Two months after her death, an unreleased song by Sinéad O’ Connor made its debut on a television show over the weekend.
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“The Magdalene Song” premiered in the finale of the BBC television series titled The Woman in the Wall, as reported by NME and others. Before she died at the age of 56 in July, O’Connor cleared the song for use in the BBC show.
The track that debuted on the television series on September 24 finds the singer chronicling the heartbreak of losing a child and recalls her own experience of being in a similar situation as the show’s protagonist at the age of 15.
The show details the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, institutions where young women were sent if they had become pregnant outside of marriage, were deemed promiscuous, or had behaved in other ways that upset the Catholic order between the 18th century and the 1900s. They’ve been likened to labor camps.
In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, O’Connor’s producer David Holmes gave backstory to the track and how he finished it. “The first half of the track is completely heartbreaking, and the second half is pure defiance,” he said. “I stripped the song away to just Sinéad’s voice and then let the full power come in for the second half. It’s incredible how the meaning of the song came together with this story It was just meant to be. There’s a certain magic when you bring music to an emotive story.”
“Sinéad sanctioned the track for use before they had even started shooting, and when the producers heard it they were amazed to have something so strong,” he continued. “We all felt the only place this can go is at the end.”
According to The Guardian, O’Connor’s family will decide if they’d want to release the singer-songwriter’s first album in eight years, titled No Veteran Dies Alone.
“The Magdalene Song” is available to hear in the finale of The Woman in the Wall, titled “A Little Resurrection,” available to stream via BBC here.
Photo by Al Pereira/WireImage
