Sinead O’Connor “The Lion and the Cobra” released on this date, November 4th, 1987. One of my favorite records of the late 80′s. I distinctively remember hearing it for the first time when my dear friend Susie played it for me in late ‘87 and being completely blown away by the eerie atmospheric music and the searing, soaring, gorgeously clear and tortured vocals. The Lion and the Cobra was O’Connor’s debut LP and it went to #27 in the UK and #36 in the US. Ours is the American version, the UK release had a different – and more accurate -cover: a photo of O’Connor in full-rage mode. Apparently the record company (Chrysalis) felt we sensitive Americans couldn’t handle this:

O’Connor released two singles from the album: “Troy” (which charted in the Netherlands but not in the UK or US until it was remixed in 2002 and then went to #48 and #3 respectively – on the Hot Dance Music chart in the US) and “Mandinka” (#17 UK, #6 Ireland, #14 US Dance chart). I love those two songs but I also adore the opening track “Jackie” (so unbelievably haunting), “Jerusalem” (exotic, ethereal, beautiful) and my absolute favorite: “Just Like U Said It Would B.” That song has the most amazing vocals of pretty much any song I’ve ever heard and I love trying to sing along (alone, of course, though I can nail a lot of it some of the time). O’Connor co-wrote “Just Like U Said It Would B” with another Irish musician, Steve Wickham of The Waterboys. Another Irish performer, new agey Enya, also contributed to The Lion and the Cobra; she does a Celtic recitation of Psalm 61 for the intro to “Never Get Old.”