‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ was written by Prince in 1984. An article in The Guardian quotes Prince’s sound engineer, Susan Rogers as explaining that the song came out ‘like a sneeze’ and was probably inspired by the fact that Price’s housekeeper Sandy had left for a while to be with her family after the death of her father but Prince was feeling lost because Sandy basically ran his life. Susan said “He kept asking ‘When’s Sandy coming back?” Then, one day, he went into a room with a notebook and, within an hour, emerged with the lyrics to Nothing Compares 2 U. Prince’s version was released on an album but never released as a single.
Sinead O’Connor released her version of the song to much more success, but apparently Prince didn’t like the Sinead O’Connor version of his song.
Both versions of the song are below so you can decide for yourself which is better 🙂
Lyrics
Since you took your love away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since you took your love away
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant
But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues
‘Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
But they’d only remind me of you
I went to the doctor and guess what he told me?
Guess what he told me?
He said girl you better try to have fun
Nothing compares to you
In the back yard
All died when you went away
I know that living with you baby was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try
‘Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you