“Nothing Compares 2 U” was originally written by Prince in 1985 for his side project The Family, but became a global hit in 1990 when Sinéad O’Connor released her iconic cover. Chris Cornell, the late Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman, recorded his passionate acoustic tribute to the song shortly after Prince’s death in 2016, describing it as having “timeless relevance.”
Prince wrote and originally recorded “Nothing Compares 2 U” in July 1984 at his Flying Cloud Drive Warehouse in Minnesota. The song was initially intended for his side project, The Family, and was first commercially released by them on their self-titled album in 1985, though Prince’s own demo version remained unreleased until 2018.
When Chris Cornell died last year, he left behind a sweeping and complex recorded legacy: He’d lent his voice to one of the biggest bands in rock (Soundgarden), a successful supergroup (Audioslave), an early Seattle standard-bearer (Temple of the Dog) and countless one-offs, collaborations and solo albums. So summing up his career on a single record — which a new self-titled compilation, out Nov. 16, intends to do — requires skidding across a huge swath of artistic identities and iterations. (For those who’d like to dig deeper, Chris Cornell will be available as both a 17-song album and a 64-song box set, the latter of which includes 11 unreleased tracks. There’ll also be a “super deluxe” box containing a couple dozen additional videos, a hardcover book, lithographs, a turntable mat, a poster, and so on.)
Compiled by Cornell’s wife Vicky, Chris Cornell also gathers a few tender rarities — including a cover of Prince‘s “Nothing Compares 2 U” he’d performed at SiriusXM in 2015. And, as you might imagine, the singer and song make a tremendous pairing: Cornell could wail better than the best of them, and he unleashes a fair bit of intensity across these five minutes. But he also knew restraint: He was, above all, a vibrant singer, capable of channeling hurt, worry and warmth in any given breath. Backed by guitarist Keaton Simons (who gets namechecked before his solo) and the crucial cello flourishes of Bryan Gibson, he inhabits the song fully and beautifully while never losing sight of the soft ache at its center.
[Verse 1]
It’s been seven hours and thirteen days
Since you took your love away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since you took your love away
Since you’ve been gone I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant
But nothing, I said nothing can take away these blues
[Chorus]
‘Cause nothing compares
No, nothing compares to you
Nothing, nothing
[Verse 2]
It’s been so lonely without you here
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me, baby, where did I go wrong?
I could put my arms around every girl I see
But they’d only remind me of you
I went to the doctor and guess what he told me
Guess what he told me
He said, “Boy, you better try to have fun no matter what you do”
But he’s a fool
[Chorus]
‘Cause nothing compares
No, nothing compares to you
Nothing, nothing
[Interlude]
[Bridge]
All the flowers that you planted, mama, in the backyard
All died when you went away
I know that living with me, baby, was some kind of hard
But I’m willing to give it another try
[Chorus]
‘Cause nothing compares
No, nothing compares to you
I said nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
