Meaning of “Three Babies” by Sinéad O’Connor
Besides Australia, “Three Babies” also charted in a handful of European countries, performing best in the Netherlands where this track for instance peaked at number 2 on the Dutch Top 40 Tipparade. This song was not issued as a single in the United States, reportedly due to Sinead having already by that point fallen out of favor with the music industry stateside.
And to note this song was released on 1 March 1990, over two years prior to her infamous 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live during which she ripped up a picture of the Pope.
“Three Babies” served as the fourth and final single to “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got”. That was O’Connor’s second album, as originally released, also in 1990, through Ensign Records and its parent company, Chrysalis Records. Also worth noting is that this number was both written and produced by O’Connor.
The Lyrics of “Three Babies”
Letting the cat out of the bag early, the “three babies” whom the vocalist is referring to represent three actual miscarriages which the late Sinead O’Connor (1966-2023) experienced prior to writing this song.
As to be expected given the artist at hand, there is a lot of symbolism and metaphors being relayed in this piece. But what it all ultimately boils down to is the situation being such that Sinead hadn’t not forgotten about those three children that she lost, nor is she trying to relegate them to buried memories from the past.
To the contrary, the vocalist puts for that they “will always be with” her and furthermore that she looks forward to reuniting with them in the future. And in a way she did, as throughout the years the songstress went on to successfully give birth to three additional children, beside the one she already had in 1987.
So Sinead also described this song as “perhaps a prophecy of not being a perfect mother”. And to reiterate she did, in a manner of speaking, predict her future offspring, though it’s not abundantly clear which lyrics are intended to point to the vocalist being a less-than-ideal mom, though perhaps that was O’Connor’s intent in likening herself to “a wild horse” herein.
So from a lyrical perspective, it isn’t necessarily as if “Three Babies” is a song of bereavement. Instead, it comes off more like a song of remembrance.
