Amy Winehouse Mix CD: What Is It About Men

Happy Tuesday, everyone? You good? Is it really only Tuesday? Yes? We can’t just skip to Friday? Got it. OK then. Today we’re going deep, not just into Amy’s catalog, but lyrically. I’m going to call today’s track underrated even though I have no idea how it’s rated. I never hear it mentioned among Amy’s best and it should be because it’s mind-blowing. Today’s song “What Is It About Men” is the 11th track on Amy’s 2003 debut album Frank. It’s also the 11th track on this Mix CD, a total coincidence that I didn’t realize until this very moment.

“What Is It About Men” was never a single. It was written by Amy Winehouse and produced by Commissioner Gordon. Amy didn’t do many songs with Commissioner Gordon, but the few they did together…damn. Just damn. Especially this one. Let’s get into it.

Say whatever you want about the Back To Black biopic. It’s difficult for me to pick out the real from the fictionalized or sensationalized for the big screen just like it is with just about any “true story”. I just want to focus on one scene early in the movie. Amy goes to a party with her dad’s family, rides home with her dad, gets into a mild argument with him, and then enters her mother’s house. She immediately runs to the basement and grabs a guitar and notepad to start writing. While there’s no way of knowing that any of this happened and it’s probably an amalgamation of events jammed into one night, none of that matters. I only bring this scene up because the song the screenwriters chose to depict Amy writing for this scene is “What Is It About Men”. I’m assuming they chose it because it not only foreshadows her tumultuous future with the opposite sex, but it’s just brilliant fucking songwriting.

Excuse me for continuing to come back to this, but I can’t believe a teenager was capable of writing music like this. Let’s examine the first verse and chorus:

Understand, once he was a family man
So surely I would never ever go through it firsthand
Emulate all the shit my mother hate
I can’t help but demonstrate my freudian fate
My alibi for taking your guy
History repeats itself, it fails to die
And animal aggression is my downfall
I don’t care about what you got, I want it all
It’s bricked up in my head
It’s shoved under my bed
And I question myself again
What is it about men?
My destructive side
Has grown a mile wide
And I question myself again
What is it about men?

So…where to begin with that? First, and most obvious, I think I could write every day for the rest of my life and never come close to anything that good. Second, she was very self-aware, but also too willing to accept her fate and not do anything to change it. The most surprising part of this verse to me is that she’s choosing to accept that her fate is to take something closer to her father’s side, not her mother’s. She’s not going to be the victim like her mom. Her dad had a mistress and her “freudian fate” is become some other guy’s side piece and be with someone like her dad. That’s some dark shit. It’s only just beginning. Verse 2:

I’m nurturing, I just wanna do my thing
And I’ll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing
And I’ll save my tears for uncovering my fears
Our behavioral patterns that stick over the years
‘Cause it’s bricked up in my head
It’s shoved under my bed
And I question myself again
What is it about men?

“I’ll take the wrong man as naturally as I sing” is one of the more awe-inspiring lines in Amy’s discography, and that’s saying a lot. Combine that with the fact that she’s already accepted her fate as a mistress and that her “destructive side has grown a mile wide”, then add bulimia, her infamous drug and alcohol problem, and the despicable paparazzi and you’ve got a perfect storm. She paints such a vivid picture with songs like “What Is It About Men” that it’s easy for fans like me to piece together Amy’s downfall with little more than the lyric sheets from her two albums.

There aren’t many live versions of “What Is It About Men” out there so I once again default back to the 2004 North Sea Jazz Festival for this one. A few random thoughts on this performance:

1. The guy on keys is an endless source of joy for me. He might look like a 15-year-old grinning his ass off back there but he’s a bad motherfucker
2. Is that Kurt Cobain on the drums?
3. I mean…this bassist, too. Does he play junior league hockey in Canada? He couldn’t at least rock some sleeves? Not to stereotype, but it’s shocking to hear cool neo-soul shit coming out of these dudes.
4. Where was this performance? The ceiling tiles lead me to believe that they performed this set in a Holiday Inn Express conference room.

This is coming off the rails quickly. Time to move on. Can you believe we’re only half done with the mixtape?!? How is that possible. I feel like I’ve been writing about Amy Winehouse for most of the 2020s. It’s only been 12 days. Tomorrow’s song is appropriate for this moment and I’ll leave it at that. I’ll give a prize to the first reader who guesses it based on that hint. The winner will be revealed tomorrow. Good luck!