Nothing Compares 2 U

he just said he didn't like the prince version. that doesn't mean he didn't know he wrote it. i think everyone knows that. doesn't mean you have to like it!

sorry i'm being slightly argumentative. carry on. prince is cool.

The two versions are different enough to almost be considered separate songs; I sort of don't see a point in (wait for it...) COMPARING them.

i'm still slightly surprised there are ppl on this board who don't recognise a t0m 3wing post o:

princes version is terrible. i wish he would stop performing it live too.

I'm a huge Prince fan but to me it's still obvious that Sinead's version beats both the original Family version (which suffers from Paul Peterson's bland imitation-of-Prince vocals) and Prince's later cover (which lack the emotional austerity of Sinead's version, though like Al said upthread, Rosie Gaines does fine job on it) 5 to 1.

rosie gaines overpowers it. its not really a song really benefits from a big soul vocal or the npg sounding like a gospel covers band at a restaurant on a sunday afternoon.

is there a prince version that isn't the live one?

I don't think so.

Just got a copy of this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/The_Family_LP.jpg

Decent record. Sounds like what it is: Prince outtakes and B-sides. But it was 1984/85, and Prince's outtakes/B-sides were on a pretty high level during those years.

No one will ever touch Sinead on this song, though.

Attn songwriters: this is how you write a verse

All the flowers that u planted, mama, in the back yard
All died when u went away
I know that living with u baby was sometimes hard
But I'm willing to give it another try

The Prince version is good. They're both good, and very different of course.

Seems only Britishers (or Anglophiles) think that the Sinead version is better than the Prince live version.

it was a big thing in "britain"*. i do prefer it.

*i am from scotland and of latin american extraction and do not identify as british. tho aye a a brit cunt tbh.

Prince's live version is good, and it's definitely better than original version by the Family. But the Sinead version is still way better.

I'm Finnish, by the way, and a huge Prince fan in general, but I've no problem admitting that occasionally some artists can make a Prince song better than he himself did (see also: "I Feel For You").

Yeah, Sinead's is better. Duh.

I think it's funny that the original poster speaks of the Prince version as if he was some passerby who heard Sinead's version and wrote a low-key cover of it for a Greatest Hits collection, and not someone that, you know, wrote and ORIGINALLY performed the song....

except that Prince did hear Sinead's version and recorded a low-key cover of it for the b-sides disc of his 3-CD hits collection, and didn't ORIGINALLY perform the song

FACED, Cyberdune Butt

Yeah, it seems kinda obvious Prince put his live version on the Hits collection because he was a bit jealous that Sinead managed to make the song a hit, while the Family album was mostly a flop.

there's a demo of him doing it isn't there? so yknow techincally i guess he did perform it first.

Susannah looks great on the cover dun she?

i dont think ive ever heard prince do this in a low key way. he always makes it into a big melodramatic thing.

"Overblown", lol. Can you imagine Celine Dion, Xtina Aguilera or Meat Loaf going crazy on its ass?

What Sinead does beautifully here is a combination of exquisite tenderness, with occasional bursts of that shrill, slightly sharp tone (that's all over, say, Mandinka), but then pulling back from that again to softness, so sonically as well as emotionally it's unpredictable - when will it burst out again? Exactly like the emotion of loss/grief in question in the song - it hits you unexpectedly sharply and painfully and dies down again, against a background of general sorrow and hurt.

That strident tone was really something new in pop vocal style I think. Only maybe Suzie Sioux and Liz Frazer as far as I know had done that tone before Sinead, but they were more marginal figures, especially in the US, and didn't apply it to a love song in this way. (I know Sinead said the famous tears in the video were for her dead mother; not sure if that affected her recording?) Sadly I don't think Sinead did anything very good after this though.

^straight pyromania

Like many upthread, I wasn't old enough to really have any specific feelings about this song at the time - it was on Now 18 which I had as a ten year old, but I rarely played it through. Recently though I've been thinking about it. The Quietus have had a recent run of quite interesting articles about songs that make you cry. Manipulative as it is, this is one of those which even when I think about it gives me a strange shivery sensation.
The economy of language, devastating lines like "I know that living with you baby was sometimes hard, but I'm willing to give it another try" seem to pack a lot more than they do on paper.

Her version of 'all apologies' is nice, too. Not better than the original, but quiet and plaintive. Really nails the 'married, buried' part.

I vastly prefer Sinead's version to Prince's.

Prince's released (never heard a demo of his if there is ine in circulation) versions all miss the point of the song. Rosie Gaines is also not the right person for the job.

right on

I like the choir-like backing vocals, gives it a very Irish and religious feel. Like Sinead's Irish-punk take on soul, always did. Be stupid if she tried to sound black, she brought her own background to the song.

Apparently, it's not available on spotify (Sinead's version, I mean). Part of Prince's online policy ?
That's weird since there are other Prince songs by other artists available (Bangles, Times, Chaka Khan...).

Theres a live version on there. But yeah its bc of prince's policy of not cooperating with streaming services

I think this song was a collaboration not a cover so thats why prince retained the rights

I really don't like the official Prince version, and consider it a rare misstep, as if, after Sinead's massive, definitive success and their subsequent falling out he felt compelled to show the world "oh yeah, well check *this* out." And then it's a big whiff compared to hers.

What do you mean ? Wasn't it a cover ? and I guess he had the rights to other songs that are yet available (the previous ones, also sheila e. stuff).

(xpost)

Speaking about her relationship with Prince in an interview with Norwegian station NRK in November 2014 O'Connor said, "I did meet him a couple of times. We didn't get on at all. In fact, we had a punch-up." She continued: "He summoned me to his house after 'Nothing Compares 2 U.' I made it without him. I'd never met him. He summoned me to his house—and it's foolish to do this to an Irish woman—he said he didn't like me saying bad words in interviews. So I told him to fuck off." O'Connor said: "He got quite violent. I had to escape out of his house at five in the morning. He packed a bigger punch than mine."

wow. that's pretty crazy !

Jesus

i want to do this song at karaoke

Any song where you can seriously belt it out is perfect for karaoke

except that when you're drunk (which is condition sine qua non for me to do karaoke), you're pretty sure to miss all the high notes !

Lol no one could even approach the original though. Almost takes the pressure off.

you could make up for the bum notes by crying by the end of the song !

Nothing Compares to Sinead

Lol yeah. I'm sure my rendition will affect me powerfully, regardless of what the crowd would make of it

I was always curious about Sinead came by that song - was she really one of the 200 people that bought that album by the Family

good question !
I found this "It was Sinéad O'Connor's manager, Fachtna O'Kelly, who came up with the idea for the Irish singer to cover the Prince song."

I briefly considered this for karaoke on Saturday night, only because I had been refusing to attempt Prince for months, because how could I even presume, so I was thinking Manic Monday or this, which is still tough but I remember getting compliments for my diva-like performance of it in 1991(!) at my 12th birthday party (yeah, the oldest I got compliments for that sort of behaviour), but I don't have that range anymore so I chickened out. I said I'd do Poplife but it wasn't on there, I got roped into backing vocals on Purple Rain, didn't do myself too proud really.

there's been very little "here's the shitty stuff Prince did" since his death; wondering when that will start to slip out. the only negative story I could remember (aside from him maybe personally being a dick to people) was that violent story Sinead recalled. Wonder what the story behind that is.

it's a weird story

it's probably true though, idk. i can't imagine those two would ever get along.

impassioned, sure, but its not a song that benefits from a big fire and desire-type soul vocal IMO

Here's an interesting article about the recording of Sinead's version.

My snark was directed more at NTI, who seemed upset at chord substitution.

Wrong.

Not really interested in getting into a debate over jazz theory here but suffice it to say that since the tune in the chorus on the Family version is also completely different than Sinead's there must be "melody subs" as well.

Ok, I can't help myself. Those aren't substitutions. They're different chords. The chorus of the Family version resolves on the I chord. The Sinead version resolves on the V.

And yes, it sounds terrible in the former.

Sound on Sound is a treasure.

Agreed

ex-post: I never debate with dude who have broken ears, but you do have my sympathy.

good to know

Dixie Chicks cover is pretty faithful to the Sinead version.

Tons of other covers of this song floating around out there.

The one by Taylor Dane is not bad and also features an amusing if a wee bit hard to follow story about getting invited to and performing at a Prince aftershow.

This may leave you cold or you might find it a wee bit moving:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt1YhpQb8go