Alice Smith
The most unlikely of pairs
Green Day (bottom) paid homage to the late Amy Winehouse (top), who died in late July.
It’s not everyday that Green Day plays an intimate show for 250 superfans. It’s not everyday that anyone would expect punk rock powerhouse Green Day to be associated with the late jazzy bluesy Amy Winehouse. Obviously it’s not everyday that Green Day does the expected.
After a rockin’ set of unreleased material at Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa that left the crowd drenched in their’s, their friend’s, and who knows who else’s sweat, Green Day brought the energy down a bit and said goodbye to Amy like only Green Day could.
After a short and simple guitar intro, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong immediately evokes an undeniable sadness quite similar to Amy’s. “Was your heart singing out of tune? Were your eyes just singing the blues?” Every single lyric communicates a message to Green Day fans everywhere with the thought that Amy is out there somewhere bobbing her head to the tune as well, beehive and all.
From her troubled addictions to her mysterious death, Green Day spares no aspect of Amy’s life. One line that stands out to me more than any other is “27 gone without a trace, and you walked away from your drink.” Whether the number 27 is definitely included as a reference to the tragic 27 Club remains to be seen, but I believe 27 reveals more than age; it reveals Amy’s legendary talent and that the tragic yet iconic group of people she now belongs to cements her legendary status with the likes of Jones, Joplin, Morrison, Hendrix, and Cobain.The chance of Winehouse and Green Day being good friends in life is about as good as the chance of Britney Spears singing live, but this song makes me believe that Green Day knew Amy extremely well. Billie Joe sings to Amy as somebody who he’d love nothing more than to meet, repeating many times “Do you wanna be a friend of mine?” Sadly this event could never happen in reality and Billie Joe does all he can do; offer Amy a proper goodbye. Every fan undoubtedly wanted to ask Amy what Billie asks: “Can you write me a lullaby, so we can sing you to sleep.”
