Added: 4 years ago
From: scratch17
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  • fuck u dave

    

  • lettermann ...whatb a fuckin dweeb nbc cbs cunt

  • this performance is legendary i 4 the ages i dont agree with her politics but u cant have it all

  • fantastic song,

  • Hmm - sorry but her vocals are really all over the place - cracks and wobbles clearly audible! Cue the 'she was sick' excuses that are all over YouTube for shit live performances!

  • @burdlow Bollocks...get a grip....if you expect singers to sound exactly like they do when they record you are doolally...her voice is powerful...cracks and wobbles yeah but so fuck...ever heard Jimi Hendrix live? Janis Joplin? David Bowie...?...no one hits ever note nor is pitch perfect every time...thank gawd because I prefer my singers to be human and to have individuality...

  • @burdlow This is rock not someone performing an operatic aria.

  • A mighty performance .Fuck Prince

  • she has such a voice and the mic is right at her mouth so it is all her she has it what a voice talent like her comes around every once in awhile I just wish more people would have the guts this young lady had what a spirit I am proud she is a Irish woman

  • You know, what a shame it is that someone's political or religious views can destroy their career. I give her credit for doing what she did, it took balls to stand up and say something in opposition to one of the super powers of the world. I hope someday people will either forgive, or accept the fact that political and religious views are personal and do not effect the music, or the talent of the artist. Hopefully we'll hear more from her someday

  • @DasFenster2000 Totally agree man, what a gifted person...........

  • whow! what a awesome talent, no comments uff!

  • Lion and the Cobra is so good. This song especially still gives me goose bumps.

    And her back up band here is so good. How can you tell? Count the mullets. Three of 'em; four if you count the bass player's spectacular super-mullet as two mullets.

  • LIKE PRINCE SHE IS SO TINY YET SO TALENTED.

  • Brilliant.

  • I recall seeing this on letterman and going wow

  • What is Paul doing on here?

  • HOW much hairspray/hours with back-combs do you think the ban used before this performance? :-)

  • Paul is one of the most underrated musical geniuses out there. Who can tell me the name of the song he plays to commercial after she finishes? THAT'S what I'd like to know. Help me out...thanks.

  • @JeffHayes1914 If I'm not mistaken, it's the Kinks "Tired of Waiting."

  • @JeffHayes1914 The Kinks?  Tired of Waiting?

  • shes so cute

  • lol, Letterman looks like a big teddy bear :)

  • shes magical !!!!!!! epic and increadible, i was proud to have seen her.

  • she rocks !!!!!!!!

  • That guitarist looks like Steve Coogan's Paul Calf haha!

  • @sacredrealm Sorry I mean bassist.

  • @sacredrealm Bag of shite

  • What is her story that made her do what she did on Sat Night Live? She is incredible, just so sad that she took it too far! I wonder if she regrets what she did and what is she doing now?

  • @11Laurie08 She probably did it because she saw the pope for the misogynistic fraud that he was. Looking back on it, he wasn't so bad, in my opinion. Better him than the Nazi.

  • @11Laurie08 i hope she doenst regret it and I also dont believe she does, because the things she does are done with solid faith in God. she didnt go to far, she is just not afraid to stand up and fight if there is injustice going on! we should be happy that an artist has the convidence to act like that, without caring about her career or what other will think of her!!

  • I see Sinead's shaved head not as a skinead thing, but more of a push back against the standard of beauty that says women should have long flowing locks of hair.

  • she has got such a humourless, self important face .........it sucks

  • @buchananstreet And you sound like a tragic, bitter, pitiful little snit who would probably trade places with Sinead any day solely for the attention you seem to crave but do not get. It shows in the way you write.

    Get help.

  • wish i coulda been a fly on the wall when dave tried to come on to HER backstage . . .

  • what means Mandinka?

  • @isr4el666 google it i did

  • @isr4el666 It's an African tribe

  • She seems a little nervous and restrained at the beginning, but by the end she lets loose and sounds more fierce like she did on the album.

  • my ever favorite woman on earth!!! Sinead...awesome...with real talent.. and forever true to her feelings

  • I love the way she rises on her toes (1:04) and how her voice flutters (1:24) and she's doing this without in-ear monitors. Pure and raw with a melodic voice and stage presence. Where are today's acts that can do this live without autotune and overproduction. Thank you Sinead for your great voice and talent. The music is still good today as it's ever been.

  • Real woman with serious guts. She lives her truth, whatever it is at the moment. Beautiful voice and face.

  • This was great! And Paul and the Band did a fabulous, understated job behind her.

  • There's another video on Youtube of an awards show from years ago and all the comments are about lip-synching. Her single was playing in the background and you could actually HEAR her singing her 5' 4'' heart out - REALLY FUCKING FANTASTICALLY. In this Letterman performance here, it's just her and the band, and she's unsurprisingly fuckin class.

  • How tall is she?

  • so always great...underrated

  • I bought this when 12" Vinyls were all the rage...always thought she was a great looking girl...even with the bald head !

  • i will mention GOD and religion. ok... GOD i love this woman GOD i love her voice. my fav vid on here is Troy ( live ) at the pinkpop fest ( in the related section) and her singing don't cry for me Argentina.. I listen to both RELIGIOUSLY about once a month...

  • @68kira have you heard her version of elton johns "sacrifice", real soulful, will not disappoint!.

  • I caught this flipping channels when it frst aired. I was hooked instantly. Thanks for sharing.

  • love ya

  • Awesome

  • @scratch17

    ...of course. : )

    The more the merrier. LOL

  • love her

  • i cried to her performance here..love you sinead.....conratulations on your wedding today morning with Steve Cooney!!!! go for happiness girl!!!

  • This appearance was the first time I saw Sinead. Been a fan ever since.

  • And kindly too apart from all the rest!

  • Total badass ...and soo purty...

  • cool but crazey

  • Wonderfull, only!

  • Wonderfull, only!

  • so fresh I love her first appearance in her first album ...so RAW and UNtouched....shaved head looks so sexy to her

  • i so love sinead, the best voice in the smallest body, and she even turned down warren beatty when he made a pass at her

  • looks like the rest of the band wear her hair

    no honestly,she`s sooo beautiful.

    if she stood next to me i´d piss myself/after having had an orgasm)

    she is out of this world

  • that year was the most exciting to watch sinead ...its a new trend--sheved head ...being outspoken and sooo wild-gorgeous like her -is you can't deny the fact that she's a true artist

  • Amazing. =] <3 sinead

    The blonde guy in the back cracks me up though...

  • She's amazing on so many levels.

  • I can't find the words to describe how great she is. She is amazing on so many levels. Will love her til the day I die!

  • can i make love to her gorgeous eyes alone?????

    love you sinead....

  • I've got a huge mandinka

  • she is amazing !!!!!

  • Reminds me of high school. She was so cool...

  • awesome.

  • how can a bald women be so beautiful?

    and have such a great voice.

    i love you,sinead.

  • me too i hope she will remain like that the old sinead..but she has 4 kids my god..she is great..i love her too

  • Amazing. This is so awesome. Wow

  • Amazing talent, especially given the fact that she was twenty-one! This was the tail-end of the age when talent and originality meant that you had a place in the recording industry. Sinead is an original!

  • Beautiful, everytime I listen to it. Do we have anything in 2009 to compare?

  • I didn't know the great Sinead O'Connor was so little !

  • I remember this very well...I went out and bought the album within the week

  • V for Vendetta!!

  • Holy shit she looks just like Natalie Portman from V for Vendetta!

  • nope think natalie looks like her ; ) anyway shes probably the best female singer in last 20 years at least for me..............

  • She looks so tiny and dainty up there next to the rest of the band, and then she opens up with that powerhouse voice. Amazing as always.

  • i remember seeing her on TV for the first time - about 1988 in England - and being a bit lost - one of those moments when a person just challenges orthodoxy. Great great song as well. Thanks for waking me up once SC

  • die frau is der hammer

  • Un tremendo tema de esta talentosa cantante irlandesa

    A tremendous song from this talented irish female singer

  • beautifull wonan.  she is beauty down to the basics

  • The beginning reminds me of Girls Rock Your Boys.

  • She is fantastic!

  • i never really knew who she was but wow.

  • What a talent... and only 23? She reminds me of Prince in a way (not only b/c of "Nothing Compares...") in that her visual identity was so strong, in addition to her songwriting, even if her comfort in performing never seemed particularly strong.

    The "Nothing Compares..." video was so iconic and emerged just at the moment that MTV exerted maximum influence on pop music.

    The landscape for female singer/songwriters seems pretty barren at that point, in retrospect, but it wasn't to be for long.

  • i think she was more like 21 here maybe even 20...cuz he said this was her first tv performance...and she performed this song at the grammy's at the age of 21...so she has to be at least that age or younger.

  • i applaud her for her talent and convictions,,, i think we all did something we wish we hadn't... this song is awesome! read more about her to understand what happened and what became of it... interesting... think +

  • Any suggested reading? I'm curious.

  • @JonahPasion I also applaud her talent and her convictions, that is why I wish she'd never given any apologies for anything she'd ever said or done... We see, again and again, that she was RIGHT all the time!!!

  • @mdzchica EXACTLY!!!

    Powerful performance, as always! Love Sinead! Thank you for the video!:)))

  • Sinead O' Connor has the best voice Ireland has ever produced, what a talent :)

  • jaysus heres me thinken that calf was an alco and hated students. he seems to be quite talented ha ha, well spotted a2zpaul!

  • another unique, striking, gracious, raw talent from my lovely ireland :)

  • Check out Paul Calf on bass guitar!

  • Rediculously awesome

  • ya see back then they didn't know everyone wasn't going to grow to 6'5" giant men and women, hence the dewarfing of her in sizeby her musicians. LOL

  • She looks so small, but damn can she belt it out. You can tell she was getting over some stage fright and then just owned it.

  • :-)

  • Anyone know what this song is about Mandinka is an African language........

  • I would love to be on her good side with that emotion.

  • so anyway, if you enjoyed this song, check out "not too soon" by throwing muses, just as catchy vocals

  • I LOVE Not Too Soon by Throwing Muses! Happy to hear someone else does.

  • unique...striking... a TRUE artist!!!

  • Paul Calf on guitar backing her

  • ha ha too true!

  • When Sinéad came out w/ this I was driving w/ my mom in NYC & I was 16. She thought it was crap and I couldn't stop turing over the cassette. This is powerful stuff. She is a GEM. Thank you for this great stuff and giving so much of yourself.

  • mmmmm...the cranberries' hero!

  • Sinead is everyone's hero ;)

  • What song... what a singer... what an artist... that age it was magic... the rage, voice an attitude... the best.

  • Could not agree more!

    I saw her performance at the 1989 Grammy awards.

    It sent chills up my back!!!

    Sinead is a very gifted artist!

  • She was a true artist that "they" tried to turn into a "pop princess". And bless her for having integrity...Bravo Sinead!!!

  • ah reall artist¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

  • I absolutely love this song from Sinéad, I've been listening to it for ages now and everytime it fascinates me.

  • Caught this Tour 20 years ago. She wore black Combat Boots and a black Tu-Tu skirt and blew the roof off and tore the house down. Went because I loved this song. Brought my Sis and Girl and they had no idea what they were in for. lol.

  • hey scratch, thanks for posting. a ? what year? you may have answered already, sorry.

  • I LOVE YOU SINEAD!

  • i agree,the best song from a person,i have followed over the last 15 years.AND she is SO beautiful.how many women can shave their skulls and still look like from outer space??

  • wow is that paul calf `steve coogan ` playing the guitar in the back ground ?

  • If only more singers would be like her. So naked, original, technical, pure, exotic, sexy, vulnerable, expressive, explosive. What a siren. Every second she does not sing is lost.

  • that was AWESOME! thank you for posting!!

  • Wow,religious theology debate going on downstairs...

    This is my fave song by the lovely Sinead.

  • All this because a middle eastern shepherds religion was spread by the Roman's conquering Britain infecting some folks with madness.

  • No shit! Thank God there's finally peace in No. Ireland despite all the bullshit bickering between hostiles like you. LET IT GO. LIVE IN PEACE AND RESPECT OTHERS' VIEWS AS MUCH AS YOUR OWN.

  • can u shut fuck up anglicans and catholics and just BE ABLE TO ENJOY A GOOD VOICE AND FIERCE PERFORMANCE?

  • Good song.WTF is with all the comments below?

  • Ha thats my thought!

  • absolutely love her!

  • Gaelic punk...she rocks.

  • Something about the zeitgeist of the 80s-best decade for pop tunes.

  • top tune is that paul calf on bass

  • hä,i love this woman!!!

  • powerful stuff.

  • Unbelievable. She is 1 in a billion.

  • SINEAD we are you ????????????? i love you

  • to make it easy for you,i aksed who is the interviewer at this vid,because i've seen him many times to interview well known artists

  • The interviewer is David Letterman He hosted Late Nite with David Letterman for 12 years on NBC. Currently he can be seen on CBS hosting the Late Show with David Letterman.

  • prolo what did you not understand to my question?well i can say that i dont understand what youre saying

  • ohhh,who is he and has interviewed everyone?

  • @persefoneyouwastemytimewritin­gthisdown

    WHAT??speak german english froggish,whatever....no one underfuckingstandsyou...that what swedish

  • One of the most underrated female voices of ALL time! Brilliant talent, beauty to go with the voice as well.

  • I got the album on "cassette" when it came out; she opened my eyes to new music and I rememeber driving in to NYC in my 1974 Camaro with the windows down on a hot summer night to hangout in the village...hearing this for the first time...I was amazed...thanks for the post!

  • always luv this woman...it makes me appreciate u more and more...

  • ¡Que voz mujer!!!

    ¡Bravo!!!

  • what mean word Mandinka in this Song?,Im know English gut

  • I think it is a village in Africa...

  • its an ethnic group in Africa

  • the voice of a generation

  • It's an 'evil' caribbean / brazilian deity. Really!

  • Mandinka is an African language. ?

  • Mandinka is an ethnic group in Africa, maily in Gambia, Senegal, Conakry, Mali and Bissau; among few other Afrcan countries.

  • Love her voice, and her attitude!!! We don't have anything like that nowadays...

  • Yes we do! Sinead is still touring and releasing albums and is still great

  • compare her to rhianna! lol!

  • Sinead ROCKS!!!!!

  • Talent, talent and more talent! I still love you Sinead! I agree with the dancing issue though, rofl!

  • Having just viewed the Cranberries "Salvation" video, I'm thinking, hot women, yes...incredible voices, yes...but will someone teach these Irish girls to dance?

  • Check out MC Hammer, "Can't touch this." I'm the guy in baggy spandex ;)

  • i actually love the way they dance.. there's something natural in their moves. they're not pretending to be cool or selling their bodies, they're just moving to the rhythm and singing. but i agree that they have incredible voices :)

  • what a beautiful woman

  • Just kidding, I love her! lol

  • Wow, I was in college and heard this...fell in love instantly with this amazing artist. Amazing woman!

  • Saw this when it aired. Made me fall in love with her.

  • Wow.. Sinead did rock the roof off that place. David was trying to be very nice to her considering what happened over on the NBC set.

  • You're, she did rock this song. I just love that Irish wail that some of the female singers have.

  • I think iaired before the SNL episode