy of the 1984 Recording
For decades, the "original" Prince version was a myth. People talked about it in hushed tones on fan forums. When the Estate finally put it out in 2018, accompanied by rehearsal footage of Prince and The Revolution dancing in a warehouse, it changed the narrative.
We realized that Prince knew he had a hit. He just didn't think it fit the "Prince" brand at the time. He was in his Purple Rain era. He was a rock god. A stripped-back, vulnerable ballad about a housekeeper didn't fit the image of the man riding a motorcycle through a lake.
How to Truly Understand the Song
To get the most out of these lyrics, you have to look at them through the lens of loss of routine.
Most breakup songs are about the "Big Moments." The fights. The cheating. The screaming.
Prince wrote about the small stuff. He wrote about the fact that he can "eat his dinner in a fancy restaurant" but he still feels empty. He wrote about the doctor telling him to "have some fun," but the doctor is a "fool."
That is the most relatable part of the song. When you are grieving, the rest of the world telling you to "just go out" or "get over it" feels like an insult. Prince captured that indignation perfectly.
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What Most People Get Wrong
People think this is a "sad" song. It's not. It's an honest song.
There is a difference. Sadness is just a feeling; honesty is a confrontation. The lyrics confront the reality that we are often dependent on people we take for granted. Whether it's a partner or, in Prince's case, a housekeeper who kept his world spinning, the realization of their value usually comes too late.
Interestingly, Chris Cornell later covered the song, bringing a masculine, gravelly weight to it that bridged the gap between Sinead’s fragility and Prince’s funk-soul roots. It proved that the lyrics are indestructible. You can't break them. You can only inhabit them.
Actionable Insights for Music Lovers
If you want to deeply appreciate the craft behind the Nothing Compares 2 U Prince lyrics, follow these steps:
- Listen to the 1984 Original first. Focus on the drums. Prince played almost every instrument on the track. Notice the "dry" sound of the recording.
- Compare it to the 1990 Sinead version. Watch the music video. The single tear that rolls down her cheek wasn't planned. It happened because she was thinking about her own mother who had passed away.
- Read the lyrics without music. Treat them like a poem. Notice the lack of complex rhymes. Prince uses simple words because simple words are the hardest to hide behind.
- Check out the live versions. Prince started performing the song live in the 90s and 2000s, often as a duet. He reclaimed the song, and those versions are usually much more upbeat, showing his growth and healing from the initial pain that inspired the track.
The song remains a masterclass in songwriting because it refuses to be "clever." It only wants to be true. Whether you’re listening to the Prince version or the Sinead version, the result is the same: you’re forced to feel the weight of every second of those seven hours and fifteen days.
Experience the 1984 rehearsal footage on the official Prince YouTube channel to see the physical energy he poured into a song he originally intended to never release himself. It’s a rare look at a genius at the height of his powers, hurting just like the rest of us.