{"id":1606,"date":"2026-08-02T20:15:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T20:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=1606"},"modified":"2026-08-02T20:15:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T20:15:56","slug":"from-the-archives-review-sinead-oconnor-i-do-not-want-what-i-havent-got","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/?p=1606","title":{"rendered":"From the archives: Review \u2014 Sinead O\u2019Connor, I do not want what I haven\u2019t got"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This was written in March 1990 for my college newspaper.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sinead O\u2019Connor is a walking billboard of kindness and arrogance.<\/p>\n

Her voice coos with breezy undertones of subtlety, while her lyrics scream with passionate warnings of awareness. It is this that allows O\u2019Connor to avoid the dreaded record business \u201csophomore slump\u201d that has taken down such overnight phenoms as the BoDeans and the Violent Femmes.<\/p>\n

With her second offering, \u201cI do not want what I haven\u2019t got,\u201d O\u2019Connor bas closed the gaps left open in her 1988 release,\u201cThe Lion and the Cobra,\u201d and created an album that in its jerkiness is wholly symbiotic.<\/p>\n

She goes from song to song, creating a new pattern with each bar, each note. Sometimes the song is melodic and hypnotizing, while at other times the song enjoys a repetitive beat-box aura throughout.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor worked with this on her first album, but in this album it doesn\u2019t seem as forced, almost unintentionally. How good can O\u2019Connor be? Her first single off the album, \u201cNothing Compares 2 U,\u201d a song written by Prince, has transcended all radio station boundaries and is being played by everyone. And it\u2019s not the music that causes the universal appeal, it is the voice.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t hear it, you must see it. The video opens with a tight shot of O\u2019Connor, and slowly as the music pumps in, O\u2019Connor quietly rages, \u201cIt\u2019s been seven hours and 15 days\/Since you took your love away.\u201d By the end of the five-minute clip, O\u2019Connor is crying. It\u2019s not acting, it\u2019s sincerity, and it is overwhelming. The song is powerfully sad. It is about loss, rejection and a hope for a reunion that will never happen. It may be one of the best songs to ever come out because of what it does to a listening audience.<\/p>\n

But O\u2019Connor doesn\u2019t bank her reputation on the one song, she surrounds the masterpiece with equally powerful gems.<\/p>\n

The opening track, \u201cFeel so Different,\u201d is a slow piece that at any moment sounds like it will erupt, but never does. It\u2019s more than a song, it\u2019s O\u2019Connor telling her intentions, telling her life story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lion and the Cobra\u201d was such a hit because it blazed with the etchings of a very angry woman. Songs like \u201cTroy\u201d were testaments to how bitter this woman was. Sure, O\u2019Connor played with the catchy \u201cPut You Hands on Me\u201d and the hit \u201cMandika,\u201d but that was not what she was all about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not want\u201d is different because it shows a more mature O\u2019Connor not simply screaming \u201cDo something,\u201d but instead quietly noting \u201cHey, notice this because it\u2019s important.\u201d \u201cFeel so Different\u201d is O\u2019Connor acknowledging this new attitude that awareness is more important than bitterness. \u201cI should have hatred for you\/But I do not have any\/And I have always loved you\/Oh you have taught me plenty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following track is just weird. \u201cI am stretched on your grave,\u201d demonstrates O\u2019Connor\u2019s love for the beat box melody she picked up from rap performer MC Lyte. It opens with the simple and redundant bass thumpa bass accompanied by the soft lyrics \u201cI am stretched on your grave\/ and will lie there forever.\u201d It\u2019s not supposed to work. It does.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree Babes\u201d is O\u2019Connor\u2019s maternal passion coming forward. The newly married singer has expressed a desire to have children, and while \u201cThree Babes,\u201d has metaphorical tones of problems between the English and Irish (which can be found in most of her songs), it is not limited to that.<\/p>\n

The following tracks \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s New Clothes,\u201d and \u201cBlack Boys on Mopeds\u201d are O\u2019Connor\u2019s politically aware songs based on stories found in her homeland. \u201cEmperor\u201d discusses the hypocrisy of monarchy, while \u201cBlack Boys\u201d goes after British Prime Minister Margret Thatcher and her \u201cdangerous\u201d attitude toward racial issues.<\/p>\n

Side two is more personal. O\u2019Connor talks about relationships, divorce, cruelty and a lack of hope. It sounds like O\u2019Connor is going through a bitter breakup instead of embellishing in a new marriage. \u201cThe Last Day of our Acquaintance\u201d and \u201cYou Cause as Much Sorrow\u201d are attacks against a non-caring parter, and are as poignant with their message as they are beautiful in melodic arrangement.<\/p>\n

The final song, the title track, brings the album full-circle, connecting perfectly with \u201cFeel so Different.\u201d O’Connor writes: \u201cSo I\u2019m walking through the desert, And I am not frightened although it’s hot, I have all that I requested, And I do not want what I haven\u2019t got.\u201d O\u2019Connor is nothing short of a modern day muse. Her lyrics are poetry, her music intoxicating and her intentions sincere.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor is not another overnight phenom, she is an established saint in a complicated music business.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true. Nothing compares to her, period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was written in March 1990 for my college newspaper. Sinead O\u2019Connor is a walking billboard of kindness and arrogance. Her voice coos with breezy undertones of subtlety, while her lyrics scream with passionate warnings of awareness. It is this that allows O\u2019Connor to avoid the dreaded record business \u201csophomore slump\u201d that has taken down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[511,510],"class_list":["post-1606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-i-do-not-want-what-i-havent-got","tag-sinead-oconnor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1606"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1608,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1606\/revisions\/1608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}