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CANOE -- JAM! Music - Artists - O'Connor, Sinead: The spirit moves Sinead O'Connor The spirit moves Sinead O'Connor Singer sets scriptures to music on new double CD, Theology By JANE STEVENSON -- Sun Media 
Sinead O'Connor
NEW YORK -- Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor has a confession to make: As a young girl, she was obsessed with the 1971 film musical, Fiddler on the Roof.
Now for a woman who would eventually tear up a picture of the Pope on live television and was later ordained a priest in the breakaway "independent Catholic" church, this isn't that much of a revelation given the movie's spiritual, theological and religious themes.
But who could have predicted that O'Connor's obsession with Fiddler, directed by Canadian Norman Jewison, would eventually lead to the release of her new double CD, Theology, which she says is the culmination of her lifelong fascination with putting scriptures to music.
"I grew up in a very Catholic country -- it was basically a theocracy that I was born into," said O'Connor, 40, in a recent Canadian exclusive interview with Sun Media.
"(But) one of the things that I loved, at the time that I was born, they still had the Latin mass, and they were singing certain parts of the mass, singing the scriptures. I was always very moved by that. But then when I got to seven and eight I saw that musical Fiddler on the Roof and that actually changed my life forever. When I saw that movie, that was the point where I said, 'I definitely want to do that.' "
O'Connor says it was the lead character, a peasant in pre-revolutionary Russia played by Topol, that drew her in.
"I loved the theology of the Teyve character," she said. "He conducts his relationship with God through singing, actually, and I was very inspired by that. And also he didn't really abide by all the rules and regulations. He did, in one way, abide by the rules of Judaism or whatever, but he also had this separate, independent relationship with God, which he conducted through singing. But he also treated God as an equal and complained to God about this, that and the other, 'Why are you messing me around?', which in Catholicism you wouldn't dream of doing, you know what I mean?' The way he would just stand with his donkey, or whatever it was, kvetching.'"
Considering her fascination with Fiddler, it's a bit surprising that another song from a famous stage and screen musical ended up as one of three covers on Theology. Would you believe I Don't Know How to Love Him from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Jesus Christ Superstar, which was also filmed by Jewison?
"I never saw the musical and I never saw the film," said O'Connor. "My parents had the album and I didn't really like it, actually, except for two songs on it. I loved -- I Don't Know How to Love Him, as soon as I heard that song, I said, 'That's my song.'
"I was probably about eight. Some of it I didn't like because I found it a bit corny. And the idea of the whole singing thing, it was all a bit dodgy.
"There's a very fine line between corny and cool if you're going to deal with Christian songs."
Otherwise, Theology features eight original songs, all based on Judaic scriptures from the Old Testament, that were recorded acoustically on one disc in Dublin and with a band and full orchestra in London on the other.
O'Connor's desire to set scriptures to music wasn't the only thing that inspired Theology. It was also the times we're living in, specifically the events of 9/11 and the U.S. military reaction that followed and continues.
"My belief what is happening today is not only happening because of how a few people interpreted the Koran, but it's also happening because of people who are saying on the one hand that they are Christian, and on the other hand are not behaving in a Christian fashion," said O'Connor.
"So I suppose as someone who is in love with the idea of God or whatever and also as someone who separates God from religion, I object on God's behalf. It would seem to me that God is underemployed because it's hidden by religion and theocracy and bulls--t and war. And as someone who respects God I get upset when I see it being held hostage."
These days, O'Connor says she doesn't practise any one particular religion but is currently most inspired by the Rastafarian movement, which she began studying as a 17-year-old when she first came to London.
"By birth and by culture I'm Catholic but I would be equally inspired by lots of different religions, so I don't really believe in practising one and therefore not being involved in the others," she said. "I love this picture that Catholicism gave us of the Holy Spirit being a bird. The idea that a bird can actually fly anywhere it wants to or land on anything it wants, so I think wherever you find it, there it is."
LOOKING TO DO SOMETHING NEW
Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor is planning a tour of theatres starting in September in support of her new double CD, Theology, with the lone Canadian show set for Oct. 20 at Massey Hall in Toronto, Sun Media has learned.
But she wants to try other things as well, given one disc features the new songs recorded acoustically.
"I'd really like to do MTV Unplugged," she said, before asking her publicist, "Do you think they'd have me? Can we ask them?"
O'Connor has also been getting some coverage in Christian publications where she has been doing cut-by-cut explanations of the album's tracks.
"It was me that was pushing companies to work it in that market," O'Connor said. "And I met a bit of resistance around the world from companies not believing that would happen. I think that there's a gap in that market.
There's a particular type of music and it doesn't stray much off (the path), when you're dealing with mainstream Christian music. I think it's kind of interesting in that market or that arena to have somebody who's stepping from the pop arena into theirs. I think that's kind of an unusual and interesting thing to happen in that arena. It's a different take on things."
When the twice-married O'Connor, who has four children by four different men, does hit the road, her kids -- the latest just came into the world last December -- stay at home either with their respective dads or a nanny.
"It's not practical to bring them, they've got to their own school and la, la, la," she said.
As for whether any of her kids are musical, she nods approvingly.
"Pretty much all of them are, yeah," she said. "My eldest, his name is Jake, he's 20, and he's into production. You know his dad's a record producer. And my daughter, her name is Roison, and she is 11 and she's into singing. She loves Johnny Cash. She's completely eccentric, this girl. The thing is she loves the Murdersongs (album). So at the moment she's going to guitar lessons and she's learning to play Folsom Prison Blues, and she sings in the church choir as well. So, she's into music big time. And then I have a three-year-old (Shane) who's just obsessed with music, totally obsessed with it. He's started making up little songs already. And then the six-month-old (Yeshua), he just smiles whenever anyone sings. Even the first syllable, he starts smiling. I was pregnant when I was making the record."
HITS & MISSES
When it comes to controversy, nothing compares to Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor. Well, okay, maybe Madonna. But O'Connor, twice divorced with four children by four different men and recently diagnosed as bipolar (manic-depressive) which she manages through lithium and therapy, has packed a lot into 40 years. Here's some of the high and lowlights:
Early years: One of four children, she claimed to be violently abused by her mother, who died in a car accident in 1985 when Sinead was just 17.
Breakthrough: 1990's Nothing Compares 2 U, written by Prince, was 0'Connor's first No. 1 single. When her record label suggested she tart up her image, she rebelled by shaving her head. Recently, she recalled having a fistfight with the diminutive pop star at his house after he gave her heck for swearing during interviews. "When I told him to go f--- himself, he got very upset and became quite threatening, physically. I ended up having to escape. He can pack a punch. A few blows were exchanged. All I could do was spit. I spat on him quite a bit."
Bad career moves: She got into a public spat with Frank Sinatra when she refused to let the U.S. national anthem be played before a concert in New Jersey, and then she boycotted the Grammys in 1991. She later claimed to be a lesbian just to irritate her record company.
The defining incident: O'Connor infamously tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live, to protest child abuse scandals in the Catholic Church. Later she was be booed off the stage at a Bob Dylan tribute concert.
Mother superior: She was ordained as Mother Bernadette Marie by a breakaway Catholic sect but refuses to talk about her priesthood.
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