I can’t remember the journalist’s name (Jon Pareles?), but several years ago I read an article about James Brown’s “Funky Drummer.” In the recording, Brown puts the spotlight on his drummer Clyde Stubblefield, who plays a brief but memorable drum solo. “Ain’t it funky!” Brown intones during the catchy, hypnotic riff.

According to the journalist, Stubblefield’s creation became a standard rhythm used in hip-hop and other genres. He cited songs in which it appeared, and one of them was Sinéad O’Connor’s “I Am Stretched on Your Grave.”

I put “I Am Stretched on Your Grave” on my special playlist as soon as I heard it. Its appeal is hard to codify: an ethereal chant melding majestic salt with sorrowful sweetness. It’s a piece of music I don’t tire of hearing.

Along with “Maccrimmon’s Lament” sung by Fiona Hunter, “I Am Stretched on Your Grave” enshrines a voice whose soulfulness lifts me up.

Sinéad O’Connor, present in song: 1966-2023.

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