This was on one of those Very Special Christmas albums. I remember people saying, "Why the heck is that song on a Christmas album?"
I understood. That guiding star they say the Magi followed ... what is your guiding star? What would you believe in, even if it meant your friends forsaking you, getting ridiculed, meeting failure again and again?
What sustains you?
I Believe in You
Sinead O'Connor
I believe in you even though I be outnumbered.
Oh, though the earth may shake me
Oh, though my friends forsake me
Oh, even that couldn't make me go back.
Don't let me change my heart,
Keep me set apart
From all the plans they do pursue.
And I, I don't mind the pain
Don't mind the driving rain
I know I will sustain
'Cause I believe in you.
This song is by Bob Dylan, and Sinead O'Connor planned to sing it at the "Bobfest" held in Madison Square Garden for the 30th anniversary of his first album. I was there. This was not long after she'd ended a performance of Bob Marley's "War" on Saturday Night Live by tearing up a photo of the Pope, and the Garden crowd (presumably largely Catholic?) was righteously pissed off. I was really excited to hear the opening chords of this song; it's not well known, Dylan sings it with great passion, and I was betting she'd do the same. But the boos got so loud that after a couple of tries, she signaled the band to stop, and sang a few lines of "War" again instead.
ReplyDeleteThe reason she was so angry at the Catholic Church was child abuse. Now that it is obvious that the cover-up went right up to the Pope, I think a lot of people owe her an apology, huh?