Am I Not Your Girl?

Am I Not Your Girl? is the third album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor and the follow-up to the hugely successful I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. It is a collection of covers of mostly jazz standards, which O'Connor describes as "the songs I grew up listening to [and] that made me want to be a singer". The album title comes from the song "Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home". The album is dedicated to the people of New York City and especially the homeless whom O'Connor met at St. Mark's Place.

The album did not gain much critical acclaim, perhaps because O'Connor had become a major artist in the modern pop genre due to her previous album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got and this album was composed of songs written from 1932 to 1978. This, coupled with the Garden State Arts Center controversy and an introduction in the album in which she mentions sexual abuse, addiction, emotional abuse, and asks "Où est le roi perdu? [translation: "Where is the lost king?"] If you're out there—I want to see you.", led to O'Connor losing much of the commercial momentum her career had built up until then.

The album's promotion was marked by a controversial appearance on Saturday Night Live, where O'Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II, leading to public and media scrutiny.

Promotion
On 3 October 1992, O'Connor appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest, and sang the album's lead single, "Success Has Made a Failure of Our Home". She was then scheduled to sing "Scarlet Ribbons" from the album, but the day before the appearance she changed to "War", a Bob Marley song which she intended as a protest against sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church, referring to child abuse rather than racism. During the performance O'Connor wore a necklace with the Rastafari star and also had a scarf with the Rastafari and Ethiopian colors of red, green, and gold. She then presented a photo of Pope John Paul II to the camera while singing the word "evil", after which she tore the photo into pieces, while saying "Fight the real enemy".

O'Connor's action led into a public and media frenzy. NBC received more than 500 calls on Sunday, and 400 more on Monday, with all but seven criticising O'Connor; the network received 4,400 calls in total. Contrary to rumour, NBC was not fined by the Federal Communications Commission for O'Connor's act; the FCC has no regulatory power over such behaviour. NBC did not edit the performance out of the West Coast tape-delayed broadcast that night. despite the now well documented thousands of child sex abuse cases proving O'Connor's accusation, NBC still declines to rebroadcast the sequence, with reruns of the episode using footage from the dress rehearsal.

Japanese release
Three exclusive bonus tracks only appear on some copies of the original Japanese release of this album: "My Heart Belongs to Daddy", "Almost in Your Arms" and "Fly Me to the Moon".

Personnel

 * Sinéad O'Connor – vocals
 * Ira Siegel – guitar
 * David Finck – bass
 * David LeBolt – keyboards
 * Richard Tee – keyboards, vocals
 * Chris Parker – drums
 * John Reynolds – drums
 * Gloria Agostini – harp
 * Jerry O'Sullivan – Uilleann pipes
 * Joanie Madden – tin whistle
 * Gerry Niewood – tenor saxophone, clarinet
 * Ted Nash – tenor saxophone, clarinet
 * Dave Tofani – alto saxophone, flute
 * Dennis Anderson – alto saxophone, flute
 * Ronnie Cuber – baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
 * Alan Rubin – trumpet, flugelhorn
 * Brian O'Flaherty – trumpet, flugelhorn
 * Joe Shepley – trumpet, flugelhorn
 * Lew Soloff – trumpet, flugelhorn
 * Robert Millikan – trumpet, flugelhorn
 * Birch Johnson – trombone
 * Jim Pugh – trombone
 * Keith O'Quinn – trombone
 * Kim Allan Cissel – trombone
 * George Flynn – trombone
 * Dave Braynard – tuba
 * Charles McCracken – cello
 * Fred Zlotkin – cello
 * Richard Locker – cello
 * Shelly Woodworth – English horn, oboe
 * Bob Carlisle – French horn
 * Fred Griffin – French horn
 * John Clark – French horn
 * Alan Martin – violin
 * Arnold Eidus – violin
 * Barry Finclair – violin
 * Charles Libove – violin
 * Donna Tecco – violin
 * Elena Barere – violin
 * Gerald Tarack – violin
 * Jan Mullen – violin
 * John Pintavalle – violin
 * Laura Seaton – violin
 * Marti Sweet – violin
 * Matthew Raimondi – violin
 * Nancy McAlhany – violin
 * Richard Sortomme – violin
 * Jesse Levine – viola
 * Julien Barber – viola
 * Lamar Alsop – viola
 * David Nadien – concertmaster, violin
 * Torrie Zito – arranger, conductor
 * Patrick Williams – arrangement
 * Rob Mounsey – arranger, conductor
 * Doug Katsaros – arranger, conductor
 * Sid Ramin – arranger, conductor