Back to Black

"Maybe death is the great equalizer, the one big thing that can finally make strangers shed a tear for one another"- Tuesdays With Morrie

The first ever Guest-blog by a friend and a true Amy Winehouse fan. Happy Reading! :)

One of my favorite teachers always ridiculed me for my weird fascination with troubled pop tarts. Amy Jade Winehouse was a newbie to crack into the list. And soon she outshone many.

With a voice that was filled with such power and pain that it was at once entirely human yet laced with the divine. That enveloped vulnerability and also displayed her fiery persona at the same time.

I remember earning scorn from my friends and braving blows urging me to “shut the wailing bitch up or die.” But I never capitulated and now they ended up shedding a tear at her demise.

My niece made a beautiful Diary on Amy Winehouse that she completed just 2 days before she heard that Amy died. All glum, she rang me up and squeaked “So no more music coming from her?”

Wino did have an impact.

Her delicious first jazz-influenced venture “Frank” was soon overshadowed by her sophomore record that led to her meteoric rise to fame and also helped her find and wondrously display her 'voice'. ''Back to Black'' catapulted her to super stardom, a record amalgamating rock, pop, soul, ska (of which little is left) all in one. It also won her the ''biggie'' Record of the Year at 2008 Grammy Awards.

Her throaty-sultry vocals only added to the charm but her lyric is what I had a penchant for, what always engrossed me, intrigued me. Every word she put was deeply thought over (look up for Wake Up Alone & Some Unholy War). Her songwriting stays nonpareil. Was so dark and uncannily mirrored the fact that she knew she wouldn't hold on to life for long. She saw it coming!

She really lived the blues. She poured her ache through her songs. An unbridled fountain of pain that she masked through her songwriting! I feel as if her songs had more wisdom than she!

And Rehab happened! Breaking into the Top10 in the States. A feat that paved path for the ''big voice'' artists ruling the charts currently. It won her 4 Grammys.

Rehab that has become an anthem for the troubled, echoed her defiance projecting heartbreak, a craving to be adored and also how drinking replaced Love in her life.

Stubborn as a mule and fierce, She lived on her own terms- uncontrolled, rebellious and untamed. Her body art and her alcoholic logic only cement that. How at her every live performance she never eschewed having more than just a drink and mockingly said “It's my gig, no one can have me doing what I don’t want.”

There is no way u can mellow a Lioness. (which is exactly what she coined her own label 'Lioness Record Label')

Unveling at Madame Tussauds @ London on 23rd July 2008- exactly 3 years before her death date, 23rd July 2011.

Her songs, extremely dark, boast of sex, drugs, drinking and of being lovesick. How beautifully she used expletives in bluesy retro-soul tunes! Fearlessly hilarious. Supremely drunk on pride.

They ooze ache, mirror her heartpour; her lyric was impeccably honest and autobiographical. Humorously honest. Enchanting!

She was utterly hardcore. Thoroughly enjoyable. And not mere tabloid fodder. She was a muse! She glorified being inebriated but even her tipsy performances were pitch-perfect. She never stooped so low as pop acts today to sell her talent. She was too much talent, all raw; that never required Autotune, or publicity gimmicks. Maybe that's why she wasn't as famous but those who knew her were well acquainted with the talent that she housed!

She may have topped polls in 'The worst dressed' and 'The most hated in UK' but that never eclipsed her talent. Her 'sound' spoke volumes.

How she has managed to carve an impression with a slim set of music she offered and with only half a decade into prominence.

Her best came out with Mark Ronson: Rehab, Tears Dry On Their Own, Wake Up alone, Love Is A Losing Game and You Know I’m Know Good!! All recommended.

And her cover of the Zuton's Valerie is such a good track to wake up to. How she made it her own.

Talking about drugs she sang on Addicted:

'It's got me addicted, does more than any dick did'

Quite a statement in itself.

And she does heartbreak so good on the track 'Back To Black' that it even made Barkha Dutt exclaim “She wasn't my generation of music, but how I LOVED back to black.”

A lyric in which she is in a funeral ceremony that bids her broken heart adieu.

“U went back to what u knew,

so far removed from all that we've been through,

And I tread a troubled track,

My odds are stacked and I go back to black'

And about falling out of love on Tears Dry On Their Own so cockily

“We could have never had it all,

We had to hit a wall,

so this is the inevitable withdrawl,

I can not blame myself again,

I shud just be my own best friend,

Not fuck myself in the head with stupid men”

And she craved for love, dismissing the whole idea at the same time in the gorgeous Love Is A Losing Game. It leaves an ever-lingering effect and makes you to break into a reverie.

“Though i'd better blind,

Love is a fate resigned.

Memories mar my mind,

Love is a fate resigned.

Over futile odds,

Laughed at by the gods.

And now the final frame,

Love is a losing game”

About her wandering eye on the You Know I’m No Good- the chorus of which seems so befitting to what everyone expected of her:

“I cheated myself like I knew I would,

I told you I was trouble, You know i'm no good”

A death foretold?

The Rolling Stones Mick Jagger opined “I fear Amy Winehouse might die” after performing with her at the IOW festival, 2008. A gamut of famous people echoed the same. There was also a website launched back in 2007 christened 'whenwillamywinehousedie.com' which urged users to book a date for the inevitable. And the 4 winners who had their luck with the prophecy were gifted an Ipod Touch! Cold!

Everyone was right. It all spiraled down. Her mortal coil undid itself way too soon.

Her mother’s reaction to her death was just as shocking- “It was only a matter of time, she seemed out of it.” And her father had written a eulogy for her back in 2007 after she had a seizure and was rushed to a hospital.

After passing, she joined the likes of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson and Jimi Hendrix. The Club “27 Forever”.

A club, according to me, lionized for all the wrong reasons. People fail to understand that what Kurt, Janis, Jimi and Amy had in common was not ‘Great musicians kicking the bucket at 27’.

It was Substance Abuse. It was a consequence of Fame and Money, of a load that most recently Winehouse succumbed to.

It's a lesson in the wake of extreme loss to Music that if someone can help an addict, it is the addict.

Interesting less-known facts about Amy Winehouse:

1. In 2008, final year English Literature students at Cambridge University were asked to analyse lyrics to her song Love Is A Losing Game as part of their end of year examinations in 'Practical Criticism'.

It was like she was born with this beautiful song in her heart. It is so simple and magically striking. And the words just blow you away!

Excess created by Guy Portelli on Amy Winehouse

2. Excess, a piece, created by Guy Portelli, had a miniature of the singer lying on top of a cracked champagne bottle, with a pool of spilled liquid underneath. The body was covered with what appeared to be tiny pills, while one outstretched hand held a glass.

3. A wax sculpture of Winehouse went on display at the London Madame Tussauds on 23 July 2008.

Exactly 3 years later she passed away. On the same day. 23 July, 3 years after the unveiling. Quite uncanny.

Art gone too far? "The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star"

4. A sculpture by Marco Perego, entitled "The Only Good Rock Star Is a Dead Rock Star", that depicts Winehouse lying in a pool of blood with an apple and a bullet hole in her head after being shot. Perego said of the sculpture "Rock stars are the sacrificial animals of society."

My take- An art gone too far!

Photograph personally taken by Bryan Adams

5. In 2007, Bryan Adams wrote a song ‘Flower Grown Wild’ in which he warns Amy that she's flirting with death. An excerpt:

“Nobody saw the tears in your silk n' lace; or the scarred little kid behind your face

Just another little pretty thing; another angel with a broken wing”

Later that year, he photographed the beehived star for Hear the World, a non-profit organization meant to raise awareness about hearing impairment.

Even Bollywood paid Tributes to her.

Farhan Akhtar shared a thought by the singer. '"I burn my candle at both ends, it will not last the night, but ah my foes and oh my friends, it gives a lovely light." RIP Amy Winehouse,' he wrote.

Music composer Vishal Dadlani couldn't believe the news. 'Godamn! It is true. she's gone! Amy Winehouse, one of the most unique and mercurial songwriters of our time! God keep her safe! Amy Winehouse, dead at 27. RIP,' he updated.

Hard Kaur wrote: 'R.I.P Amy winehouse..u will be missed :( Back to Black- one of the sickest albums ever and very close to my heart.'

Sonam Kapoor loved Amy's voice. 'Amy winehouse for all the demons you faced I hope you at last have found your peace. I loved your big voice and your music.love & peace,' she updated.

Akshay Kumar seemed upset about her demise. 'I think, 2day many people wish that the talented #AmyWinehouse didnt say "No No No" 2 Rehab. Such a shame to lose sucha young Artist to what the world knew was inevitable #RIPAmyWinehouse,' he updated.

I couldn’t agree more.

Paulo Coelo tweeted the best set of lyric as a tribute - ''So we are history, your shadow covers me/ the sky above a blaze that only lovers see (Amy Winehouse)''

She’s touched hearts and left behind a legacy. Her untamable persona made Back To Black the last song she ever sang! And the sickest record ever!!

Detached herself from a horde of insatiable fans! Left Us deprived of 20 years of good records.

She’s again reigning charts. One last time. Is #1 again in UK and the US.

Her music is immortal. It’s just that She loved her demons more than herself.

Appreciation of her accomplishments will always be haunted by her lost potential.

A music mogul taken away too soon.

But she'll never truly be gone cause have you heard that voice?

Rishi Soni