Revisiting Back to Black: Wake Up Alone

This installment is part of a retrospective on “Back to Black,” the most acclaimed album of Amy Winehouse who passed away 10 years ago this July. I’ll revisit one track every month in order of their appearance on the album

Breakup songs are as old as music. It’s a triumph to create anything original, let alone timeless. “Wake Up Alone” focuses on the painfully awkward uncoupling that happens for months or years after you’ve separated from someone.

“I stay up, clean the house
Least I’m not drinking
Run around just so I don’t
Have to think about thinking“

There is no such thing as the “never look back” that movies will tell you is possible. There will be dozens of days where you get along with your normal, human activities that can distract you enough to convince yourself that ‘everything is fine.’ Sadly, it’s always temporary.

Amy talks about moving past the mundane business that she involves herself with until inevitably, the feelings creep back in as the sunlight fades.

“That silent sense of content
That everyone gets
Just disappears
Soon as the sun sets“

She dreams about her ex, describing the experience through countless water analogies and slipping into the comfort she allows herself to feel only in fantasy.

“And I wake up alone.“