81. "They Didn't Realize I Was a Seed" - Sinead O'Connor, 1966-2023

“They tried to bury me,” Sinead O’Connor said in the 2022 documentary about her, Nothing Compares. “They didn’t realize I was a seed.” We look back at the life and legacy of Sinead O’Connor, who died this week at the age of 56. Sinead was a firebrand onstage, but her 2021 memoir Rememberings reveals her to be funny and unpretentious and not very interested in fame. She was a protest singer cast in the role of pop star. Topics discussed:

* Ghosts in the piano, writing songs to the rhythm of a rocking chair

* Why do some children of abuse mourn their parents so deeply?

* That time she shaved her head

* A bizarre anecdote about Prince, who wrote “Nothing Compares 2 U”

* How she managed to sneak the Pope moment onto “SNL”

* Four children with four different fathers

* Morrissey gets the last word

* Pivot to Israel: What is going on?

* Kevin Spacey exonerated, but huh, there’s a pattern here

* Graphic novels are cool