Excerpt from Pop 'Til You Drop 2011-12 - a blog by Abigail Ward.
"We only said goodbye with words...."
I used to love watching Popworld on a Sunday morning - the Simon and Mikita years - early on when Amstell was still playing by the rules, but only just. I remember seeing an interview with newcomer Amy Winehouse. She was charming (that accent!), still quite curvaceous and tattoo-free. I took to her immediately and bought the debut album, but as she admitted herself, it was 'only 80% there'.
When I first saw the video for 'Rehab' featuring the Dap-Kings gamely jamming along in their pyjamas I knew she'd cracked it. I played the 'Back To Black' album to death that year (2006), and it's not left my DJ bag for long since. It's interesting to look at the writing credits for both records. 'Frank' is co-written for the most part, with multiple contributors, in what looks like a 'write a word/take a third' vibe, but by 'Back To Black' Amy had seized control as principal songwriter. It annoys me that so few people seem to comment on how striking and vivid her lyricism was. That line, 'he left no time to regret/kept his dick wet/with his same old safe bet', gets me every time. Whilst I'm fond of Sharon Jones's work with the Dap-Kings, there isn't a song in her entire back catalogue that contains a couplet like that.
Another thing about 'Back To Black' is Amy's phrasing. I love the way she leans on the timing on we only *said* goodbye with words. She must have been, what? twenty-two, three when she was recording that. I can think of plenty of jazz legends that didn't reach that level of weary couldn't-give-a-fuck-ness 'til their forties.
The Winehouse sense of humour was as underrated as her lyricism. There was the moment in a later Popworld broadcast when footage of Lesley Joseph in 'Birds of A Feather' was interspersed with Amy shouting 'MUUUUUUUUM!' . Or her description of the work of Dido as 'the background music to a death' springs to mind.
I saw Amy play at the Academy in 2007. It was fantastic. The band were at their peak, really, no fucking about, all the moves.
I also saw her at Glastonbury the same year. I can remember getting myself a good spot, all zipped up in my waterproofs with just my trusty hip flask for company, rain drops dripping off the end of my nose. As soon as she hit the stage her unique presence and warmth enveloped me as persuasively as the whisky. A real Glasto moment.
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