Jump in the River

"Jump in the River"
Single by Sinéad O'Connor
from the album Married to the Mob
B-side"Never Get Old"
Released17 October 1988[1]
Length4:12
LabelEnsign, Chrysalis
Songwriter(s)Sinéad O'Connor
Producer(s)Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor singles chronology
"Jerusalem"
(1988)
"Jump in the River"
(1988)
"Nothing Compares 2 U"
(1990)
Music video
"Jump in the River" on YouTube

"Jump in the River" is a song recorded by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. It originally appeared on the Married to the Mob soundtrack in 1988 and was released as a single the same year. It was also released as a 12" maxi-single that included a remixed version featuring the American performance artist Karen Finley.

A remix of the song was later included on O'Connor's second studio album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990), as well as on the B-side of the 7" single for "Nothing Compares 2 U."

Composition

A year after O'Connor released her first album, The Lion and the Cobra, she contributed "Jump in the River" to the soundtrack of Jonathan Demme's film Married to the Mob in 1988. Later that year, O'Connor took part in a concert organized by the human rights activist group Refuse & Resist! at the Palladium in New York City. It was there that she met the performance artist Karen Finley, who she invited to participate in the 12" remix of "Jump in the River." Finley contributed a sexually explicit spoken-word section of the song. Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau wrote that Finley "surfaced as the voice of mad lust on a dance remix of the ravishingly sexual 'Jump in the River.'"[2]

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 134
Irish Singles Chart 29
UK Singles Chart 81
US Modern Rock Tracks 17

Track listings

7" single

  1. Jump in the River
  2. Never Get Old

12" maxi-single

  1. Jump in the River
  2. Jerusalem
  3. Jump in the River (remix featuring Karen Finley)

Credits and personnel

  • Sinéad O'Connor – music and lyrics, lead vocals, producer, mixing
  • Marco Pirroni – music and lyrics
  • Chris Birkett – engineering, mixing
  • Fachtna O' Ceallaigh – mixing

References

  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 56.
  2. ^ Christgau, Robert (22 May 1990). "Folkie Madonna". The Village Voice. Retrieved 30 November 2021.