"Troy" is the debut single by Irish singer-songwriter

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...

, released in 1987 from her debut studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

The Lion and the Cobra ''The Lion and the Cobra'' is the debut album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released on 4 November 1987 by Ensign and Chrysalis Records. O'Connor recorded the album while in the later stages of pregnancy with her first child. The title of ...

''. Written by O'Connor, the lyric is based on the poem ''No Second Troy'' by

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

. In 2002, a dance version of the song was released as "Troy (The Phoenix from the Flame)", becoming a top-ten hit on several international dance charts, including the US

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart.

Critical reception

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editor

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

noted in his review that songs like "Troy", "Jackie" and "Jerusalem" "are compelling because of their hushed, quiet intensity". Mark Richardson from ''

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'' described the song as an "epic and visceral psychodrama", adding it is "lushly orchestrated, painting the story of desire and betrayal on a wall-sized canvas". Sal Cinquemani from ''

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'' wrote: "...the fierce melodrama of young love and betrayal is imbued with the surrounding violence in 'Troy,' the song's crumbling romance equated with the burning of the famous Greek city." He added the song "is, perhaps, the album's defining moment, exhibiting all of the traits—vulnerability, fury, conviction, theatricality—the infamously outspoken singer-songwriter would become known for in the years that followed". In the documentary ''Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares'' (2022), she explained that the song is about a traumatic experience during her childhood involving her mother.

Music video

The video featured O'Connor, completely bald and covered with gold and silver body paint, singing to a background of moving images including flames. The building featured in several shots is on

Montpelier Hill Montpelier Hill () is a 383 metres (1,257 foot) hill in County Dublin, Ireland. It is commonly referred to as the Hell Fire Club (), the popular name given to the ruined building at the summit believed to be one of the first Freemason lodges ...

, just south of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, known as the Hell Fire Club.

Live performances

O'Connor sang "Troy" live only during the year after it was released at

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Festival in the Netherlands, subsequently refusing to do so until 2008, when she performed at the

Night of the Proms Night of the Proms is a series of concerts held annually in Belgium (since 1985), the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. Regularly there are also shows in France, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Denmark, the United States and Sweden. The co ...

in Belgium and the Netherlands. "In

I was doing this show one night," she recalled, "and somebody yelled out, 'Troy, Troy.' And I went, I'm fucking ''troying''."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1987 songs 1987 debut singles 2002 singles Sinéad O'Connor songs Pop ballads Songs written by Sinéad O'Connor Chrysalis Records singles Adaptations of works by W. B. Yeats