I just found this on the cnn website

http://www.cnn.com/2004/S...index.html

Sinead: Stop calling me crazy


DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland (AP) -- One-time pop sensation Sinead O'Connor is back in the news -- by taking out a full-page ad pleading for people to stop making fun of her.

O'Connor, who shot to international fame in 1990 with her biggest hit "Nothing Compares 2 U," claimed Friday she had been "consistently ridiculed, lashed and called mad" for decades, particularly in her native Ireland.

"I don't think there can be any person male or female from this country who has been as consistently lashed as I have been and always am no matter what I set out to do," she complained during her 2,000-word essay published in the Irish Examiner newspaper.

"If ye all think I am such a crazy person why do ye use me to sell your papers?" she wrote, adding, "Please, I just want to be a little old lady now, and not be all controversial and not be bashed and called crazy and laughed at when I open my mouth to sing or speak."

O'Connor, 37, specialized in attention-seeking stunts during her early career, most notoriously in 1992, when she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II on the U.S. TV show "Saturday Night Live" and declared, "Fight the real enemy."

She also courted hostility from American audiences by refusing to allow the U.S. anthem to be played at her concerts there.

In recent years, she's clashed with her own siblings -- particularly her brother Joe, an internationally regarded author -- about her allegations of an abusive childhood at the hands of her late mother. Her siblings insist she's exaggerating claims of abuse.

She returned to that theme Friday. "Before God let me swear to you that if I or any of us were to tell you what we went through this country would cry for a month. To know that my brothers and sister survived, makes me proud of us all," she wrote.

O'Connor, who married in 2001 and has two children, has continued to court headlines with unusual decisions and occasional essays published in local papers.

She was ordained a priest in a breakaway Catholic sect in 1999, but subsequently stopped referring to herself as "Mother Bernadette Mary" and said she'd found the celibacy rule impossible to follow.

Last year she declared she was retiring from the music business, was interested in a movement called the "Death Midwives" that counsels chronically ill people, and planned to train as a religion teacher for elementary school kids.

She resurfaced on Ireland's airwaves Wednesday, when she told the national RTE radio network about her campaign to stamp out head lice in children.

The spread of head lice is a chronic problem in Irish schools, but some commentators sarcastically noted her pressure group's email address, "nittwit," and poked fun at her appeal for Ireland to stage a "national delousing day."

O'Connor said her efforts to help people were unfairly ridiculed. She compared her treatment to that of U2 frontman Bono, whose lobbying of world governments on such issues as AIDS and Third World debt has earned him respect and humanitarian awards.

"If ye wrote about Bono like you wrote about me, he'd kick your asses," she wrote.

I do love this woman, but things like this crack me up!

IMO, taking out a full page ad including a 2,000 word essay in a major paper is just going to convince people she's mad and cause more ridicule. She needs to just sit back and live her life out of the spotlight where she supposedly wants to be, that's the way to get the press to give her a break.

I'll also admit, being part of a national "delousing" campaign isn't quite in the same league as some of Bono's 'humanitarian' work.

Damn, ol' girl needs to get back in the recording studio and use her nuttiness in a good way!

Curses! I just signed in to post this very thing! My headline was also going to be considerably smartass!

Also, delousing? Is she lousophobia? Is that why she's shaved her head for so long?

I would personally like to start a campaign by delousing the world of Sinead's lousy music.

Thunderbird said:

I was worried that by the time I "saved topic" someone else would've posted it!

Thunderbird said:

now, i love Sinead. But I will admit her lousy ( ) final CD was a horrid jumble of demos and poor live tracks. it's such a shame.

endorphin74 said:

i love that cd...and i commend her effort to do something good with her star power...much prefer this to j-lo and beyonce peddling clothes, perfumes and their skanky ass image...

sure sinead is a nutter.....but it comes from her concerns for the world..think about the whole pope incident..if people had taken her serious think of the number of poor kids who wouldnt have been abused by priests..

and from what i understand the lice epidemic in ireland is a serious problem....

sosgemini said:

maybe I should give that CD another go. It just really didn't catch my attention.

And, I agree that her nuttiness does come from a good place. Her "pope incident" is my prime example of an artist who delivered a very important message in the worst possible way. Now, I loved what she did, but it caused so much offence that few were able to actually listen to her message. Poor girl was a near decade ahead of the world on that issue....

Yeah Sinead is a little out there but I agree with a lot of what she does. Like most of you said she was years ahead of her Pope scandal, but all people had to do is pay attention and not have such a knee-jerk reaction to things to see what she was saying. But I can see how it was controversial. Now she's just being a little silly. If she wants to do a delousing campaign then do it. Get the lice out of the kids heads. Or let it go and let the lice burrow into the kids heads then let the press say, "oh wow Sinead was right so many years ago when she wanted that delousing campaign." Why does she care if she's trying to distance herself from the public eye? It's like she's whining.

I love Sinéad, and I actually really liked her last album. I think she's one of the best female voices in the history of rock music. Her music has been consistently good. Not always great, but I think it's always been good.

The problem with her career (and the answer to your question) is that she's really a loony toon. A lot of times I can understand where she's coming from - tearing up the Pope's picture - but other times I'm left scratching my head.

RipHer2Shreds said:

its the lice.....see, sinead was right!!

endorphin74 said:

well, the first disc does suck..but i enjoyed the live cd.....do you think she is going to retire forever? i hope not.

sosgemini said:

I think her retirement will last about as long as her Declaration of Lesbianism.

she had been "consistently ridiculed, lashed and called mad"
because she's ridicule and
*
[Edited 9/24/04 16:21pm]

...as a hatter...

She's just really fucking misunderstood.

She's got lots of issues like people have said above from her past.

I've always been a fan though.

endorphin74 said:

That was sooooo pathetic! As if had any part to do with her show. I commend her for that.
She should've let it start playing the scratch the fuck out of it 1/4 of the way through it and break into 'Mandinka' Good for u Sinëad. Fuck them!!



"Universal Mother" is brilliant album. Favourites..."Fire on Babylon" and "Red Football"

I LOVE SINEAD. I have all her albums. "Troy" is the most passionate recording I've ever heard. It's one of my favourite songs ever.

By the way, does anyone have any footage or photos of Sinead tearing up that picture of the pope? I've always heard about it but never seen it.

I absolutely love Sinead. Her views are cool although sometimes a bit extreme.
Her voice is simply amazing.

But yes, bless her, she does appear to be a few crumbs short of the full bisquit.

Hotlegs said:

oh yeah, remember after this show aired even prince issued a semi-apology and said he now understood her more?

MrSquiggle said:

That song is f-ing brilliant!

endorphin74 said:

Yes, it is. It's my favorite song of hers, from what I think is one of the greatest albums, certainly her best. I wasn't aware you had that album, Endo...but glad to know it.

I've never listened to one of her albums, but one of my favorite groups, Massive Attack, included her as a guest vocalist on their 2003 record "100th Window".

I really enjoyed her voice, one track in particular nearly brought tears of joy to me.

She took vocals on the following tracks from that album;

"Special Cases", "A Prayer for England", and "Say What Your Soul Sings", which is one of the strongest tracks of 2003, let alone that record.

I think you hardcore Sinead fans that haven't heard those songs yet would enjoy them.


AIM: IceDreamCastle

She's cuckoo, but you can't help but love her!

i think sinead is just a alittle upset that sigourney weaver took her look in Alien3. Sinead pretty much had the bald-pale female gig locked up until that movie came out. very hard to overcome that kind of adversity, just my honest o-pin.