Talented, Troubled, Tearaway .... Amy Winehouse was a Jewish Girl with Attitude!!!!
Amy Winehouse was found dead last Shabbat in her apartment in London. Baruch Dayan Emet. They do not yet know how she died, but in the end it does not matter. What matters is that this incredibly talented Jewish Girl died a sad and lonely death. Her life unravelled & I can empathise with that .... perhaps it is because we are almost the same age. She would have turned 28 this coming September.
Her soul-jazz ballads had a Sultry Sound and dealt with her personal demons .... bad relationships, breakups, drugs, drinking, and rehab. I have never had an addiction problem, or had to fight that kind of pain, but I imagine it is an exhausting way to live your life, on the edge. I can't claim to know her druggie or celebrity lifestyle, or the pressures involved there, but I have known dating disaster. I do know pain & frustration & loneliness, and I hope Amy knew that the music she created through her personal pain, brought insight & joy to many. Me included!
It’s sad that on the day of her death, people wrote they knew her death was coming, and make stupid “Rehab” jokes. Her life was glorious and wrenching, lived under the spotlight and glare of media intrusion & yet was hushed to a lonesome quiet in death. Let’s just celebrate her. Her unique voice, her musical contribution, which if not already, will certainly become classic with the passing of time. Let's remember her more for her voice, her Art, than her tragic death. Amy Winehouse. Artist.
In the face of the singer’s unraveling, and up until last Shabbat the most reverberated question surrounding Amy was " “is she or isn’t she in rehab?” In recent days that has transmuted ..... it’s become impossible to ignore just how psyched that same world seems to be that Amy Winehouse is Jewish. A fact of which she was proud ..... And the press vultures which plagued her have joyfully portrayed her Jewish identity as a bizarre contrast with her bad girl image. So she wasn't the most Torah Observant, or a pin up girl for Frum living, but her heart before Ha'Shem, who can tell??
Perhaps it's as it is with me ...... Don't judge me by my past. I don't live there anymore!
Back in 2004, The Guardian was one of many publications to pin her as “a slight 20-year-old Jewish girl from north London” and The Telegraph wrote, “Done up to the nines (lustrous lipstick, dark mascara, long black eyelashes, thick black hair), Winehouse looks every inch the Jewish princess.” In March of 2007, Rolling Stone noted that “Ms. Rehab might in fact be the highest-debuting-female-solo-British-tall-Jewish-black-haired-tattoed-with-a-birthmark-on-her-left-arm artist ever to make the U.S. Billboard charts.”
Yet another publication .... “The beehived, heavily tattooed Winehouse might be a wee Jewish girl from North London, but she can snarl and wail like Etta James or Eartha Kitt.” Yes, she could and therein lay her specialness & her princesseyness!!! She was a Soul Sister in the old tradition. Just listen to Back to Black!!!
“Those who have only heard her voice express shock upon seeing the body that produces it: The sultry, crackly, world-weary howl that sounds like the ghost of Sarah Vaughn comes from a pint-size Jewish girl from North London.” And Again .... “Winehouse has an exceptional voice that’s even more striking when you catch a glimpse of its source: a wispy, heavily tattooed young Jewish woman with a mile-high beehive for a hairdo and a Gothic level of mascara caked onto her face. It almost doesn’t compute.”
A study in contrasts ?? .... But, Isn't Life??
Amy herself said to a commentator that "what she really wants to do in 10 years’ time is to settle down and be a good Jewish mum."
And "At the end of the day, I’m a Jewish girl.” ..... What a fitting Epitaph!
Amy Winehouse was found dead last Shabbat in her apartment in London. Baruch Dayan Emet. They do not yet know how she died, but in the end it does not matter. What matters is that this incredibly talented Jewish Girl died a sad and lonely death. Her life unravelled & I can empathise with that .... perhaps it is because we are almost the same age. She would have turned 28 this coming September.
Her soul-jazz ballads had a Sultry Sound and dealt with her personal demons .... bad relationships, breakups, drugs, drinking, and rehab. I have never had an addiction problem, or had to fight that kind of pain, but I imagine it is an exhausting way to live your life, on the edge. I can't claim to know her druggie or celebrity lifestyle, or the pressures involved there, but I have known dating disaster. I do know pain & frustration & loneliness, and I hope Amy knew that the music she created through her personal pain, brought insight & joy to many. Me included!
It’s sad that on the day of her death, people wrote they knew her death was coming, and make stupid “Rehab” jokes. Her life was glorious and wrenching, lived under the spotlight and glare of media intrusion & yet was hushed to a lonesome quiet in death. Let’s just celebrate her. Her unique voice, her musical contribution, which if not already, will certainly become classic with the passing of time. Let's remember her more for her voice, her Art, than her tragic death. Amy Winehouse. Artist.
In the face of the singer’s unraveling, and up until last Shabbat the most reverberated question surrounding Amy was " “is she or isn’t she in rehab?” In recent days that has transmuted ..... it’s become impossible to ignore just how psyched that same world seems to be that Amy Winehouse is Jewish. A fact of which she was proud ..... And the press vultures which plagued her have joyfully portrayed her Jewish identity as a bizarre contrast with her bad girl image. So she wasn't the most Torah Observant, or a pin up girl for Frum living, but her heart before Ha'Shem, who can tell??
Perhaps it's as it is with me ...... Don't judge me by my past. I don't live there anymore!
Back in 2004, The Guardian was one of many publications to pin her as “a slight 20-year-old Jewish girl from north London” and The Telegraph wrote, “Done up to the nines (lustrous lipstick, dark mascara, long black eyelashes, thick black hair), Winehouse looks every inch the Jewish princess.” In March of 2007, Rolling Stone noted that “Ms. Rehab might in fact be the highest-debuting-female-solo-British-tall-Jewish-black-haired-tattoed-with-a-birthmark-on-her-left-arm artist ever to make the U.S. Billboard charts.”
Yet another publication .... “The beehived, heavily tattooed Winehouse might be a wee Jewish girl from North London, but she can snarl and wail like Etta James or Eartha Kitt.” Yes, she could and therein lay her specialness & her princesseyness!!! She was a Soul Sister in the old tradition. Just listen to Back to Black!!!
“Those who have only heard her voice express shock upon seeing the body that produces it: The sultry, crackly, world-weary howl that sounds like the ghost of Sarah Vaughn comes from a pint-size Jewish girl from North London.” And Again .... “Winehouse has an exceptional voice that’s even more striking when you catch a glimpse of its source: a wispy, heavily tattooed young Jewish woman with a mile-high beehive for a hairdo and a Gothic level of mascara caked onto her face. It almost doesn’t compute.”
A study in contrasts ?? .... But, Isn't Life??
Amy herself said to a commentator that "what she really wants to do in 10 years’ time is to settle down and be a good Jewish mum."
And "At the end of the day, I’m a Jewish girl.” ..... What a fitting Epitaph!
I'm also so saddened about her death. What a terrible shame, and waste of an amazing talent! One thing, though - your video is missing the grand finale - the very last frame should read "RIP The Heart of Amy Winehouse."
ReplyDeleteReally, so sad.