B-side "Still Listening" Genre Pop rock Label Chrysalis | Released 1987 Length 6:34 | |
Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, CD single | ||
"Troy" is a song written and recorded by Sinéad O'Connor, the first single from her 1987 debut album, The Lion and the Cobra. In 2002, a dance version of the song released as "Troy (The Phoenix from the Flame)" becoming a top 10 hit on several international dance charts including the US.
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Background
The song uses the story of the ancient city of Troy as a metaphor. The lyric "Being what you are, there is no other Troy for you to burn" is a reference to the poem "No Second Troy" by William Butler Yeats ("Why, what could she have done being what she is?/Was there another Troy for her to burn?").
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 video's striking imagery of this angry, bald young woman was for many their first and most striking introduction to O'Connor.
Live performances
O'Connor only sang "Troy" live the year after it was released, after that she refused to perform "Troy" again until 2008 when she performed at the Night of the Proms in Belgium and The Netherlands.