Sinead O’Connor
turns heads when she returns to the stage 20 years after her debut, “The Lion and the Cobra,” with a double record titled “Theology.”
The controversial, colorful Irish singer-songwriter, who plays the Paramount Theatre tonight, is rarely at a loss for words, so fans and critics alike were eager to hear the music and listen for the message. After all, the O’Connor contemplating theology on a sprawling two-disc set in 2007 is the same O’Connor who tore in half a picture of Pope John Paul II during an episode of “Saturday Night Live” in 1992.
But to the dismay of many, O’Connor’s “Theology” arrived in stores in June without any obvious theme or overt message.
“I’m not conscious of there being a particular message in there,” O’Connor said via telephone from Southern California earlier this week. “I thought those specific words were beautiful, and I wanted to put them to music. It’s a thanksgiving. It’s a conversation between me and God. But I don’t believe in preaching, and I’m not trying to give a particular message here. But I did want to do something to dispel this idea of God as being an aggressive energy that would support war and destruction.”
OK, so there’s a thread of a message in there. But it’s never overwhelming. In fact, it’s artfully vague and quite pretty, which was O’Connor’s primary intent: To create something beautiful. There’s O’Connor’s fearlessness in there, too, including liner notes that read: “If God lived on Earth people would break his windows.”
The Post caught up with O’Connor to talk about her goals with this record and her outlook on the current war, and how those ended up intersecting musically.
Q: Why did you make this record now?
A: I’ve been interested in making this record since I was a kid, but I guess that right now, it’s my own response to the things going on in the world at the moment. With this war, both sides claim that God supports their use of violence as a means of sorting things out. And I don’t think that the God character is a warring, punishing character.
Q: What was your primary goal in writing “Theology?”
A: Principally, I just wanted to write a beautiful record. About 90 percent of my reasons to do this record was just to make a beautiful thing. That’s really all I wanted to do.
Q: Do you consider yourself a religious woman?
A: Not religious, but theological. I think there’s a difference between God and religion. I’m interested by God, and I’m inspired by him,
and I’m in love with the idea of him. But religion is a very different deal.
Q: You wrote all the songs on this record save for three covers you carefully chose. How did you end up covering Curtis Mayfield on the same record as a reworked reggae spiritual and a song from the rock musical “Jesus Christ Superstar?”
A: They’re all, in a way, from the books of the prophets. All of these people, they’re very alone characters. Jesus was that type of character, and that’s part of the reason I covered Curtis Mayfield. He writes from a very alone place, and like the books of prophets, written thousands of years ago, they resonate with us now – and Curtis’ music is going to stand the test of time like that. I think Curtis has prophetic blood in him. And to me, that song (“We People Who Are Darker Than Blue”), there’s quite a theology to it. It’s a theological song in many ways.
Q: What are your feelings about the Iraq war?
A: To a certain extent, none of us can really know what’s going on over there. The only people who really know what’s going on are the people running the show. But from a punter’s (Irish slang for an everyman’s) point of view, it’s absolutely tragic that kids are being given the impression that violence is the way to solve problems. There’s an interesting trend in England and the States: Peer-on-peer violence among young people has increased massively since this war began, and I think that leaders are giving that message to their young men that violence is how you sort out problems, and that’s an alarming situation. We’re going to have to realize that that doesn’t work. It’s not going to get anybody anywhere, and it’s the wrong message to give to children.
Q: Speaking of children, you have four children and you just turned 40. How does being a rock ‘n’ roll star work in your life?
A: It was a big shock, going back to work. It took me a few months. At first I was completely freaked out about working and not being around the kids all the time. The balance has fallen into place now. I don’t like to be away from home at all. But they’re there at school now. They have to get on with their own lives. I bring them on tour sometimes, but they hate it. Plus, I’m not on a big, glamorous, expensive tour. We roll into town this morning and do a show, and then we’ll roll out.
Q: You’re touring with your old band as a six-piece, but what do the set lists look like? Are you playing much old stuff?
A: The set list is actually on the website. I’m playing three songs off “Theology” and a lot of old stuff. I thought it was important to reintroduce myself to my fans, because I haven’t played here for 10 or 12 years and nobody knows “Theology” yet, so I thought it would be smarter to do older stuff first and then come back another time and really support “Theology.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
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Sinead O’Connor
POP-FOLK|Paramount Theatre; 7:30 tonight|$32.50-$52.50|tickethorse.com
or 866-461-6556
