"There has to be remembering": Kate Nash covers Sinéad O’Connor’s "Famine", adds new verse and tin whistle

The track, shared today, includes an original verse written by Nash and features her playing the tin whistle – the first instrument she ever learnt.

Nash, who holds dual British-Irish nationality (her mother was born in Dublin), has long engaged with her Irish heritage. Following O’Connor’s death in 2023, she revisited the late singer’s catalogue and was drawn to “Famine”, a track from the artist's 1994 album Universal Mother that blended spoken word and hip-hop to address the Great Hunger.

"I strongly agree 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. My intention is to honour her voice and continue to spread her message," Nash says.

The cover arrives at a moment when Nash sees rising nationalism in the UK and globally. She frames the song as “an invitation to interrogate our histories both personal and national” rather than an accusation. In a statement, she notes: “I was inspired by the phrase: ‘The English can’t remember history, while the Irish can’t forget it.’ I was never educated about An Gorta Mór, either at school or within my family.”

A video co-directed by Nash features artist and activist Tia O’Donnell, who embroidered the phrase “The English Don’t Know Their History” onto a duvet later hung outside Parliament and other locations. Nash adds her own verse to the track, explaining: "I believe England must acknowledge its actions and history in order for true healing, understanding and growth to take place."

She describes playing the tin whistle – playing a tune she first learned at primary school – as “a nice sort of symmetry … retracing my own personal musical history to cover a song about this pivotal historical moment between Ireland and England, my two nationalities.”

Nash has a handful of live dates confirmed, including Liverpool Sound City (1 and 3 May), Bearded Theory (23 May) and Galway International Arts Festival with Sophie Ellis-Bextor (22 July). Earlier this year, she was a contestant on the seventh series of The Masked Singer.