Howard Stern recently discussed Chris Cornell and his daughter Toni’s version of “Nothing Compares 2 U” again, along with Prince’s version. Below is a recap from MarksFriggin.com:
Howard said he saw Prince’s family on TV. He said there are like 9 people running the business since he didn’t have a will. He said they were unlocking the vault. He said they released the studio version of Prince doing ”Nothing Compares 2 U.” He said that he was a real pecker about releasing stuff like that. Robin said if it was good he would have released it. Howard said this is the studio version of the song. He said this was the first time he ever performed it. He said the song was great but he didn’t want it out there. He said this is the family putting it out. He said that’s what happens when you don’t have a will.
Howard played the song. He said that first line blows his mind. He said it’s so poetic. He said that’s an artist. He said that’s some way to look at the world. He said he doesn’t get worked up over poetry but that gets him.
Howard said when someone sings it like Chris Cornell’s daughter then it’s really meaningful. He said that Chris took his love away. Howard said no women were that in love with him. Robin said maybe he wasn’t interested in the women who were interested in him. Howard said some of them did look pretty bad.
Howard said Sinead O’Connor changed the lyrics to different hours and days. He said she must be mental. Robin said maybe she had a different experience. Howard said she is mental so he bets for her it was like 13 is an unlucky number. He played her version of the song. He asked why she would change it. He said it was 13 hours and she changed it to 15. He did his impression of her talking about the song in that monotone. Howard said it had to be superstition that made her change it to 15.
Howard played more of Prince’s studio version of the song. He said that was the first time he ever performed the song. He said most girls with him took their love away right after sex. He made up his own lyrics about how it had been just 30 seconds since they took their love away. Robin said it doesn’t have the same ring. Howard sang about the girl who called her boyfriend in Albany after having sex with him. He said she took her love away after the quaaludes wore off. He sang about how she missed her boyfriend’s bigger penis. He kept going with the song and made up how sex was with him in bed and how she took her love from him.
Howard said he’s lost in his song. He said that’s enough because it’s too painful. He played more of Prince’s early version of ”Nothing Compares 2 U.” Howard said the family released that. He said we now have that to listen to. He said he listened to it over the weekend. Robin said the interesting thing is that other artists get to see the progression of someone they admire and would like to emulate.
