I Am Stretched On Your Grave

The lyrics come from an Irish poem of unknown provenance dating back to the 1600s. It's about death, telling the story of a person who will not leave the gravesite of their dead lover. O'Connor connected the song to her mother, who died in 1985. Another track on the album, "Feel So Different," is also about her mom.

The track is built on a drum loop sampled from James Brown's 1969 track "Funky Drummer," played by Clyde Stubblefield. That sample shows up in hundreds of hip-hop tracks, but hearing it in a Sinéad O'Connor song is unexpected. An Irish singer, O'Connor had little interest in the traditional music of her homeland and instead listened to more adventurous fare, like David Bowie and Bob Dylan. She was also drawn to techno and hip-hop beats, and it was her idea to use the "Funky Drummer" sample. She says it cost $50,000, which stretched the budget but paid off when the I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got album went to #1 in many territories, including the US, UK, and of course, Ireland.

The poem "I Am Stretched On Your Grave" has been put to music by many artists over the years (mostly Irish), but O'Connor's version is distinguished by her dynamic vocal and the hip-hop-inflected backing track. Later in 1990, Suzanne Vega got a similar sound when her song "Tom's Diner" was remixed with a modern beat.