Kate Nash has shared her poignant take on Sinéad O’Connor’s ‘Famine’ – check it out below.
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Having debuted the cover at a recent Roundhouse show in London, Nash has today (Monday April 13) shared the track as a single, featuring a new original verse and her first-ever turn on the tin whistle.
It comes accompanied by a video co-directed by Nash and shot by Jude Harrison. The video sees Nash once again collaborate with artist and activist Tia O’Donnell, who embroidered the phrase “The English Don’t Know Their History” onto a duvet.
Singer-songwriter Nash holds dual nationality, and has spent time exploring her Irish heritage. After O’Connor’s death in 2023, she began to revisit her catalogue and became fixated on ‘Famine’, in which O’Connor charts the horror of the Great Hunger with a bruising fusion of hip-hop and spoken word.
“I was inspired by the phrase: ‘The English can’t remember history, while the Irish can’t forget it,’” Nash said of the track. “I hold dual nationality and was never educated about An Gorta Mór, either at school or within my family. I believe this absence of education creates a gap in understanding and connection between English and Irish people.
“A lack of knowledge can lead to people feeling misunderstood, disrespected, or humiliated, which makes this a sensitive, important, and timely issue to address and pertinent to today and the conversation surrounding immigration, war and the growing rise in nationalism.”
On O’Connor’s line: “If there is ever going to be healing, there has to be remembering, then grieving, so that there can be forgiving, there has to be knowledge and understanding,” Nash said she felt that education is a “crucial step” towards peace.
“I would not be the artist I am today without Sinéad’s perspective, her bravery and sensitivity,” she continued. “My intention is to honour her voice and continue to spread her message. Adding my own verse felt like a necessary responsibility as I was born in England and grew up here. I believe England must acknowledge its actions and history in order for true healing, understanding and growth to take place.”
It comes only shortly after Fontaines D.C. covered another of O’Connor’s powerful tracks, ‘Black Boys On Mopeds’, for the ‘Help(2)’ charity album, having previously shared acoustic rendition of the track in Nashville, Tennessee, in October 2022.
The band shared that it was a “unique and life-affirming experience” to take on the track for ‘Help(2)’, and producer James Ford spoke to NME in a step-by-step guide to the record, and explained why it felt right to cover Sinead O’Connor.
As for Nash, the release of her O’Connor cover follows her making headlines at the end of 2024 when she launched her ‘Butts for Tour Buses’ campaign, which saw her join OnlyFans to protest the music industry and help raise money for her UK and European tour.
She then took things one step further, and used the “bum on the back of a fire truck” campaign to head to the London offices of Live Nation, Spotify, and the Houses of Parliament to protest the challenges facing both new and established artists.
“The reality is that touring is making losses, not profit,” she told NME about the push to raise awareness and spark change. “The grassroots is in absolute crisis. Venues are closing, festivals are being cancelled. People are thinking, ‘What’s the point in starting a band?’ and ‘How can I as an artist carry on?’”
Speaking about the changes she hopes to see with the campaign, she added: “We need the government’s help, and we need it now. Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, has actually been amazing speaking to Live Nation and has been talking a lot about music in Parliament. Last month, she said to the music industry: ‘If you don’t do something, we’re going to be forced to act’.
“The most important thing an artist can do is fight for a better future. The one thing I’d really like to leave behind is to have made some kind of positive dent on this industry. I think I can make that dent with my bum.”
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