a losing game
It's been ten years and three days since Amy Winehouse died. How time flies. Amy has been a constant in this blog and in my life since around 2006, when Back to Black hit. I went gaga over Amy. It was not just the beehive and the black eyeliner. It was the voice and the lyrics. No contemporary artist has sung so accurately about what I felt the way Amy Winehouse did. Or does. Because I still listen to her on a regular basis.
It's funny how I did an Amy Winehouse search on this blog and I got more than a dozen hits. I guess I'm repeating myself with this post, but who cares? It's always a good time to post about Amy. Nobody has sung to me the way she did (does, because I have a vinyl box set with all her songs and some days it is in heavy rotation). I think her life was cut short way too early. We lost a big talent when she died in 2011. The potential was there. We are less fortunate because she died. I wish I could have seen her sing live.
Her chaotic personal life was not a reflection of her talent, though. But I do believe that it fed the creative side of the artist. Sometimes those things go unfortunately together: the more turbulent the personal life of the artist, the more their output connects with the public. I think this was the case with Amy. Her tempestuous relationship with Blake and her love/hate relationship with fame were what at the end doomed her. She was a sensitive, creative, fragile soul and the advent of social media and the relentless pressure of the tabloids would have broken stronger wills.
So thanks for the music, Amy.
You'll always be here, with me. We'll forever have fun singing about those girls and their fuck me pumps.
XOXO
She was a powerful talent taken way too soon. I know she’s had a huge impact on your life. Celebrity is a demanding bitch.
ReplyDeleteXOXO 👨🏼❤️💋👨🏾
Yes, many of her songs are part of the soundtrack of my life. LOL
DeleteYou'd think I've spent time playing pool in a smoke-filled bar in the South Side.
She was gone way too soon. I would have loved to see what else she could do.
XOXO
I see you didn't mention the Dap-Kings, who wrote most of the music (not Amy), or Mark Ronson who took the songs and polished them into little gems. She had a good voice, but was also a drunk who liked to blame other people for her problems. As you can guess, I was never a fan.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Dap-Kings were in only six songs of Back to Black and they were playing what Amy and the producers wanted. Ronson (who produced along with Salaam Rami) was doing what Amy wanted: she was into girl groups from the sixties. Frank is IMHO as good as Back to Black in songwriting but not as poignant.
DeleteHer thing was a combo of her voice and her confessional lyrics. I almost prefer her when she played the guitar and sang. They've published some of the demos and I've liked them. It was her who made the songs special.
XOXO
I'm a fan too. Her untimely death was a great tragedy and loss for music.
ReplyDeleteI so wanted her to come up with a third album!
DeleteWhen news of her erratic behavior started circulating I just knew it was not going to end well. I was devastated when she died.
XOXO
I really liked her music. Have the CDs. Tragic end. It always is when we see that kind of talent and then lose it. Creativity is fueled by personal experiences, I can sure agree on that! XOXO
ReplyDeleteIt was a tragedy.
DeleteShe was too young and too talented. Tormented, too. Given to go after stupid men (Blake was a dick to her) and crushed by fame. When I listen to her, it feels to me she's singing about me. Heh. That probably says more about me than about her.
XOXO
And as you guessed I was a HUGE fan! Her and Mark Ronson together were pure fire. I still remember getting to the Raven Pool, got my chaise already, ordered a drink and then heard the news. I downed the drink, packed up and left to come home, depressed. Every year on her death I listen to her three cds I have. In my time, she was the only freshest sounding artist to have come and gone. I had hoped to see her live one day, and even though a stretch, I had hoped to stumble in a bar and have a drink with her.
ReplyDeleteI can see that, totally.
DeleteAnd even though I suspected she was in trouble, I never thought she'd die. I was crushed when news of her passing reached America. I listen to all her songs on repeat and plastered my Tumblr with her for days.
And same! I thought her sound was absolutely genius, both in Frank and Back to Black. Even those demos they published are good. Such potential.
And I would have fainted if I could have seen her live. Really.
XOXO
Loved her. Miss that voice. To me, she was the Billie Holiday of the 21st century; not a great voice, but a powerful, captivating one. I recently saw a documentary on her life and cried at the end for what might have been.
ReplyDeleteOMG yes.
DeleteYou are so right. I love her, Billie Holiday and Macy Gray and they all kind of have that kind of style of singing.
I have watched two documentaries about her and I always en up a mess. Such a loss.
XOXO
a great talent not supported by enough strength!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree.
DeleteShe was fragile, that's for sure.
XOXO