On tuesday, on a whim, I checked Sinead O'Connor's Debut CD, "I Don't What What I Haven't Got", out of the DeMotte library. On our way to Annelisje's Open Mic in Valpo that night, E and I listened to it. I gotta, "Nothing Compares 2 U" still devastates me and I don't know why, just like it devastated me when I was 12 and hear it on the school bus radio at 7:00 in the morning, in the dark winter of 1990. ANYWAY, I enjoyed the rest of the disc and noted how similar her sound was to the Crannberrie's material. Knowing her's preceeded theirs, I wondered if she was an influence. They are both from Ireland, so maybe that's the connection.
I also recalled how controversial she was, at the time. If people weren't commenting how weird it was for her to be a female pop star with a shaved head, then they most certainly pointed to the SNL incident. I did not see it, but the kids were muttering to themselves the next morning at 7th grade CCD. As it turned out, and our priest made mention of it at the opening of his homily, she rent in twain a picture of Pope John Paul II after her song on Saturday Night Live, on national television saying "fight the power" or something like that. Danny Devito rushed up and took the picture from her and apologized, angrily.
Now I always like Pope John Paul, don't get me wrong. But I surprised myself, at the time, with how little the incident bothered me. My first thought was "well that's freedom of speech." My second thought, I would keep secret, that is, I was a devoted Catholic boy, but honestly, I did not buy into a number of the Roman 'superstitions' for lack of a better word. In other words things like Marian devotion, or purgatory, or the need to cross yourself at mention of names or what have you. The pope was the head of the church, but every organization needed a leader, yes? And people were bound to disagree with him now and then. I did not esteem the Pope any more than a bishop, in my brain, and why should I
Six years later, when M.COTU started, 10 years ago this week! Daniel and I put two separate lyrics together that we had made up and called the song "Bubbles." My part went something like this:
cos he's the Pope, but nobody cares
he's just a guy from Rome
originally from Poland
named Wyutola
but now he's just John Paul
he rides around in a car that looks like a bubble
and it's real tall and he's real short
still nobody cares, cos he's the Pope
Now, in my 18 year old brain. I did not sense that this was in anyway disrespectful, especially in the Ultra-Uber-anti-Catholic enviroment of IWU. But fast forward two years later, M.COTU plays 'Bubbles' at a show (our first ever off campus) at Mike's church in Michigan. After the show, Sarah (our short lived female vocalist) introduced me to one of her friends, who was Catholic and was perplxed and almost offended by the "Pope song." I remember saying it was just a bit of harmless fun at the expense of the "Pope Mobile" not the man himself. I remember feeling like I really didn't convince her, and I felt like a donkey's hind end - and a bad person.
And when he passed away last year, I was truly sad. I mean, I liked what he did with the place. He was a very Christian man. And he lived an interesting life, this I know 'cos when I was a kid, we had a DC comic book about the life of Pope John Paul. He risked his life to help people during WWII, being from Poland, originally.