Heute vor vier Jahren verstarb die britische Neo-Soul-Diva und Songwriterin Amy Winehouse. Dazu ein Gastbeitrag von Marius-Antonin Fleck.
four years.
goodness, it’s been four years.
already.
only.
i remember vividly:
this pull; like a magnet; magnetic pull.
a plead from her?
binary star.
so i shopped me a flight.
just had to.
mandatory.
ok and for the record: stn.
downing whiskey&coke in rememberance,
and saving the empty can.
only one of the many preps,
and i’d say the funnest.
high up, accompanied by my first ever gotten uke, a concert.
and oh my head spinning…
and oh all these images rushing thru that very one…
and oh all these songs…
and oh all these chord progressions i had transferred to my little rattlebox weeks before, then certainly not expecting the worst.
despite plenty of alarming signs.
kalemegdan park.
certainly not a walk thru one.
diabolic. sham.
diashambolic.
better yet: fuckery!
will i find a scenery like it had been depicted by all these gossipy tabloids?
will it (still) be swarmed w/ pilgrims?
will police be around? security? mitch?
will i be able to cope emotionally?
accomodations set.
hop on a bus, the driver knows…
borough of camden now.
eclectic.
electric.
eccentric.
me? ecstatic!
altered state of consciousness.
bump into a staggering peter doherty, exchanging a few words.
really?
you gotta be kidding!
what a trip so far.
finally:
#30, a typical english brick house.
now more of a sound-proofed shrine overlooking the adjacent square.
worth a million quid.
guarded too.
unlike 12 days ago.
four months.
goodness, it had been four months.
only.
she must’ve gone thru this front door many a tym though.
by herself.
high… on music… or what not.
my heartfelt farewell letter attached to the can.
sec puts it on the trash compartment in the front yard.
„mr. winehouse will pick it up personally“.
really?
what an assurance.
comforting thought at least.
a stone’s throw away on the curb.
“back to black“: larger-than-life on four strings.
i mean it, i feel it.
ethereal.
“so far away“.
you hear me, AMY?
back in the room now.
beat.
drained.
hollow. h o l l o w!
in the doldrums.
a beat.
melody first, became the hookline.
first chords, more words.
ukie’s a great midwife.
always a reliable enabler.
more days ahead.
primrose hill,
roundhouse,
graffiti down by the grand union canal – allegedly banksy,
golders green crematorium (secular) and cemetery (jewish), london nw11,
the hawley arms – of course
the good mixer – of course
more mourning ahead.
and now the final frame:
amyland bye bye
my heart’s bleeding…
… cry.
gonna go for a
production on a larger scale.
dreadful.
marvelous.
© by m.-a. fleck, july 2o15
—
Marius-Antonin Fleck ist Ukulelespieler, Musikenthusiast und regelmäßiger Kommentator auf diesem Blog. Kurz nach dem Tod von Amy Winehouse reiste er in den Londoner Stadtteil Camden um vor Ort und auf ganz persönliche Weise Abschied zu nehmen. Während dieses Aufenthalts entstand der Song „Left me hollow“, der fertig produziert auf seine Veröffentlichung wartet. Das obige Gedicht „Left me hollow – The Lament Poem“ ist eine künstlerische Reflexion dieser Erfahrung und gleichzeitig eine Reaktion auf den erst kürzlich in die Kinos gekommenen Film „Amy“ von Asif Kapadia. Amy Jade Winehouse verstarb am 23. Juli 2011 in ihrer Wohnung an einer akuten Alkoholvergiftung.
Very expressive! I can sense the sadness in the story.
@Zacquine: Welcome to this blog. I have to approve your comment the first time around. From now on your comments will be visible right away!
Beautiful! Can’t wait to hear it set to music
@rmcfrog: Welcome to this blog. I have to approve your comment the first time around. From now on your comments will be visible right away! MariUS-A will comment on the circumstances of the making of the song.
Not her fan but I agree the time really flies before you know it! “Uke” is short for ukelele? Would this be made into a song? I see potential. 🙂
@kelly: Welcome to this blog. I have to approve your comment the first time around. From now on your comments will be visible right away! MariUS-A will answer your questions.
Dennis, congrats! It seems from now on you should use English as main language here :-).
sarcasm supposingly
Not at all!
How can you think like this?
hi kell.
yes, “uke” is a commonly used abbreviation for “ukulele”.
the song “left me hollow” already exists.
just hang in there…
the “zacq & mari” website will be up and running shortly.
thank you & peace out!
Hey MariUS-A, didn’t get that this is your poem! I didn’t know your full name!
Yeah, it does not sound like a poem to me but I was guessing it was a German poem translated into English?
call it a ‘poem’,
call it ‘flow of thoughts’,
call it ‘structured text’,
a ‘collection of phrases or words’
that delivers a summary of an event…
call a song, song, tune, track, ditty, piece, single, composition, number…
although technically there might be ever so slight differences…
i wouldn’t want to get too nitpicky about it- not unless you go into more serious studies of certain intellectual fields.
and no, there was no translation of any sort.
no sweat!
now you do!
😉
Thank you Dennis!
Sorry Marius, I was not even aware that part of it is a song! Evidence I don’t really listen to Amy Winehouse’s music! >,<
no, kelly, allow me to enlighten you:
there is a song “left me hollow” that was written by me in a hotel room in london, while staying there bidding my very personal farewell to amy, shortly after her sudden demise.
now a few words/terms out of the song’s lyrics are featured in “left me hollow – the lament poem” which i came up w/ reflecting upon this trip on the 4th anniversary of her death.
does this make things a little clearer for you?
Ahhh! I see! Very sentimental! Yes, thank you for clearing the air. Curious…was it raining in London when you wrote your thoughts?
nope, it was not raining while i was there in july, 2o11.
very nice temps, actually perfect weather conditions.
and to set the record straight, dear:
i wrote THE SONG while there.
my reminiscent thoughts, the lament poem, four years later, july 2o15, here in goody ol’ germany.
I’m not a fan of Amy Winehouse but it was a waste she passed on so young. Thumbs Up!
Hi Dennis,
just a suggestion:
It would be useful to allow more than 3 responses ( which relate to each other) to a comment. It’s a bit inconvenient, at least to me, not to be able to post below a certain response.
Maybe you can switch to 5 responses. More than that wouldn’t be right either.
@Gerhard: Thank you for your suggestion, let me see what I can do.
gerhard’s suggestion is an absolute necessity i think.
i for one got really confused following all the comments here b/c they were all jumbled up and not in a consecutive running order.
assumingly the prob only arised now that there were more than three post on a single comment for the first tym.
Sehr interessantes Gedicht! Ich kann es kaum erwarten das Lied zu hören 🙂
thank you so much.
vielen DANK.
It’s one of those poems where words used are so connected to the personal daily life, I’m sure many people could relate to it easily. Has a very personal touch and angle to the poetry. Keep it up!
your words are much obliged, audris.
Nice Expressionistic poem. I can relate on how the meandering thoughts would provoke a song….
Shame about Amy dying so young, club 27 was calling 🙁