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Sinead O’Connor's Universal Mother
With Universal Mother, Sinead O'Connor explores childhood trauma and her experiences as a woman, mother, target of scorn, and ultimate phoenix.
Released in the winter of 1994, Universal Mother was the first recorded work from O'Connor since her duo of protests in 1992 (Saturday Night Live, Madison Square Garden). The sadistic blowback she faced for publicly outing the child abuse of the Catholic Church and its cover-up would have destroyed most. Where Sinead might go next, or if she'd ever record again, was the question. It's a testament to her integrity and extraordinary courage that she was able to resurrect with this extraordinary album.
The album takes us on a deeply personal, yet universal journey of womanhood, from the archetypal bad mother to the good and the kind. A feminist statement from Germaine Greer sets the tone, followed by O'Connor letting loose a storm of rage against her abusive mother in “Fire on Bablyon”-a salvo so explosive, it need not be repeated. Other than a song called “Red Football” and a call-out of the truth behind the Irish potato famine, O'Connor is not interested in rage or revenge. With Universal Mother, she offers us a tender, evocative collection of grief and empathy in song. Her miraculous voice is the vessel-the broken, sacred voice of Mother Ireland.
Released in the winter of 1994, Universal Mother was the first recorded work from O'Connor since her duo of protests in 1992 (Saturday Night Live, Madison Square Garden). The sadistic blowback she faced for publicly outing the child abuse of the Catholic Church and its cover-up would have destroyed most. Where Sinead might go next, or if she'd ever record again, was the question. It's a testament to her integrity and extraordinary courage that she was able to resurrect with this extraordinary album.
The album takes us on a deeply personal, yet universal journey of womanhood, from the archetypal bad mother to the good and the kind. A feminist statement from Germaine Greer sets the tone, followed by O'Connor letting loose a storm of rage against her abusive mother in “Fire on Bablyon”-a salvo so explosive, it need not be repeated. Other than a song called “Red Football” and a call-out of the truth behind the Irish potato famine, O'Connor is not interested in rage or revenge. With Universal Mother, she offers us a tender, evocative collection of grief and empathy in song. Her miraculous voice is the vessel-the broken, sacred voice of Mother Ireland.
- GenresMusicNonfiction
120 pages, Paperback
Published February 6, 2025
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March 22, 2025
Fire on Babylon
A review of the Bloomsbury Books 33&1/3 eBook (February 6, 2025).
Image sourced from Rolling Stone article linked below under Trivia and Links.
Although I've been critical of some of the 33 1/3 books which didn't have much focus on the actual music of the album discussed, I have no hesitation in saying that Adele Bertei's paean to Sinéad O'Connor's Universal Mother (1994) is an outstanding cri de cœur which provides context and background to the singer's return to the limelight after being shunned and banned after her 1992 SNL incident followed by being booed off the stage at the Bob Dylan tribute concert shortly afterwards.
This is not a book that goes into detail about what key a song is in, or about what chord changes are used, or very much about the recording studio technical trivia. It instead discusses the history of the 1992 cancellations and then expresses the reasons for the various songs / lullabies / prayers / spoken word performances which deal with O'Connor's need to exorcise the demons of childhood abuse, traumatic stress and patriarchal suppression by state and church in Ireland.
The standout track is of course Fire on Babylon which kicks the album into gear after a short spoken word piece by author/activist Germaine Greer. This is O'Connor's excoriation of her own mother's abuse and of what she suffered at the hands of nuns when shuttled off to live in a Magdalene reformatory run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. The biblical metaphor of the destruction of Babylon being symbolic for the hope to an end of abuse and suppression.
Bertei's own background with a similar difficult upbringing while being sent to the Marycrest School for Wayward Girls, run by the Sister of the Good Shepherd in Independence, Ohio, USA and her understanding and identification with O'Connor's music and statements on the album makes for an even more compelling reading experience.
The front cover of "Universal Mother", artwork by Sinéad O'Connor. Image sourced from Discogs.
The back cover of the "Fire on Babylon" single with 3 cover songs as bonus tracks. Image sourced from Discogs.
Soundtrack
Listen to the Universal Mother (1994) album on Spotify here or as a YouTube playlist here.
Watch Sinéad O’Connor’s original YouTube videos for the Universal Mother songs Fire on Babylon, All Apologies (Nirvana/Kurt Cobain cover) and Thank You for Hearing Me.
Bonus Tracks
Listen to the non-album tracks released as the B side of the Fire on Babylon single/EP on Spotify (also as the B side of the Thank You for Hearing Me single/EP) at I Believe in You (Bob Dylan cover), House of the Rising Sun (Traditional, arranged by Alan Price), Streets of London (Ralph McTell cover) and an extended length remix of Fire on Babylon (13'27" version) [Note: the additional performer on the extended remix is Algerian Raï singer Abdel Ali Slimani].
Trivia and Links
Read a section of excerpts from pages 32-35 of the book at author Adele Bertei's blog post The truth behind Sinéad O’Connor’s Universal Mother at the Bloomsbury Books website here.
Read another excerpt from the book How Sinéad O’Connor tore up a photo of the Pope on SNL and took on the world at the Rolling Stone website here. Note: the article includes an embedded YouTube video of the 1992 Saturday Night Live performance.
Sinéad O'Connor's Universal Mother was published as part of the Bloomsbury Academic 33 1/3 series of books surveying significant record albums, primarily in the rock and pop genres. The series was originally published by Continuum. The GR Listopia for the 33 1/3 series is incomplete with only 139 books listed as of March 2025 (and not all the books listed belong to the series). For an up-to-date list see Bloomsbury Publishing with 200 books listed for the Main Series as of March 2025. The Main Series does not include the 33 1/3 books in the Global series which focuses on music from the regions of Europe, Oceania, Japan, Brazil, South Asia and Africa. You can search through those at the World Music listing here.
A review of the Bloomsbury Books 33&1/3 eBook (February 6, 2025).
This fire-breathing dragon who loved us with a warrior’s passion lived a public feminism germane to Universal Mother, a feminism especially relevant to the sorry state of our present world. That is, even though I will try my very best to go lightly, this book is feminist as fuck. - excerpt from the Preface and Disclaimer by author Adele Bertei.
Image sourced from Rolling Stone article linked below under Trivia and Links.
Although I've been critical of some of the 33 1/3 books which didn't have much focus on the actual music of the album discussed, I have no hesitation in saying that Adele Bertei's paean to Sinéad O'Connor's Universal Mother (1994) is an outstanding cri de cœur which provides context and background to the singer's return to the limelight after being shunned and banned after her 1992 SNL incident followed by being booed off the stage at the Bob Dylan tribute concert shortly afterwards.
This is not a book that goes into detail about what key a song is in, or about what chord changes are used, or very much about the recording studio technical trivia. It instead discusses the history of the 1992 cancellations and then expresses the reasons for the various songs / lullabies / prayers / spoken word performances which deal with O'Connor's need to exorcise the demons of childhood abuse, traumatic stress and patriarchal suppression by state and church in Ireland.
The standout track is of course Fire on Babylon which kicks the album into gear after a short spoken word piece by author/activist Germaine Greer. This is O'Connor's excoriation of her own mother's abuse and of what she suffered at the hands of nuns when shuttled off to live in a Magdalene reformatory run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. The biblical metaphor of the destruction of Babylon being symbolic for the hope to an end of abuse and suppression.
Bertei's own background with a similar difficult upbringing while being sent to the Marycrest School for Wayward Girls, run by the Sister of the Good Shepherd in Independence, Ohio, USA and her understanding and identification with O'Connor's music and statements on the album makes for an even more compelling reading experience.
The front cover of "Universal Mother", artwork by Sinéad O'Connor. Image sourced from Discogs.
The back cover of the "Fire on Babylon" single with 3 cover songs as bonus tracks. Image sourced from Discogs.
Soundtrack
Listen to the Universal Mother (1994) album on Spotify here or as a YouTube playlist here.
Watch Sinéad O’Connor’s original YouTube videos for the Universal Mother songs Fire on Babylon, All Apologies (Nirvana/Kurt Cobain cover) and Thank You for Hearing Me.
Bonus Tracks
Listen to the non-album tracks released as the B side of the Fire on Babylon single/EP on Spotify (also as the B side of the Thank You for Hearing Me single/EP) at I Believe in You (Bob Dylan cover), House of the Rising Sun (Traditional, arranged by Alan Price), Streets of London (Ralph McTell cover) and an extended length remix of Fire on Babylon (13'27" version) [Note: the additional performer on the extended remix is Algerian Raï singer Abdel Ali Slimani].
Trivia and Links
Read a section of excerpts from pages 32-35 of the book at author Adele Bertei's blog post The truth behind Sinéad O’Connor’s Universal Mother at the Bloomsbury Books website here.
Read another excerpt from the book How Sinéad O’Connor tore up a photo of the Pope on SNL and took on the world at the Rolling Stone website here. Note: the article includes an embedded YouTube video of the 1992 Saturday Night Live performance.
Sinéad O'Connor's Universal Mother was published as part of the Bloomsbury Academic 33 1/3 series of books surveying significant record albums, primarily in the rock and pop genres. The series was originally published by Continuum. The GR Listopia for the 33 1/3 series is incomplete with only 139 books listed as of March 2025 (and not all the books listed belong to the series). For an up-to-date list see Bloomsbury Publishing with 200 books listed for the Main Series as of March 2025. The Main Series does not include the 33 1/3 books in the Global series which focuses on music from the regions of Europe, Oceania, Japan, Brazil, South Asia and Africa. You can search through those at the World Music listing here.
March 21, 2025
Another fantastic entry into the 33 1/3 series about one of the strongest and bravest, and also most humanly vulnerable, singers of our time. The book states right up front that it is intended to be "feminist as fuck" and about a singer who "...was self-taught, extremely intelligent, funny as hell and had the mouth of a sailor... (and) didn't give two fucks." And then it went on to discuss and reiterate all of that, and more. Really just ripped through this one. Gonna get an extra copy for a friend.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews