I’m listening to Pandora and Amy Winehouse comes on. I have the same reaction every time. What a freaking loss! Yes, I know. Between the drugs and alcohol and the speed-of-light living, she did it to herself. But still. What an incredible loss for music (at the very least)! She was 27, like several other music icons who live in infamy rather than old age. Her voice and lyrics were special. Her voice and the vibe of her music link back to a more nostalgic age when Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Petula Clark ruled the airwaves. The lyrics, however, are sharply drawn–21st century.

“We only said goodbye with words/ I died a hundred times/ You go back to her/ And I go back to black”

Oddly enough, today is the 5th anniversary of her death. I didn’t know that when I began writing. (We’ll put that down to weird coincidences.)

The web has a few memorial postings.

From an ABC news blurb, a quote:

“I feel like I’ve come to the realization that life is short, you know? You have to live in the moment. You have to seize the day.”

she told MTV News in 2007.

Her words are kind of clichéd, but I am glad that she seized the day, that she was brave enough to write words from her soul and music that lives on.

So we are history/Your shadow covers me/The sky above/A blaze/

Amy Winehouse. 1983-2011.

end 7/23/2016

S. Darlington