So. Somehow that makes me think of Amy Winehouse, who I've been thinking about a lot lately, ever since I bought "Back to Black," started listening to it obsessively, and learned that she wrote all the tracks herself. I don't care what anybody else says, I think she's an exceedingly good girl. But she's at war with her demons, which makes her that much more beautiful.I was similarly obsessed with Billie Holiday when I was younger, and so was sad to hear Amy say "Fuck her" in a 2008 interview when asked if Billie was one of her role models. I didn't believe Amy, anyway. She was probably being defensive because Billie was a poor, alcoholic junkie when she died at the age of 44 in 1959, and Amy's critics think she's headed down the same path of self-destruction, even though she's only 25. (The world is so speeded up these days.)
But you see both of them sing, and you see the same musical brilliance and emotional vulnerability.
The videos below show Amy and Billie singing songs they wrote, and their similarities are plain to see--the way they get lost in the music, their confidence while singing, the bluesy repetition of their self-destructive lyrics about the tragic and addictive gamble of love that makes you hurt.
Here's Amy, in Love Is a Losing Game: "Played out by the band/Love is a losing hand/More than I could stand/Love is a losing hand/Self-professed, profound/Till the chips were down/Though you're a gambling man/Love is a losing hand"
And here's Billie, in Fine and Mellow: "Love will make you drink and gamble/Make you stay out all night long/Love will make you do things/That you know is wrong/Treat me right baby/I'll stay home everyday/But you're so mean to me baby/I know you're gonna drive me away"
