A losing game

In my book, Amy Winehouse’s “Love is a Losing Game” belongs among the pantheon of great, tragic torch songs. It’s simple slow-burn speaks in the universal language of a broken heart. When she sang it at the Mercury Prize show earlier this year, I got goosebumps. I still do. Which is why the single’s new video is so heartbreaking. Ostensibly there is nothing truly terrible about the clip, except that Winehouse herself clearly wasn’t involved in its making. In fact, for a while I wasn’t sure if it was a tribute video or the official release. But the Universal Records tag at the end (as well as other media reports) confirms that this is indeed the real thing. Take a look.

Seems Amy didn’t make it to the scheduled shoot, so instead the label improvised using old concert footage, still photos and extreme close-ups. Throw in some behind-the-scenes shots and even a couple glimpses of her husband Blake, and you’ve got a fanvid any amateur YouTuber could be proud of. Amy’s inability to make it to a video shoot, inability to make it through a concert and inability to keep from wandering the streets of London in the middle of the night shirtless, shoeless and senseless breaks my heart, again. As do all the shots of her looking dazed, drugged and bedraggled. This is not the transcendent artist we know she can be.This woman is blazing talent capable of transporting us through the power of her voice alone. With each listen, her staggering album “Back to Black” reveals untold truths. I’ll freely admit that I’ve fallen hard. But with love comes the need for tough love. Not to oversimplify the problem and get all Mr. Mackey on you here, but drugs are bad, m’kay. At this rate, I half expect to wake up one morning and read that she has become another sad rock and roll statistic. Don’t break my heart, Amy Winehouse.