Could it be her mother, her father, a boyfriend? Regardless, the anthem to not being understood - only "Cherry," her guitar, gets her - is one of Winehouse's most heartbreaking early tracks.LONDON – Troubled Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse was found dead this afternoon at her London home. It is unclear which person in Winehouse's life she is referring to, who has known her for "eighteen years" but still does not know her. Her parents' split had a major impact on her and in this song she reflects on how the dysfunction she witnessed in her parents' relationship rears its head in her own romantic relationships.īut already she knows me better than you.Īnd you still don't see me like you ought to do Winehouse's father, Mitch Winehouse, moved out when she was young to be with another woman after a years-long affair. I can't help but demonstrate my Freudian fate. So surely I would never, ever go through it first hand, The song asserts that relationships are doomed to fail - not the best Valentine's Day song. Here Winehouse returns to her theme of doomed love, this time in a broader, poetic sense. Again, the pain is disguised by an upbeat, dance-friendly melody. Here Winehouse heartbreakingly recounts her inability to be comfortable in a healthy relationship as she struggles with her dark past. The couple brought out some of each other's worst habits, yet they still struggled to separate, a conundrum captured perfectly in this verse, which anyone who has longed for a relationship's better days can likely relate to well.Ī prevailing theme in Winehouse's music is her own moral corruption.
However, the relationship was fraught with fights and it was Fielder-Civil who initially introduced Winehouse to heroin. Winehouse and Fielder-Civil broke up and got back together countless times over their multi-year romance. The chorus can almost sound seductive and flirtatious on first listen, but on closer examination - such as the above verse - reveals the song to be anything but as Winehouse's mind drifts during a bout of revenge sex. Like "Rehab," "You Know I'm No Good" is another example of Winehouse's ability to hide stories of depression and grief behind sultry and sexy R&B hooks. These opening lines to the song are Winehouse at her most biting. "Back to Black" reveals just how hard the couple's low points were on Winehouse. Ultimately, Winehouse decided to skip rehab thanks in large part to encouragement from her father, giving the "Daddy thinks I'm fine" line of the song a more sobering meaning.Īmy's troubled, on-again-off-again relationship with her boyfriend and eventual husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, shows up in many of her songs. A few years before the peak of her stardom, some of Winehouse's friends attempted to check her into a rehab facility, but record executives urged her not to miss upcoming scheduled tour dates. "Rehab," the most famous of all of Amy Winehouse's songs, was never meant to be the party anthem it became. "Amy," the documentary, revealed the song to be a very literal account of her alcohol abuse.