I thought about Sinead Lohan last
night.
I am probably the only person who
was thinking about Sinead Lohan at the time and given the time difference
between here and Ireland that includes Sinead Lohan. To be honest, she is
neither the most popular Sinead nor Lohan and that is an accomplishment. I
mean, I can only name two Sinead’s and she comes in second. For Lohan’s she at
least beats Michael.
Anyway, I was thinking about her.
Now anyone who is still reading
this is probably asking the question of who the hell is Sinead Lohan. Well, she
was (is? Verb tense is going to be a bit weird here) an Irish singer songwriter
who 25 years ago released this brilliant album called No Mermaid. It had a
little bit of airplay in Chicago and an amazing cover photo so it entered my CD
collection.
(Ok,
ignore the thumb there. This was the best quality photo that I could find
quickly.)
It stuns
me that I bought this 25 years ago. Part of that is just the sheer fact that
aging at some point becomes an incomprehensible fact. 25 years is literally half
a lifetime ago for me. My brain understands the math but can’t piece together
of the reality of all of the time spent on either side of this album. It certainly
doesn’t seem equal. But even more than that is the fact that I could
immediately remember this album, this photo, and some of the beautiful and
amazing songs on this album. “No Mermaid”, “Whatever It Takes”, “Believe It If
You Like”, and others are all on instant recall in my head even when I haven’t listened
to this album for years.
Yet,
there is one other aspect of this that really made me think and listen one more
time.
See, this
is the only album I ever knew that she ever released. Apparently, Wikipedia
tells me that she released one earlier album but A) I have no recollection of
ever seeing it and B) I went to multiple record stores in Ireland around this
time. She recorded one of my favorite albums and just disappeared. A few years
later Nickel Creek covered “Out of the Woods”, which means that her version is
simultaneously the second most popular version of that song and third most
popular song with that title falling far behind Taylor Swift. But that was it.
I have this one CD. And I still have the physical CD and have burned it to
multiple computers and transferred it to device after device. I could listen to
it on my Zune if I wanted to. I have had these songs with me for 25 years.
And this
is what amazes me about art and the unknown ways that an artist can effect us.
Sinead Lohan recorded this one album 25 years ago, got a bit of recognition,
and then went on with her life. Yet there is someone across an ocean who has
never forgotten this one piece of art and has had it floating around his
consciousness as part of his life’s soundtrack. And she has no idea of this. Or
maybe she does? Maybe that is the entire reason why we create in the first
place. For that hope, however distant and remote, that we will put something
out into the universe that will resonate with another human being. That we can
make this infinite void we live in just that little bit smaller. Occasionally that
very thing happens.
