Ignored           Obscured            Restored

A teenaged Dolores O’Riordan walked into a rehearsal of The Cranberries, having been introduced to the rest of the band by their ex lead singer, Niall Quinn.  O’Riordan.  The rehearsal went well enough that when it ended, bandmate Noel Hogan handed her a cassette tape demo of some music he was working on and asked her to take a stab at writing lyrics for it.  She returned a week later with the group’s biggest hit, “Linger.”

O’Riordan has been known to claim the song was about her first serious kiss.  But to my ear it sounds like it about an ex-lover that’s keeping her hanging on.

But I’m in so deep
You know I’m such a fool for you
You got me wrapped around your finger
Do you have to let it linger?
Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to let it linger?

“Linger” carried the album it was on — Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? — to #1 in the UK, and to #18 in the US.  Their next several albums did even better, several earning multi-platinum status.  But it all started with “Linger.”

Enjoy… until next week.