day. I have a lot to do today, so it’s probably better if I don’t spend hours sitting at the computer, shit posting stuff like I do here all the time. On the weekend I watched a biopic about Amy Winehouse, and her short lived career as a black chanteuse in London and elsewhere. I don’t want to be judgmental other than to say the first third of the picture showed us a version of Amy Winehouse doing a Billy Holiday impersonation. I had to turn the sound down. The cringe factor as far as I was concerned, was too high. Later on, she ‘kind of’ found her own voice, but there was a lingering darker shade to everything she did. For some reason I found it irritating, but then Mick Jagger has made a career out of what is essentially often at times, a modern day version of a Black and White Minstrel show. It’s hard to not like the girl though. I have had serious relationships with almost exactly the same kind of person, but it hasn’t always ended well.
Mick – Yew cain’t always git whatchu want Mr Jimmeh.
Poor Amy was obsessed with this idiot boy Blake. God knows why. The film version of him is far more appealing than the IRL version in looks alone, so I don’t know. When two worlds collide I guess. I’ve been there. Just as her star was rising she got hooked up with this fellow. He didn’t seem to have much to offer. He wasn’t rich or famous, but she didn’t care. That’s true love for ya. The movie was a little bit lightweight I think. (like this journal sometimes) A lot of details were skipped over or left out, but the film makers I believe, captured the gritty inner city London vibe quite well. Mostly because they used actual locations.
She was a real cutie once. Kids… don’t do drugs.
One of the odd notes was during the end credits when a song came on featuring a tortured somebody with what sounded like an ode to Amy. It soon became apparent that it was Nick Cave “singing” some kind of overly emotional tribute. It was called a “Song For Amy”. I wondered did he know her, or did he simply concoct this thing as part of the musical score which he co composed with Warren Ellis? The lyrics seem quite sparse, as the internet tells us they go like this…
You say it’s time for us to call it a day
I will love you anyway
You know that I don’t even care what they say
I’ll still love you anyway, baby
Love gives everything just to take it away
And I’d give you anything for you to stay
But if you go now I’ll stay in your way
And I will think of you every day
‘Cause I will love you anyway
Nick Cave: “I’m not sure that anything makes me feel uncomfortably vulnerable, these days. I like the idea of a robust vulnerability.” He’s clearly a genius.
Cave and Ellis seem to be establishing themselves as contemporary film score writers. I was watching something else a while ago about Snow Leopards and saw that they had written the score for that. Frankly, it sounds to me like they’re making it up as they go along. I don’t care. So it’s musical wallpaper, good luck to ’em. Cave’s singing, impassioned as it appears to be, makes me laugh out loud every time I hear it. This song is particularly mirth inducing. It’s like listening to NPR on a Saturday morning. It’s unintentionally funny.
It’s a lot of weight to bear I understand, being the gothic king of gloom and doom, but hey, it’s a living. Whilst trying desperately to remain outside the establishment the poor bastard has become the establishment. Such is life.
See what you make of it.