24TH JULY, 2011

Soul Never Dies.


I was devastated to learn this morning that Amy Winehouse had completed both parts of the expression "live fast, die young." I know it can seem cliché to just post pictures of someone who recently died as a tribute, but the death of Amy Winehouse has me feeling rather empty right now, so I feel like doing this for a little bit of appreciation. Obviously everyone knows Amy from ugly news headlines about her struggle with addictions etc, but I am sure those of us who have looked past her tumultuous lifestyle and delved into her music will be a lot more affected by her death. Everyone who is saying "omgz she was a crackhead, who gives a shit" can kindly go and fuck themselves now.

I have trawled the internet for the most beautiful and insightful pictures of Amy I could find, which I have included below this text - a few of these are lesser-seen ones, so hopefully these will show her in a new light for some. There was a sea out there of unflattering, edited-to-look-worse, paparazzi photographs which show the extent of the media obsession with her decline, and how haunted she must have felt at those times. Some would say the combination of unwanted media attention, her turbulent and intense relationship with bad influence boyfriend/husband/ex-husband/thing/whatever Blake, and finding herself unable to handle her own serious addictions, eating disorders and self destructive personality was never going to turn out well. No matter how apparent her inability pull herself together, I always felt (and dearly hoped) she would recover someday to bring us more of her amazing talent; it still hasn't hit home for me that two albums is all her legacy will contain.

However, through these two albums, Frank and Back In Black, Amy Winehouse has delivered the world incredible music that is all these adjectives at once (in my humble opinion): soulful, ballsy, vengeful, true, lustful, heart-broken, tragic, triumphant, spiteful, confident, longing, loving, pleading, uplifting, as well as providing hilarious and witty social commentary ('Fuck Me Pumps' anyone?!). Every lyric and note meant something to her - they had to, to satisfy her immense musical knowledge and taste.

The cause of Amy's death is yet to be determined, but I feel as though if anything, she would probably be happy in a sense about joining the 'Forever 27' club - a collective of influential musicians who coincidentally all died tragic deaths at the age of 27, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Robert Johnson and Otis Redding (who was actually age 26, but I refuse not to include him in this because Amy respected him so much, so who's counting?). Not really the worst club members to be associated with; here's hoping they are all rocking out together in the great gig in the sky.

To anyone who hasn't heard Amy's music: I urge you to listen to her incredible cover of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles (linked HERE). She sings so poignantly and with such stunning vocal control, making this easily my favourite version of this song.

And to Amy... I will always still love you tomorrow. Rest In Peace. xx



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- C x


2 comments:

  1. Beautifully written. It's sad to see such a talented singer pass away, and dare I say, join the 27 club. At least she will be remembered by her soulful music x

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  2. Thank you for reading, I'm glad you agree, at least she left a beautiful legacy :). Apparently her father is going to release some of her new music posthumously, I hope that's what Amy would have wanted.. however I doubt that a little, as they are only demos and not recorded as she would have liked them to be.
    - C x

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