Amy Winehouse’s 20 greatest songs of all time
Music, like life, is unfortunately filled with tragic tales, moments of ‘what if’ and sliding door situations that leave us in gut-wrenching pain. One such event was the tragic death of young Amy Winehouse. The acclaimed singer was a monumental figure in British music when she passed and left behind a small but incredibly strong canon of work. Below, we’re picking out our 20 favourite songs in appreciation of the late singer.
Amy Winehouse sadly passed away due to alcohol poisoning on July 23rd 2011. Ever since that moment, the comprehension of her loss to music because more and more apparent. Having studied as part of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, Winehouse made her name as the thinking man’s pop star. More concerned with acclaim than fame, Winehouse was unlike any other singer around.
The talent of Amy Winehouse seemingly knew no bounds after she burst onto the scene with her seminal album Frank in 2003. Providing an unusual pop icon for the glitzy noughties, Winehouse had the look of a vintage queen, the voice of a jazz genius and the heart of the finest blues singer, which meant her collaborations were always a little out of the ordinary.
Winehouse’s influence on music was immediate, and the copycat singers sprung up overnight. Once the singer’s iconography grew, it was like a runaway freight train. However, one thing that endeared Winehouse to the British public, in particular, was her authenticity.
Winehouse imbues the lyrics and music in all of the songs below with her every breath and heartbeat. She gives her soul to the music and asks for nothing in return. It’s what made her a bonafide legend.
Amy Winehouse’s 20 best songs:
20. ‘Me & Mr. Jones’
After powerhouse 1-2 punch of ‘Rehab’ and ‘You Know I’m No Good’, Back to Black takes a bit of a breather with its first true jazz song of the record. With its languid beat and gentle shuffle, ‘Me & Mr. Jones’ is on pace to be perhaps the first real love song of the album.
Then comes the first verse: “What kind of fuckery is this? / You made me miss the Slick Rick gig”. For two and a half minutes, Winehouse’s caustic tongue is on full display as she dismantles yet another clueless man in her life who “ain’t worth guest list”. But if there’s a cool act playing, maybe come back and try your luck later.
19. ‘He Can Only Hold Her’
The heartbreaking end to the standard edition of Back to Black finds Winehouse exhausted after a full album of love and loss. With an interpolation of the opening to The Icemen’s ‘My Girl (She’s a Fox), a song that features a young Jimi Hendrix on lead guitar, Winehouse dips back into the past to pull out a completely modern take on a broken relationship.
Perhaps the most tragic aspect of Winehouse’s lyrics is how unable she is to follow her own advice. After a full LP worth of kickbacks (and occasional love songs) to Blake Fielder-Civil, Winehouse returned to her former beau and quickly got engaged. Just like Winehouse sang, the lights were on, but no one was home.
18. ‘Take the Box’
It’s a lot cooler these days to focus on Winehouse’s work outside of Back to Black. As the cornerstone of her legacy, Back to Black gets most of the attention and praise when Winehouse is talked about now. But she had a full-length debut that was far more indebted to the jazz and blues of her youth than the girl group pop of Back to Black, and Frank is an equal testament to Winehouse’s singular talent.
The loungiest song that Winehouse ever wrote, ‘Take the Box’ is also the blueprint for which artists like Duffy and Adele would quickly take after. Winehouse is at her silkiest and smoothest, and even though she claims to be “so fucking angry” cleaning out her former partner’s junk, it’s hard to ignore the smokiness and sultriness in her delivery that disguises some of the thornier edges of the song.
17. ‘Mr. Magic (Through the Smoke)’
Back in ye olden days of CDs, hidden tracks were a hell of a lot easier to sneak onto official releases. If you happened to buy the original version of Frank and went to the tracklisting, the album seemingly ended with the combination track of ‘Outro/Brother’. But just as soon the sound of a needle picks up, Winehouse dives into one more song.
‘Mr. Magic’ is a wonderfully surprising track, not least of all because of the warmth and joy in Winehouse’s vocals. Known forever as the queen of heartbreak and bad relationships, ‘Mr. Magic’ actually sees Winehouse in the throes of unbridled love. Sure, it’s a dedication to pot (not the last one we’ll see on this list), but it’s quite romantic nonetheless.
16. ‘Some Unholy War’
Back to Black is one of the nastier putdowns ever put to tape. For nearly 35 minutes, Winehouse is completely done with all of her former lover’s shit and takes him to task at nearly every opportunity. When she’s not on the attack, she’s a wounded beast who wakes up alone and has to hide the pain through drinks and drugs. It’s dark and ultimately incredibly sad, considering how her life ended, but Back to Black isn’t exclusively a breakup album.
There are some tracks where Winehouse is in reconciliation mode, specifically the defence she puts up for her man on ‘Some Unholy War’. A song of devotion, even to the point of recklessness, ‘Some Unholy War,’ sets up why the heartbreak that fills out Back to Black is so painful in the first place.
15. ‘Best Friends, Right?’
Thinking about the kind of career Amy Winehouse could have had is an exercise in painful uncertainty. If she had her way, she likely would have aged gracefully into an elder statesman of jazz, not unlike her hero Tony Bennett. But addiction and poor life choices led her down a different path, one that would ultimately claim her life at the tragically young age of 27.
There were sporadic attempts by Winehouse to record a follow-up to Back to Black, but ultimately, only a few songs ever got completed. ‘Best Friends, Right?’ is from the Frank era and somehow didn’t end up on that album, despite opening most of Winehouse’s shows during that time. It’s a hidden gem from an artist that sadly doesn’t have much of a vault.
14. ‘What Is It About Men’
The central motif of Winehouse’s entire career was her dealings with the opposite sex. Whether good or bad, educational or meaningless, healthy or anything but, Winehouse always seemed to get something out of relationships. Often, that something would turn into artistry, but Winehouse was self-aware enough right at the very beginning to ask, ‘What Is It About Men?’
The Frank track of the same name could act as the definitive summary of Winehouse’s entire lyrical career. No matter how much they hurt her, she keeps coming back. No matter how hard she hits the floor, there’s something about men that keeps her coming back. It was great when it turned into great music, but those faults became more glaring as they slowly took over her entire life.
13. ‘Just Friends’
Winehouse and Fielder-Civil were never going to be “just friends”. Even when her lover was in jail and Winehouse had seemingly moved on, the two orbited each other right up to the very end of Winehouse’s life. It was a modern-day Sid and Nancy that the public couldn’t get enough of. So when Winehouse asked her destructive other half when they would get the time to be “just friends”, the answer was “never”.
Even a light reggae rhythm can’t keep ‘Just Friends’ from hitting its emotional centre, especially when Winehouse admits to drinking at nine in the morning. ‘Just Friends’ is one of those songs that, when listened to on the wrong day, can feel a bit too close to voyeurism. But on the right day, it hits its marks like the tragic real-life tale that it is, in all its ugly beauty and messy glory.
12. ‘Monkey Man’
Amy Winehouse held precious few people as gods in her eyes: Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and her father (unfortunately). One group that could do no wrong in Winehouse’s book was the legendary two-tone ska band The Specials, the same act that helped get Winehouse into music as a youth. Winehouse got the opportunity to play with The Specials during her lifetime, and those performances are thankfully preserved online as some of Winehouse’s happiest and most radiant fangirl moments.
‘Monkey Man’ is originally a reggae track from Toots and the Maytals, but The Specials supercharged it into the version that Winehouse covered and eventually put on the B-side to ‘You Know I’m No Good’. Full of chaotic energy and anarchic mischief, Winehouse’s take on ‘Monkey Man’ should be considered the definitive version of the track and remains one of the most devilishly fun listens in her catalogue.
11. ‘Addicted’
When US audiences put on the first release of Back to Black, they were robbed of one of Amy Winehouse’s best songs. In its place were two remixed versions of tracks that were already on the album. That’s a travesty because ‘Addicted’ is the tragicomedy track that probably best illustrates Winehouse’s real-life struggles, but also her deft sense of humour as well.
A tale of refusing a friend’s boyfriend entry into her house due to his mooching habits, Winehouse’s greatest ode to weed comes as a killer light reggae track. It’s not hard to see some of the darker edges just below the surface, especially when Winehouse admits to her addiction, but at the end of the day, ‘Addicted’ is a wickedly fun ode to smoking up and safeguarding what is rightfully yours.
10. ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’
As is customary, we tried to avoid cover songs when bringing you the greatest tracks from our favourite singers, but Winehouse’s covers are so legendary that we had to find room on the list for a couple. One such cover is this undeniably brilliant cover of Carole King’s ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’
The song was originally featured as part of the Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason soundtrack and lands as one of Winehouse’s better vocals. So much so, that after her untimely death, friend and collaborator Mark Ronson took the vocals and created a fuller song, including backing from the Dap Kings. It was one of the more poignant moments from her posthumous release Lioness.
9. ‘Body and Soul’
The song that arguably would mean the most to the classic singer Winehouse was her duet with none other than the legendary Tony Bennett. Recorded in 2011, it sadly remains the final recording Winehouse would ever make, and she got to sing her favourite song with her favourite artist of all time.
Bennett issued a statement upon hearing of Winehouse’s sad passing: “Amy Winehouse was an artist of immense proportions, and I am deeply saddened to learn of her tragic passing. She was an extraordinary musician with a rare intuition as a vocalist, and I am truly devastated that her exceptional talent has come to such an early end.
“She was a lovely and intelligent person, and when we recorded together, she gave a soulful and extraordinary performance. I was honoured to have the opportunity to sing with her.”
8. ‘Fuck Me Pumps’
Amy Winehouse quickly made her name as one of the most soulful singers Britain had ever produced. Well-versed in the pain and torment that soul and the blues needs, this kicky-number from her debut record Frank is a joyful refrain from her otherwise melancholy output.
Released as a targeted slight on the Footballer’s Wives generation, Winehouse makes it clear that she is her own woman in this song. Using her growing lyrical power, Winehouse scythes the scene in half with some of her most vicious lines.
7. ‘Stronger Than Me’
If you wanted an unadulterated taste of what the young Amy Winehouse had intended to sound like, then her debut single is the best place to start. Not exactly setting the world alight, only just breaking the top 100, her command of the song showed that Winehouse had guts and knew her direction.
The hip-hop beats in the song are nothing new to Winehouse. An avid lover of the genre, she was even part of her own Salt N Pepa homage known as Sweet N Sour. On ‘Stronger Than Me’, the writing is on the wall, Winehouse was a fierce and determined artist who needed the acclaim she deserved, and she got it, in 2003, when the song won the Ivor Novello Award.
6. ‘Valerie’
Of course, the most lucrative collaboration on a song came not on stage as a duet but as part of the team that delivered her seminal album Back To Black and, most notably, the radio-ready single ‘Valerie’. It’s hard to deny the encompassing swing of the track as a delightful addition to any dancefloor.
An instant bop when it was originally released by indie band The Zutons to pub dancefloor acclaim, but the track took on new life under the tutelage of Mark Ronson and in the hands of Amy Winehouse. The song made Winehouse into a bonafide pop star almost overnight and ensured that she remained in the spotlight.
5. ‘Tears Dry on Their Own’
Here, we begin to see Winehouse’s preferred wheelhouse—the lamenting love song and the tragedy that comes with it. On ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’, the singer quickly showed us all that she was a legend in the making. The song was taken from her seminal record Back To Black and showed her burgeoning pin-up credentials as she flirted with nostalgia in a fresh new way.
The song is orchestrated around a sample of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s 1967 classic ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ and has all the makings of a similarly well-thought-of future hit. Quietly uplifting, the song is easily one of Winehouse’s undying anthems.
4. ‘Love Is A Losing Game’
There is something utterly timeless about this piece from Amy Winehouse. A song which could easily be mistaken for a classic piece of ’60s girl-group pop singing is wonderfully underpinned by Winehouse’s sharps as a needle wit and lyrical content. It’s a soul ballad with a fresh new twist.
Winehouse was never one to shy away from putting herself on the page, in fact, most of her songs are autobiographical, and this one presented a similar story. Never able to truly find the right balance of crazed passion and comfort, Winehouse used her songs as an open therapy session, her passing only adding further tragedy to the lyrics. This has to be considered one of the singer’s very best pieces of work.
3. ‘Rehab’
As with any star who has tragically lost their life in the view of the public eye, or even because of it, there is a slightly bittersweet quality to this track. The song which broke Winehouse and turned her into a household name is rightly imbued with quintessential Winehouse quality, but it’s also a reminder of the intense fame which contributed to her death.
Looking simply at the song and it’s very easy to see how Winehouse quickly became the talk of Britain. In the UK, she became a star overnight. With her unabashed personality, her proclamation of refusing to give up on booze and her incandescent love for retro music made her a winner in everybody’s eyes. The fact that her voice was unparalleled only sweetened the deal.
2. ‘You Know I’m No Good’
Another song which is deeply affected by Winehouse’s passing is ‘You Know I’m No Good’. Listening back to 2006’s Back To Black will often help form an opinion on the singer’s demise but taken in isolation, it’s hard to see this song as anything but a piece of songwriting genius.
However, when she sings, “I told you I was trouble”, it is extremely hard to ignore the life behind the notes. The song’s poignancy has added extra gravitas to the track in recent years in the face of her demise, but to think of this as purely a revisionist sentiment would be to miss the point entirely. This is Winehouse at her peak.
1. ‘Back to Black’
Amy Winehouse will be remembered as a classic singer, as a ferocious performer and sadly, as a tragedy of the music business. One forever friend she had in the industry was Mark Ronson, who described her as his “musical soulmate”. The duo worked together on a number of projects, but he also had a hand in the greatest song she ever produced, the beautiful, honest and heartbreaking ‘Back to Black’.
In the song, Winehouse lays out her failing relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil on the slab and goes about dissecting it for a live audience. Her honesty is arresting, and the beauty with which she produces the bone-crushing notes is something that will never be forgotten.
In the millions upon millions of songs produced over the years, very few can make you truly feel the emotion the singer is emitting. For Winehouse, you can count most of her canon in that list. On ‘Back to Black’ you’ll have a hard job hiding those tears—simply breathtaking.
