Rememberings

by Sinéad O'Connor

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

One thing is certain: You're going to know how Sinead O'Connor feels about a subject after reading her memoir. She pulls no punches when she speaks about her feelings about the Catholic Church, the misogynistic recording industry, her mother and various other people who she doesn't care for. The title picks up on the fact that O'Connor doesn't remember a lot of what happened in the 1980s and 1990s, so devastated was she after she was pilloried for ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II in her infamous Saturday Night Live appearance in 1992. Life sinks from there, but she's ready to make some more noise today.

From the acclaimed, controversial singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor comes a revelatory memoir of her fraught childhood, musical triumphs, fearless activism, and of the enduring power of song.
 
Blessed with a singular voice and a fiery temperament, Sinéad O’Connor rose to massive fame in the late 1980s and 1990s with a string of gold records. By the time she was twenty, she was world famous—living a rock star life out loud. From her trademark shaved head to her 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live when she tore up Pope John Paul II’s photograph, Sinéad has fascinated and outraged millions. 

In Rememberings, O’Connor recounts her painful tale of growing up in Dublin in a dysfunctional, abusive household. Inspired by a brother’s Bob Dylan records, she escaped into music. She relates her early forays with local Irish bands; we see Sinéad completing her first album while eight months pregnant, hanging with Rastas in the East Village, and soaring to unimaginable popularity with her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2U.”
 
Intimate, replete with candid anecdotes and told in a singular form true to her unconventional career, Sinéad’s memoir is a remarkable chronicle of an enduring and influential artist.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358423881
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	245,908
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

SINÉAD O’CONNOR is an Irish singer-songwriter and recording artist. She rose to international fame in 1990 with her arrangement of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and her critically acclaimed albums have won or been nominated for five Grammys. She lives in Dublin.

Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Part 1

Prologue: Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees! 3

The Piano 7

My Grandfathers 9

August 1977 13

Lourdes 17

My Aunt Frances 23

The Train 27

Lost in the Music 31

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? 37

My Mother's Record Collection 41

Why I Sing 43

The House of the Rising Sun, Part One 47

The House of the Rising Sun, Part Two 53

The House of the Rising Sun, Part Three 59

Song to the Siren 65

Sisters 71

Any Dream Will Do 75

John, I Love You 77

About My Dad 79

Poem from My Youth 81

Part 2

Who Are You? 85

Settling In 97

A Lesson or Two 101

Inflammable Material 107

Shaving My Head 111

The Lion and the Cobra 115

Clocks 'n' Woks 121

My Boy Lollipop, July 1987 125

The Way Young Lovers Do 129

There Is a Light and It Never Goes Out, 1987 133

Good News, Bad News, Et Cetera 139

Funny How Time Slips Away 143

Paper Roses 147

Sheviti Adonai L'negdi Tamid 151

That's Why There's Chocolate and Vanilla 163

War, Part One-Saturday Night Live, 1992 169

War, Part Two-Gotta Serve Somebody 175

It Ain't Necessarily So 179

The Condition My Condition Is In-1992, a Few Days Later 181

Homeless Man at Easter 185

War, Part Three-October 1992 189

My Star-Spangled Banner 193

Part 3

Some Musical Notes 199

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 201

Am I Not Your Girl? 205

Universal Mother 209

Gospel Oak 215

Faith and Courage 219

Sean-Nós Nua 221

Throw Down Your Arms 225

Theology 227

How About I Be Me 231

I'm Not Bossy 235

Coming Soon … 237

Dagger Through My Heart 241

The Greatest Love of All 245

Lou Reed 251

Some Lessons and True Tales 253

Mr. Bigstuff 255

Jake, Roisin, Shane, and Yeshua 257

The Wizard of Oz 265

Forward and Now 275

September 25, 2019 279

Postscript 283

Epilogue 285

Editorial Reviews

05/31/2021

The idiosyncratic singer-songwriter takes readers on an emotional roller coaster in this unapologetic, soul-baring debut. Born in Glenageary, Ireland, in 1966, O’Connor endured traumatic physical abuse by her mother and began shoplifting as a child. Through the tumult, she sought respite in her older brother’s Bob Dylan records, which led her to start playing guitar. She traces her rise as a singer in London in the 1980s and condemns the misogyny she witnessed in the music industry: “I made a lot of money for a lot of men who couldn’t actually have cared less what the songs were about.” After soaring to fame with a cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” O’Connor sparked controversy by ripping up a photo of Pope John Paul II in 1992 on Saturday Night Live, a move that she says many still believe “derailed my career.” On the contrary, she argues, “it set me on a path that fit me better.” While that path comprised years in and out of mental-health institutions, she’s refreshingly frank about how it helped her “re-rail” her life as a mother of four and eventually return to live performance, where she “scream into mikes now and then.” This page-turner will enthrall the singer’s fans. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Like her recordings, Sinead O'Connor's book veers between defiance and pain. She rejoices as she remembers the first time she had her head shaved ...but several of the longer set pieces recount terrifying encounters in vivid detail. The naked and fearless emotions that made Sinead O'Connor such a riveting artist, shine through her words and self-awareness...in the end, she emerges as a survivor."  — New York Times Book Review

“Sinéad's voice on the page is as fearless, riveting and unforgettable as her voice in song. The cadence alone is hypnotic, her story essential. Rememberings is a must-read." — Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M.

 “A brutally honest account of an extraordinary life.” — Carson Daly, The Today Show

"O'Connor has had a tumultuous life: stealing, getting thrown out of school, running away, parental abuse....idiosyncratic and poignant." — Booklist

 "A self-aware confessional from a successful and controversial musician."  — Kirkus Reviews

“The idiosyncratic singer-songwriter takes readers on an emotional roller coaster in this unapologetic, soul-baring debut…This page-turner will enthrall the singer’s fans." — Publishers Weekly

"Full of heart, humour and remarkable generosity." — The Guardian

From the Publisher

2021-03-31
The Grammy-winning Irish singer/songwriter looks back on her eventful life.

Promising candor and clarity, O’Connor (b. 1966) opens with a caveat that her story only details lucid periods of her life when she was psychologically “present.” Omitting hazy years in which she drifted off “somewhere else inside myself”—material some readers may wish she included—the author shares pivotal milestones (raising four children) and entertaining anecdotes. O’Connor vividly recalls an abusive Catholic childhood in Dublin with a cruel, unstable mother. As a rebellious teenager, she was sent to a reform asylum, where her love for music became the ultimate refuge, leading to band gigs and eventually a record deal in London in 1985. The Lion and the Cobra achieved gold status, and O’Connor describes the development of her persona: shaved head, baggy clothing, and stormy, antagonistic, always forthright demeanor. The author addresses her mental health challenges and experimentation with sex and drugs (“In the locked ward where they put you if you’re suicidal, there’s more class A drugs than in Shane MacGowan’s dressing room”) as well as two iconic moments in her career: her smash-hit cover of the Prince-penned “Nothing Compares 2 U” and her notorious performance on Saturday Night Live in 1992, when she ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II. “A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career. That’s not how I feel about it,” she writes. Rather, it allowed her to return to her roots as a live performer instead of remaining on the pop-star trajectory (“you have to be a good girl for that”). In cathartic sections, O’Connor considers the era leading up to that appearance as a personal death, with the years following a kind of “rebirth.” Though she touches on her agoraphobia and later psychological issues, with which many of her fans will be familiar, the final third of the memoir sputters somewhat, growing less revelatory than earlier passages.

A self-aware confessional from a successful and controversial musician.

Kirkus Reviews

"O'Connor has had a tumultuous life: stealing, getting thrown out of school, running away, parental abuse....idiosyncratic and poignant."

Booklist

"Full of heart, humour and remarkable generosity."

The Guardian

Sinéad's voice on the page is as fearless, riveting and unforgettable as her voice in song. The cadence alone is hypnotic, her story essential. Rememberings is a must-read."

Michael Stipe

A brutally honest account of an extraordinary life.

Carson Daly

"Like her recordings, Sinead O'Connor's book veers between defiance and pain. She rejoices as she remembers the first time she had her head shaved ...but several of the longer set pieces recount terrifying encounters in vivid detail. The naked and fearless emotions that made Sinead O'Connor such a riveting artist, shine through her words and self-awareness...in the end, she emerges as a survivor." 

New York Times Book Review

"O'Connor has had a tumultuous life: stealing, getting thrown out of school, running away, parental abuse....idiosyncratic and poignant."

Booklist

Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor narrates her memoir with the voice of a woman who has endured and persevered. Despite decades of touring and recording, she's often remembered for tearing up a picture of the pope on a live broadcast years ago. It was an act of protest, and O'Connor isn't sorry. In her audiobook, O'Connor builds on the theme of healing through music, never wavering from her principles. From humble beginnings, she achieved fame quickly after her smash second album. She describes her struggles with fame, its impact on her mental health, and various bizarre encounters in the music industry. Her interaction with Prince, from whom she ultimately fled, is truly shocking. O'Connor performs her memoir with vulnerability and humor. S.P.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2021 - AudioFile

Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor narrates her memoir with the voice of a woman who has endured and persevered. Despite decades of touring and recording, she's often remembered for tearing up a picture of the pope on a live broadcast years ago. It was an act of protest, and O'Connor isn't sorry. In her audiobook, O'Connor builds on the theme of healing through music, never wavering from her principles. From humble beginnings, she achieved fame quickly after her smash second album. She describes her struggles with fame, its impact on her mental health, and various bizarre encounters in the music industry. Her interaction with Prince, from whom she ultimately fled, is truly shocking. O'Connor performs her memoir with vulnerability and humor. S.P.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

AUGUST 2021 - AudioFile