Troy

I've always loved this song, but the meaning recently fell into place a little more for me when I read the poem "No Second Troy" by WB Yeats. Here it is:

Why should I blame her that she filled my days With misery, or that she would of late Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, Or hurled the little streets upon the great. Had they but courage equal to desire? What could have made her peaceful with a mind That nobleness made simple as a fire, With beauty like a tightened bow, a kind That is not natural in an age like this, Being high and solitary and most stern? Why, what could she have done, being what she is? Was there another Troy for her to burn?

This song is and probably will always be Sinead O'Connor's most enduring masterpiece, even if a certain Prince cover gets more attention. It's devastatingly beautiful and beautifully devastating. It's half tragic and half triumphant in a manner that seeks parallels but has a hard time finding them. If you haven't heard it, you haven't lived. Nothing compares to...er, this.

This is a phenomenal song from Sinead O'Connor and besides it, on a purely objective level, probably being her greatest track, it's also my favorite.

An absolute masterpiece.

Right here: No I wouldn't have pulled you to me No I wouldn't have kissed your face You wouldn't have begged me to hold you If we hadn't been there in the first place

on the second line, her voice is beyond words.

Throughout the whole song, actually, but especially there.

Her most emotional work. Powerful

Just to clarify, the song does not refer to a lawyer. At the end of the song, she is saying "you're still a liar", not lawyer. This song is amazing.

Well she did say this about the song " “But a song like Troy : I wrote that when I was 17, when my mother died and I don’t feel angry like that anymore. I don’t feel that terrible pain that I felt then.” She talked about some of the abuse from her mother here:exclaim.ca/music/article/sinead_oconnor-nothing_compares_2_her

So I think it's about conflicting feelings after an abusive mother's death.

She recently revealed this song is about the torturous and sexual abuse at the hand of her mother. It’s an inflection and reflection of love and hurt at the hands of someone who should be a protector. About the rage and fury and pain. She and I had some conversations on fb about it and I told her my story as a child. I used to cry so hard to this song when i would listen to it. Now the song is a fury for my heart. Such purity in it.

This is a masterpiece of a song from O’Connor’s first album probably written about a love affair, although I never knew the last line revealed the lover to be a lawyer, until now. O’Connor’s first album—although not a pop blockbuster—was her best. I recall reading she was largely influenced by a mentor who motivated her to wrench these songs from her heart and he was spell-bindingly successful.

I ran into “Troy” under different circumstances when it was used by a marauding angel who must have shown up in my life because he was bored—I’m laughing—that is so tongue in cheek. The song became part of our performance art chapters—sung by Ariana about and to—her trinity partner, Pete. The phoenix fire is reincarnation. In their current exchange, life was bewildering and Ariana apologizes for stinging words and for even showing up. Pete has a lover already when Ariana shows up. And Ariana is not so much trying to beat the lady’s time as she is curious about the relationship Pete has with this lover. [Does she love you? Does she need you like I do?]

Ariana asks if she is intruding, reminding Pete that she would kill a dragon for him—such are words of an impassioned love goddess, as Ariana was playing one in the story. She points out to Pete that she showed up to check on him because she was concerned—his light had gone out and his door was closed. Ariana suspects Pete did this on purpose—[ah, but I know you wanted me to be there—oh—oh. Every look that you threw told me so.] I’m laughing—this was enormously serious and heartily comical at the same time—he was shooting “goo-goo” eyed looks in photographs but I have to admit she claimed she wasn’t certain they were aimed at her. Pete, multi-tasking—was also working as a heart throb because the cash was good.

Depending on how the ongoing story was shaping up, Ariana would shriek “you’re still a liar” to either Pete or her angel—but mostly to her angel—who lied like a rug. They didn’t mess with lawyers—Ariana said they frightened her because she was also playing Love and Love is blind so she couldn’t see herself clearly enough to tell if she was coming off looking like a stalker or not.