tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. conversation with music's most outrageous artist, sinead o'connor. in addition to a song she contributed, to the new glenn close movie. she is out with a new cd called "how about i be me (and you be you)." >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

tavis: sinead o'connor has been not one of music's most outspoken artist for the past 25 years. she has a number of critically acclaimed albums. her latest cd is called "how about i be me (and you be you)." i love the title. here is a video from the project. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ smile ♪e ♪ meke me laugh ♪ tavis: oftentimes difficult, everybody writing about your new project agrees this may be your most romantic cd to date. was that intentional? >> it was not so much intentional, but it happens. it is the subconscious that does

the writing. i guess it was the first time i ever wrote romantic songs. tavis: most artists will tell you that when they write songs, there is something happening in their lives that assures that into existence. why this romantic cd? >> people were linking aid to now. i wrote the songs between 2007 and 2009. i was going out with this wonderful man. he asked me if i was available. [laughter]

he is very happy. he is available, ladies. he is a wonderful man. he has one other ex who write songs. she wrote a song that did not put him in such a great light. i have written four or five songs and i put some in a very good light. he is that we are out -- about women. tavis: if he is so wonderful, why is see the ex? >> the kind of relationship that does not last forever, at it does not mean it was not successful. if you really ever love

someone, that does not go away. we get on great. we're great mates. we are more like a brother and sister. we get on just fantastically. he is available. he did ask me to spread the word. tavis: how was that working out for him? >> id is not working out well. tavis: maybe an american woman. >> he is american as well. he needs an american woman. tavis: you keep saying stuff that i want to explore. what is it about him that makes you think he needs an american woman?

>> he has a certain sense of humor. he is quite funny. even when something terrible is happening, he laughs. they see the entire world through this prism of humor. some of the irish tenant might be a little timid. tavis: if they look at their world and through the lens of humor, how does sinead o'connor view the world? >> a lot of hubard, definitely. -- humor, definitely. if i said to frank or my son, do you know that you do that?

they would be astonished. tavis: is the process different for you for writing music that comes out of a romantic place converses music that comes out of a political, social, economic place? you are a very outspoken in your beliefs. does it require tapping into a different place? >> it does. that is a great question, actually. i like to talk about the process. what happens for me, at different songs get different -- it written in different manners. there are fingerpointing songs, which is a great expression. songs like that, like "take off your shoes."

it is supposed to be the holy spirit talking to the pope. i would think to myself, i really want to write a song about that. with a love song, a character song, a couple of characters appeared in my mind. with the romantic songs and the character songs, i am sorry i am taking so long to answer this question. some markets mistakenly described the process that they are channeling something or someone. identify with what they are feeling, but i do not agree. it is this of conscious, we do

have so much more going on and we know we do. the finger-pointing songs, the contras rights those. -- conscience rights those. i will be walking the baby out, and dino -- and i know not to get away. the know what i mean? it is a very different process. tavis: it makes sense. i know you are a great writer and a great artist. how great are you at washing dishes? >> i am a terrible cook. i am a great cleaner. i could clean anything. i am great washing dishes and i

am great clearinghouse. i do not like to, but i am fantastic. tavis: i want to talk about some of the projects on the album. since you mentioned a bob dylan, i have been on your web site so i know what a big fan you are. i am sure there are a thousand answers. what is it about bob dylan the knicks in your favorite artist? >> i have a couple of different artists. tavis: i am so glad to hear you say that. curtis mayfield never gets his props. >> what i love about curtis and bob dylan and bob marley, they

were artistic, if you watched the life of curtis mayfield and bob dylan, they all had this commercial success. it was based on pop records. what happened to the three of them, at some point, they became almost someone else. they went on a spiritual journey, some type of spiritual rebirth. the person that was born was much more spiritualized. there are times when an artist needs to represent without saying anything. when i see bob dylan or bob marley, i know there is a god.

it does not matter what they are saying. it is the conviction of their soul. they are just standing there and you know there is a god. he is the same. he is a boxer and i did not like that when i was a little girl. it did not make any sense to me at all. but he is a character, he underwent this transformation. he became a different person, muhammed ali. where has he gone? what has happened? then i understood. it was a spiritual transformation. four very interesting characters to me. daughter, they

times to believe in god. -- they asked her if she believed in god. she said, all i have to do to believe in god is to look at my father. curtis was not so overtly religious. and bob dylan's case, the christian songs i loved. his first record was "slow train coming." acoustic guitars, just the same. it was awful.

my brother put this on and in my heart, i always wanted to make some music. there is a link between music and spirituality. i was relieved when i heard that. somebody could make religious music cool. god needs to get rescued from religious music. imagine that you had to sit in that club all night listening to the worst music. stuck in it for eternity. tavis: i think i know what you meant by that. d.c. that? there you go.

"my god rocks." i just saw the cover of the l.a. times. it was a huge story about you. do you see that? there you go. you are not a religious maniac. >> you can tell an average man -- irish man, but you cannot tell him much. i believe that god and religion are two different things. i do think god needs to be rescued from religion. when people say to me, what do you mean? there is a difference between -- god bless unconditionally, and religion loves conditionally.

this is why i like the rasta people. it is more of a movement. god needs to get rescued from out of it. once you start to put things into boxes. i prefer to call it the holy spirit, i do not think it matters what you call it. i guess i am a holy spirit maniac. i am not religious. is that the way to put it? when i say maniac, it is a person who goes around to tell you what you believe. i do not believe that. i used to be in the closet about believing in these things.

i was afraid. it is so uncool, believing in jesus. i was always in the closet about it. i do not want to go out shopping what i believe down people's throats. it does not exclude all the others. tavis: how to explain to someone that you're protests about the catholic church are not telling them what they should think? >> in my feeling, i am someone who really does believe very strongly in the holy spirit.

i was engaged in a very strong relationship with the holy spirit. there were times in my life i was asked by that spirit to do particular things as an artist. not terribly often. i felt it was something that i was asked to do. it was not required of me to make anybody else understand it. what was required is that i would do what i was told. tavis: for what purpose do you think you were asked to do that? >> as an irish female survivors of child abuse, we knew what was

going on in the church. in 1987, the church in ireland took out insurance policies in every diocese in the country against claims. i understood by everyone was so upset. in ireland, we knew. we knew it required a tearing down of the church. it is very 50-50 now. i respect the holy spirit, i love the holy spirit to. the people who presided over an endangered recklessly cover ups. they were disrespecting the holy spirit. representclaiming to the spirit, to me, i love jesus

christ. i love aspects of catholicism. i love god. i love the holy spirit. i cannot stand it to being disrespected. it has been there for me when i really needed it. that is how i feel. that is what it was about. it was kind of an artistic way of saying, we want our church run by people who believe in jesus christ. tavis: all the subsequent years since that appearance on snl, d think you are better understood now? do you think people understand that moment better now? >> it really was not important or required of me for anyone to understand.

the victims had a voice, which they did not have at that time. irish artists have a tradition of being heavily engaged in what is happening in their own society. it was important that they had a voice. there is someone who has not had a voice, and that is the holy spirit. what proof do you need? you cannot have a church run by people do not believe in god. when it comes to a battle for the honor of god -- tavis: there is a song on the new project called "vip." you do have some statements about artist who do not use their platform. i think artists are the gatekeepers of truth. what is your sense of artists

who never find a way to say anything about what is going on? >> i do not believe in any kind of artistic snobbery. the sexiest and the most spiritual words uttered -- [laughter] >> it is all the same thing to me. what i am trying to say, it is as important as the other stuff. you cannot have one without the other. what is corrupt at the moment is we are living in circumstances where our spiritual system is corrupt. our country is completely economically correct. when you look back to the root of our spiritual problems, people behave in a manner -- people are starving.

were you have a war, you have a spiritual problem. at some point, the entire population of the earth will have to look back. tavis: one must question, "old lady." >> that is a song about having a crush on your boyfriends best friend. and not acting on it. however that frank was through this guy. -- how i met frank was through the sky. -- this guy. everybody knew i had a crush on

him the whole time. tavis: i did not know this conversation was going to be book ended by frank. if you do not get mail now -- the new project is called "how about i be me (and you be you)." i love that title. that is how i feel about life. if you can be your authentic self. we will not be using not. -- that. but i did take your point. i like that. the new project, "how about i be me (and you be you)." good to have you on the program. that is our show for tonight. until next time, keep the faith.

♪ make me smile ♪ ♪ ♪ >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with a look at the latest on heart health. we will see you then. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know.

it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.