1001 Songs Challenge #960: Love is a Losing Game (2006)
On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.
My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.
I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead
of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.
So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be… legendary!
Amy Winehouse – Love is a Losing Game (2006)
Love Is a Losing Game – Wikipedia
” Love Is a Losing Game” is a song by English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse from her second and final studio album (2006). It was chosen as the fifth and final single from Back to Black and was also the final single released in Winehouse’s lifetime.
We’re leaving the US today, dear reader, and making our way back to the UK. We find ourselves back in London and it is a second appearance from Amy Winehouse. She previously appeared with Fuck Me Pumps back in 2003. Three years later Winehouse has released her second album, Back to Black, and from there 1001 Songs have gone with the track, Love is a Losing Game.
Love is a Losing Game is said to have been written in response to a difficult relationship with Winehouse’s future husband,
Blake Fielder-Civil (2007 – 2009). The song itself is made up of three verses, with no chorus in sight. Winehouse unburdens her hurt and disillusionment with love and describes it not only as a game, but it is one in which she has played many times and always ended up being on the losing side. The song evokes the idea of someone who is desperate for love and to be loved back but such desires always seem to be agonisingly beyond reach.
Love is a Losing Game is a short but sombre piece by Amy Winehouse, driven primarily by a piano accompaniment. The message here is universal, for many of us will have suffered heartbreak at some point in our lives, be it a relationship that has broken down or a case of unrequited love. Amy Winehouse’s own story would not end well. In 2011 she was found unresponsive by a bodyguard and later pronounced dead, the result of alcohol poisoning. Wineouse sadly became a new member of the infamous “27 Club” and her death led to not just an outpouring of grief but thousands of new fans discovering the music of an unquestionable talent.
Favourite songs so far:
The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)
Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)
The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)
Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)
Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)
Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)
Radiohead – Paranoid Android (1997)
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My name is Dave and I live in Yorkshire in the north of England and have been here all my life. I hope you enjoy your visit to All is Ephemeral.
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